The Dubai Fountain lies atop an artificial body of water in the center of Emaar Properties’ Downtown Dubai development. Every day, hundreds of people gather to observe and contemplate the fountain’s choreographed song and dance sequences. At the time, considered the largest in the world, the fountain design, playlists, and choreography are developed by the California-based WET design, who are also responsible for the fountains at the Bellagio Hotel Lake in Las Vegas.
After a lengthy process of emails to several government-affiliated and private entities in Dubai, I was able to gain permission to have Emaar play a silent rendition of the Dubai Fountain’s choreography. For the first time ever, at 13:15 Gulf Standard Time on the 22nd of July 2019, the fountain danced to Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You and Umm Kalthoum’s Enta Omri, silently.
Audio of the Dubai Mall Fountain water jets (with no music) plays from a speaker set inside a manmade seashell. The UAE is a coastal country with a desert landscape that blends into the Empty Quarter. Over the past 20 years, Dubai has expanded into the ocean with projects like the Palm Islands and The World. The coastline is scattered with consumerist projects such as The Walk at JBR and La Mer by Meeras.
