The latest edition of Desert X AlUla took place this March, with works from 15 artists presenting their specially commissioned artworks in the open-air museum of AlUla’s desert.
Under this year’s theme of “In the Presence of Absence”, the 15 artworks were placed around the ancient desert region, with guests invited to view the works earlier this month. This year’s exhibition was curated by Maya El Khalil and Marcello Dantas, with artistic direction from Raneem Farsi and Neville Wakefield. The 15 selected artists from around the region have worked to combine the natural landscape with the message they are trying to share.
Desert X AlUla is a collaboration between Desert X and the destination of AlUla established to advance new cultural dialogue through art. The first site-responsive exhibition of its kind in Saudi Arabia, it fosters dialogue and exchange between artists, curators, and international and local communities, shaped by a curatorial vision that takes the desert as its inspiration. Building on the legacy of Desert X, which takes place in California’s Coachella Valley, Desert X AlUla draws on principles of land art, offering a profound opportunity to experience art on a monumental scale in dialogue with nature.
This edition of the annual event was situated across three locations for the first time, inviting visitors to experience spectacular and varied landscapes as they weave their journey between works. Desert X AlUla works were on show in the desert landscape of Wadi AlFann, amongst the black lava stone terrain and breathtaking views of Harrat Uwayrid and at the AlManshiyah Plaza, which features the carefully preserved AlUla Railway Station, revealing the many layers of history and cultural confluence you find in AlUla.
Highlights of this year’s exhibition included:
Sara Alissa and Nojoud Alsudairi, turned the landscape into a self-reflective arrangement in Invisible Possibilities: When the Earth Began to Look at Itself. The work aims to reshape viewers’ understanding of the site’s ecological transition and physical geographies through different viewpoints and approaches. As we enter the cylindrical form of Kimsooja’s work, between iridescent walls, visitors are drawn in and out to the centre of a spiral. The chromatic walls of To Breathe – AlUla distils light that has travelled aeons into prisms that dance across the visitor and the landscape.
Ayman Yossri Daydban draws the contours of a football pitch with white stones and rocks gathered by the AlUla community from across the valley. Placed in a remote, rocky area, the football field is a mysterious and suspicious presence, provoking collective memory and considering the social role of football. For When I saw my reflection, Bosco Sodi gathered volcanic rocks from across the landscape. Wrapped in gold, they have been placed in rock faces that tower above the desert to draw the viewer’s eyes to the beautiful organic formations and accidents that already exist in the rock formations.
In Caline Aoun’s The Desert Has No Surface, stones from the basalt plateau of Harrat al Sham are polished on one side. The sun is an essential element in Aoun’s work which is activated through the refraction of sunlight producing moments of shimmering that reflect the impermanence of the desert landscape and the natural forces that created it. Rana Haddad and Pascal Hachem’s installation focuses on honouring the traditional crafts of the region, creating a refuge made from rammed earth jars. Dubbed Reveries, each jar in the tower bears geometric cuts, allowing nature and light to shift and cast ever-evolving patterns within.
Also composed of vessels, Ibrahim Mahama’s terracotta pots are scattered across the landscape, suggesting new ecosystems emerging from the relics of history. Mahama’s works can be viewed across Desert X AlUla’s three sites including Dung Bara – The Rider Does No in Wadi AlFann, Hanging Garden at AlManshiyah Plaza and Gabli Din Pali – A Full Gourd Does Not Rattle; It Is Only a Partially Filled Gourd Which Rattles on Harrat Uwayrid. Drawing on AlUla’s legacy on the Incense Route, Karola Braga uses scent to recreate the sensory world of ancient trade. Her structure, Sfumato, engulfs participants in hazy frankincense and myrrh, inviting visitors to reconnect with the olfactory heritage of the route in a unique and immersive encounter.
Aseel AlYaqoub’s Weird Life: An ode to desert varnish is inspired by the ‘desert varnish’ that naturally appears in landscapes like AlUla’s, evolving into a luminous veneer with yellow, orange, red and black, and bemusing scientists for centuries.
Inspired by pre-Islamic beliefs of jinn inhabiting the desert, Filwa Nazer’s elevated walkway of Preserving Shadows is structured using steel mesh to form a massive, undulating black snake. Elaborated into massive, outsized forms, Monira Al Qadiri’s W.A.B.A.R. echoes mysterious objects that perplexed inhabitants of the desert in the 1930s. The work summons a cosmic folk narrative where, upon discovering the pearls, a community in the Empty Quarter believed they had an extraterrestrial origin.
Rand Abdul Jabbar’s “Where Myths Are Born of Mud and Desire”, was situated in an alcove in the mountain valley, its five sculptural forms telling the story of Venus. While encountering each piece through the story, the visitor becomes immersed in ancient perspectives and shifting relations to the celestial. In The Dot, Faisal Samra shows how the Wadi AlFann valley originated from an ancient crack, revealing the small forces that shape grandeur over epochs. The illusion of time is symbolised by a line composed of rock fragments.
Giuseppe Penone’s The Logic of the Vegetal – Metamorphosis explores the cyclical nature of all life. Fossilised tree trunks hover between living organisms and mineral states, encouraging visitors to reflect on the transformations that occur over time. Necks of glass bottles emerge from Kader Attia’s sculptures in Whistleblower, which whistle when open to the wind. The haunting sound that results encourages viewers to reflect on the concern we should all have for Earth.
Desert X AlUla takes place as a highlight of the AlUla Arts Festival, which ran from 9 February to 2 March 2024. During the festival, More than Meets the Eye, an exhibition of contemporary works by Saudi artists, was presented by the contemporary art museum, AlUla. There were two exhibitions of work by Wadi AlFann commissioned artist Manal AlDowayan in Aljadidah Arts District. The festival immersed visitors in a vibrant celebration of contemporary visual and public art, design, art tours, and artist residencies. At AlUla’s mixed-use creative hub, Madrasat Addeera, also offered hands-on workshops on crafts such as palm weaving, pottery, jewellery, geometry, 3D structures, textiles, and many more.
