Latest news with #Movahed
Spectator
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
The French sculptors building the new Statue of Liberty
At a miserable-looking rally for the centre-left Place Publique in mid-March, its co-president, MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, made international headlines calling for the Trump administration to return the Statue of Liberty, gifted by the French in 1886 to commemorate the Declaration of Independence: 'It was our gift to you. But apparently you despise her. So she will be happy here with us.' The predictably sensationalist headlines dissipated in a flurry of Republican outrage against 'the low-level French politician' as quickly as they had arrived. But Glucksmann's demand – sincere or not – caught the attention of a group of sculptors who, in their words, have 'taken up the dream of civilisation' to produce monumental civic sculpture. Two days after the MEP's proclamation, Atelier Missor posted on X: 'Keep the Statue of Liberty; it's rightfully yours. But get ready for another one. A New Statue of Liberty, much bigger, made from titanium to withstand millions of years. We, the French people, are going to make it again!' It was accompanied by an AI-generated image of her future titanium partner Prometheus. So far, so American Golden Age, validated by a typically laconic reply from Elon Musk: 'Looks cool.' The brief online exchange was a public-relations coup for Missor – and decried as such by cynics. Surely no one believed that this hare-brained scheme could be feasibly implemented? Think again. To understand the sincerity of Missor, one must return to where their ambitions started. 'I found the toppling of public statues intolerable,' its namesake founder Missor Movahed tells me at their studio on the outskirts of Meaux, 40 miles north-east of Paris. 'I did not understand what these people were doing or what they were saying. Would they rather these great men had never existed?' he says, referring to the convulsive, iconoclastic riots of 2020 – the respective beheadings and defacements of Columbus, Colston and Churchill. Movahed was 30 years old and had no prior sculptural training. He and his friends began discussing the postmodern cultural malaise on a YouTube channel from a disused garage in Nice, with the ambition of producing small figurative busts, at scale, of the luminaries to whose lives and writings they were turning: Nietzsche, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, Dostoevsky. The son of a successful painter, Movahed grew up in Paris with neither plans nor qualification: 'For 12 years, I did nothing with my life: I led a life of a wastrel bohème. But being in Paris – the greatest work of art in the world – I felt a growing weight to produce something monumental… to create monuments that will stand on the landscape of humanity.' All simultaneously informed by and documented on YouTube – a kind of modern carnet – they constructed rubber moulds and later a working smelter for limited-edition bronzes fashioned by hand. 'There is no sculptor or foundry that produces classical civic sculpture in France to whom we could apprentice ourselves: all of them have closed, other than those we have on the internet.' Don't mistake the lack of formal training, however, for a lack of rigour or thought: 'We sculpt the statues out of clay always questioning what one of the Greek philosophers would say if he were watching… [Only a few other] highly specialist sculptors are using the 1,000-year-old 'lost wax method'.' This process involves 1,300°C molten bronze being poured into plaster casts of wax models. Within six months, orders were in the hundreds; by their third year, they numbered more than 5,000, helped by the binge in late-night mail-ordering that came to characterise successive lockdowns. Online, Missor had captivated a receptive audience, one that was seeking a resurrection of their European cultural inheritance. In August 2023, Missor received its first public commission: a €170,000 gilded bronze of Joan of Arc from the centre-right mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi. The 15th-century soldier-saint is a figure fiercely contested in France: à gauche, a martyred, cross-dressing teenage farmer; to the right, a devout Catholic rebel who lifted the siege of Orléans. Delivered a year later, the nine-tonne, 4.5-metre high statue was unveiled in December at the inauguration of a new car park next to the Eglise Sainte-Jeanne d'Arc. But there was a problem: the statue was found to have broken public procurement obligations and in January 2025 it was ordered that she should be removed. It sparked a huge backlash and in March this year, protestors arrived by dawn to pour a layer of asphalt around the base. Joan was going nowhere. There is no sign of the impending threat of prosecution when I arrive at the atelier, a corrugated shed off the Parisian suburban line: a dozen workers in dungarees – a uniform they trace to the compagnons du devoir who built the French cathedrals – are methodically plastering a monumental classical face surrounded by scaffolding. Their troubles played out between the regional and national headlines, the atelier seldom gives interviews. For nearly three hours, we speak, stood between remnant prototypes and plaster models that are now the subject of public – and legal – controversy. 'All sculptures are public memories that last, until we topple them, and by not making them we are losing our memories,' Movahed tells me. 'There are many who are artistically revolted by what we do as a momentary reaction to contemporary art. But there is a morbidity to civic 'fine art' today because of the way it depresses those who have funded it – us, the people.' He explains that titanium has never been used before for figurative sculpture. He views it as 'the frontier of both engineering and art – two things that must work together'. And for him the Franco-American alliance that spawned the Statue of Liberty was more than simply a historic fact: 'The founding myths of revolution that underpin the French and American republics represent an emancipation of the individual will and an unleashing of potential.' He talks with such passion that he forgets the sans-culottes tore down civic sculpture on an industrial scale. 'The Statue of Liberty represented the most beautiful thing a country can do: it was by the people, for the people. Prometheus will represent the possibilities of modern patronage: we have received hundreds of messages asking us to open crowdfunding.' Indeed, Movahed does not name the 'significant American backers' that have pledged support but cites Musk's Starbase as the intended location. A tiny bronze maquette of the rebel Titan – credited with shaping humans from clay – sits atop a pyramidal pedestal no taller than a hand that will 'chart the history of civilisation'. It is a world away from Boca Chica, Texas, and the task he illustrates with maddening conviction under a looming court order is beyond reason. 'We are called crazy, but our aim is simple: to let people dream as we have chosen to dream.'
Gulf Today
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf Today
Grebnev reclaims solo leadership with two rounds to go in Dubai chess tourney
Grandmaster (GM) Aleksey Grebnev of Russia once again distanced himself from the field with a hard-fought win against International Master (IM) S. Rohith Krishna of India in Monday night's seventh round of the 25th Dubai Open Chess Tournament at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club. Grebnev captalised on a series of blunders by Krishna in what was otherwise an equal position to dispose of his erstwhile co-leader and take the tournament lead with six points. The 18-year-old Russian is trailed closely by two other teenage grandmasters three years his junior - his compatriot Ivan Zemlyanskii and Sina Movahed of Iran, who both have 5.5 points. Movahed, who turned 15 last week during the tournament's opening day, and Zemlyanskii, two months shy of his 15th birthday in August, scored the biggest scalps of the round after defeating defending champion GM Mahammad Muradli and top-seed GM Nihal Sarin, respectively. Movahed inflicted Muradli's second consecutive loss in the tournament. Muradli was on the backpedal right out of the opening as Movahed sacrificed a pawn to weaken the Azerbaijani's kingside defence. Movahed, however, could not find the precise continuation to convert his advantage until a greedy pawn grab by Muradli on the 39th move allowed the Iranian to launch an overwhelming attack with all his pieces contributing to the onslaught. Muradli resigned three moves later. After being held by two consecutive draws, Nihal, playing the black pieces, once again took big risks to play for a win. The ploy initially worked as he started to create weaknesses around white's kingside, but the Indian failed to find the most accurate way to sustain the offensive, allowing Zemlyanskii to force an exchange of queens that neutralised the attack and left him a pawn up in the endgame. Grebnev will have the black pieces as he tries to protect his lead when he faces Movahed in the next round. In Category B, Fide Master (FM) Mahdi Nikookar of Iran ended his perfect run after a draw with Sri Lanka's Pesandu Rashmitha Liyanage in the seventh round. Nikookar, however, remains the solo leader with 6.5 points, followed by Liyanage and Indian Candidate Master (CM) Alankar Sawai Vandan with six points each. Vandan defeated Armenia's Davit Baghdasaryan. The tournament follows a 9-round Swiss system with a 90-minute time control plus a 30-second increment per move. Games are played every day from 5pm, except the final round on June 4, which starts at 10am. The awarding ceremony is on June 5. The tournament offers a prize pool of $52,000 to be handed out to the winners of both categories. Category A, contested by players with a rating over 2300, has a total prize fund of $39,500 with $12,000 going to the champion, while Category B, open to players rated below 2300, offers $12,500 in total prizes and $2,000 awarded to the champion. Special prizes will also be distributed to top performers among rating categories, unrated, youth, women, and UAE players. Chess fans from around the world can watch the Category A games live on the club's website as well as chess platforms such as and Earlier, International Master (IM) S Rohith Krishna of India defeated defending champion GM Mahammad Muradli to rise to the top of the standings in a tie with Grandmaster (GM) Aleksey Grebnev after Sunday night's sixth round. Grebnev drew with top-seed GM Nihal Sarin on the first board, allowing Krishna to join him for the lead with five points each. Nihal remains in joint second place with 4.5 points, alongside his compatriot GM Bharath Subramaniyam, GM Zemlyanskii, GM Shant Sargsyan, and GM Movahed. Muradli sacrificed a pawn on move six in a delayed Benko Gambit and a few moves later the game reached a position that was previously seen in a game between world number two Hikaru Nakamura and former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov. Muradli, however, deviated on move 13, a questionable decision that allowed Krishna to gain time to reinforce his central pawns and plant an uncontested knight on the c4-square, the white knight's ideal outpost in the Benko Gambit.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Men Are Dying From 'Broken Heart Syndrome' at Twice The Rate of Women
We're all aware of the psychological pain of a broken heart – countless books, songs, and movies have been written and made on the topic – but there's also scientific evidence that a broken heart can be fatal too. The technical term is takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC), a weakening of the heart brought on by physical or emotional stress. A new study from researchers at the University of Arizona looked at data on 199,890 patients in the US between 2016 and 2020. Incidence of TC rose slightly over the study period for both males and females, but overall incidence was generally higher for females. Fatalities and complications caused by the condition were relatively high. This fits in with previous research suggesting this 'broken heart syndrome' is becoming more common in the US. Although the condition was more common in women, deaths were more than twice as likely in men, with 11.2 percent of males dying compared with 5.5 percent of females. The overall death rate was 6.5 percent. "We were surprised to find that the death rate from takotsubo cardiomyopathy was relatively high without significant changes over the five-year study, and the rate of in-hospital complications also was elevated," says interventional cardiologist M. Reza Movahed, from the University of Arizona. The researchers have put forward a hypothesis for the gap between men and women. TC is believed to be brought on by a surge of stress hormones, triggered by either physical or emotional stress – so a physical stress might be surgery or an infection, whereas emotional stress could be a divorce or the death of a loved one. Physical stress TC is more common in men, which may explain the higher numbers of deaths brought on by the condition. The researchers also think differences in hormone balances between the sexes could play a role. Complications resulting from TC included congestive heart failure (35.9 percent of patients), atrial fibrillation (20.7 percent), cardiogenic shock (6.6 percent), stroke (5.3 percent) and cardiac arrest (3.4 percent). TC is often marked down as a heart attack or chest pain, because of the similarity of the symptoms. But the researchers behind the new study are hoping to raise awareness of the condition, so that it can be better diagnosed and treated more effectively. "Some complications, such as embolic stroke, may be preventable with an early initiation of anti-clotting medications in patients with a substantially weakened heart muscle or with an irregular heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation that increases the risk of stroke," says Movahed. TC is something that health professionals have known about for a while, but there are still plenty of unanswered questions about the condition – both in how it might be detected and how the risk of complications could be reduced. Not every case of TC is caused by relationship breakups, but it's clear that losing someone we love has multiple consequences for our physical and mental health, and that the heart can sometimes take the brunt of the stress. "The continued high death rate is alarming, suggesting that more research be done for better treatment and finding new therapeutic approaches to this condition," says Movahed. The research has been published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Your Walking Style Can Have Surprising Health Benefits, Study Says Your Genetic Risk For Disease Can Be Changed by Your Environment Too Much Work Could Be Literally Reshaping Your Brain
India Today
15-05-2025
- Health
- India Today
Men are twice likely to die from 'broken heart syndrome' than women: Study
Men are twice as likely to die from stress-induced heart failure, known as 'broken heart syndrome,' compared to women, a new study has found, despite the condition being far more common among heart syndrome, medically known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy, often triggered by intense emotional or physical stress such as the death of a loved one, is a heart condition that mimics a heart causes symptoms like chest pain, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, and in many cases, irregular heartbeats. It can lead to severe complications or even death if not treated study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, analysed health records of nearly 2,00,000 U.S. adults from 2016 to found that the overall death rate from the condition remained high at 6.5%, with no signs of improvement over the five-year period. While 5.5% of women diagnosed with the condition died, the mortality rate for men stood at a significantly higher 11.2%."Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is a serious condition with a substantial risk of death and severe complications,' said study author Dr. Mohammad Reza Movahed, an interventional cardiologist and professor at the University of Arizona's Sarver Heart Centre. He called the consistently high death rate "alarming," urging more focused research to improve treatment. Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, often triggered by intense emotional or physical stress such as the death of a loved one, is a heart condition that mimics a heart attack. () advertisementThe study found that older adults, especially those over 61, were the most vulnerable, though even adults between ages 46 and 60 were 2.6 to 3.25 times more likely to develop the condition than younger adults between 31 and adults had the highest incidence of the condition at 0.16%, followed by Native American (0.13%) and Black adults (0.07%).Several complications were observed in patients: congestive heart failure in 35.9%, atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat) in 20.7%, cardiogenic shock in 6.6%, stroke in 5.3%, and cardiac arrest in 3.4%. Movahed emphasised that many of these serious complications could potentially be prevented through early treatment and study also found that socioeconomic factors such as household income, hospital size, and insurance status, had an impact on outcomes, though the exact role they play needs more the exact reason for the higher death rate in men remains unclear, researchers suspect hormonal differences or a higher rate of physical stress in men could be contributing Movahed urged doctors to stay alert to this under-recognized condition, especially in older patients experiencing significant stress, and called for the development of better treatment options to help reduce its fatal toll.
