Responding to a question from a journalist about censorship in the UAE, Jack Persekian, the curator of the Sharjah Biennial, graciously responded that he gets this question every time he speaks to Western audiences, and his answer is as follows: artists have to push boundaries, but curators in the Middle East need to curate for their context and not try to appeal to Western ideas of artistic freedom. "I don't start a conversation with you by slapping you in the face," he said. 

And the Vitra Design Museum's Dubai Next: Face of 21st Century Culture went to great lengths to pet, instead of punch, everyone's cheek. Co-curated by Rem Koolhaas, the show included mock-ups of Koolhaas's upcoming art center, and Zhada Zada's amazing lunar looking Opera House, photographs of fully veiled women's reflections in mirrors set in the cityspace, Lamya Gargash's haunting photos of abandoned Dubai homes and an installation of snapshots hung on poster racks by Koolhaas's daughter, Charlie. Set in the radiant German countryside, minutes from Basel, the opening was attended by Sheiks, proud Emirates and a bubbling bash of art collectors eager to get an all-inclusive, unmoderated preview of the city of the future.