Exhibition intro — “Ego Crush: Dubai & Other Myths” The show where gold gets a reality check and romance asks for a manager. In a world selling neon feelings and surge-priced attention, these pictures offer low-tech upgrades: scissors, rings, candles, breath. An ego-perfume tries to humidify a desert—it smells terrific and fixes nothing. A cart chooses bread over bombs because lunch beats collateral. A phone puppeteers the thumb until a unionized scissor files a grievance. A vending machine markets “matches,” yet the real luxury is a table for two. Pills glitter; the heart glows brighter. Value divorces Price and keeps the houseplants. Yachts ooze, cards drip; a sapling counts growth in chlorophyll, not cashback. We switch on Do Not Disturb so reality can speak. A wedding ring becomes a room—limited seating, lifelong run. The final crown? An hourglass: time rules, dignity fits everyone. Pop palette, clinical edges—mint, teal, daffodil, midnight—keep the satire steady. The joke lands soft; the thesis lands hard: if love is infrastructure, maintenance is art. Bring curiosity. Leave with fewer notifications and better boundaries.