[Christian von Borries], Friday, February 23th, 2007, 19:30 - 20:00
exploitation / imagineered urbanism / islamic banking / laundered dollars / permanent exception / slavery in the 21st century / The World Economic Forum Davos / "The world" island resort, Dubai

When Giorgio Agamben wrote that the contemporary world increasingly operates under a regime of "permanent exception", a multiplicity of power holders imposed a new normality which we are expected to get accustomed to. Ours is a WORLD, as Agamben suggests, in which we are no longer citizens but detainees - or tourists, moraly no big difference as we will see. It is only that we might not yet have found ourselves in the WRONG place at the WRONG time.
I will take on two wrong places, which seem to be right places, Davos and Dubai.

Let me start with two lonely planet travel guide book characteristics:

DAVOS, world famous winter sports destination, has recently got a name for itself as the annual meeting point for the crème de la crème of world capitalism, the world economic forum (wef for those in the know).

lonely planet characterizes DUBAI as a flashy, fun, often surreal yet uniquely arabian city, with year round sunshine, stunning five-star beach hotels, endless shopping, bubbling nightlife, and world class sports events.

The two places have surprisingly many things in common: you can ski all year round, guranteed in Dubai's Emirates Mall. Ski Dubai uses 6000 tons of snow. The Kempinsky-Hotel offers 15 unique Ski Chalets with unprecedented views over the amazing indoor ski resort.