The 14 Installations Showcased at Desert X Alula
Alula, KSA
Desert X Alula is the First Site-responsive Exhibition of Its Kind in Saudi Arabia.
An Exploration of Desert Culture, the Exhibition is a Cross-cultural Dialogue Between Artists From Saudi Arabia and Its Surrounding Region and Artists From Previous Iterations of Desert X in California, Taking Its Cues From the Extraordinary Landscape and Historical Significance of Alula.
A Concise Passage
Rashed AlShashai
Reflecting on the passage of goods and trade from the ancient past to modern times, creating a bridge between a vast open landscape and the economic systems that determine present-day borders.
Now You See Me, Now You Don’t
Manal AlDowayan
The evanescence of objects and images within this landscape is at the heart of the installation of artificial puddles.
Mirage
eL Seed
inspired by the image of fertility that the AlUla oasis presented to those who first crossed the arid landscape in search of trade, allowing viewers to enter a script-like structure submerged beneath the ground.
Glimpses of the Past
Zahrah AlGhamdi
A flickering oasis made of thousands of date containers, once key to AlUla’s agricultural wealth.
NAJMA
Lita Albuquerque
Invokes the cosmic myth of a female astronaut who arrives on earth to spread light and information, an ode to the region’s genesis as the birthplace of astronomy.
Falling Stones Garden
Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim
The fragility of the desert ecosystem is evident in this installation, which consists of rock-like forms painted in highly saturated colour
The Future is Now
Gisela Colon
The Future is Now is at once high-tech and futuristic but also reminiscent of the mystery of ancient cultural artifacts such as totems – it speaks to a moment in history marked by the coming together of old and new.
The Lost Path
Muhannad Shono
The installation takes youth as the new commodity across Saudi Arabia through a decaying pipeline that rests motionless, semi-submerged beneath the shifting sands.
On Parade
Nadim Karam
inspired by the diverse flora and fauna of the Arabian desert, On Parade is a caravan of forms that appear to have sprung out of the barren ground like desert bloom after the rain.
Amma Qabel
Nasser AlSalem
A sculpture with both interior and exterior landscapes, which embraces the idea of time as a continuum that connects all cultures and civilizations
Steel Rings
Rayyane Tabet
References the Trans-Arabian Pipe Line Company’s pipeline bisecting the Arabian Peninsula with forty rings forming the sculpture, each inscribed with the distance from the pipe’s source.
Kholkhal Aliaa
Sherin Guirguis
the installation looks at the role of cultural memory in shaping ideas of the present. Wedged within a rock crevice, a sculpture of a Bedouin anklet is a symbol of female power and agency as well as a metaphor for journeys, referencing the old city of AlUla
One Two Three Swing!
Superflex
a call to collective action, connecting people through the shared endeavor.
Dictums: Manqia II
Wael Shawky
recalling the once thriving historic town as a place of architectural memory through video projected onto the rockface.
Alula: an Ancient Oasis in Saudi Arabia, It Brings Together a Plurality of Voices, Co-curated by Saudi Curators Raneem Farsi and Aya Alireza With Desert X Artistic Director Neville Wakefield.
