Desert X AIUIa: Everything to expect

There are few places in the world where, in the name of art, you can bounce on trampolines sunken into desert sand or unleash your inner child as you try to go higher on a swing made for three (you’ll totally want to give both a try). But then, with its majestic desert plains, where the legacies of ancient civilisations vie for attention against massive rock monoliths in surroundings akin to the set of a blockbuster movie, there isn’t anywhere quite like AIUIa.

When Desert X first rocked up here in 2020, artists – suddenly let loose from the confines of a white-walled gallery – responded in a variety of surprising ways. Saudi artist Manal AlDowayan, creator of Now You See Me, Now You Don’t (still in situ in AIUIa’s sand), has said she felt she couldn’t compete with the beauty of the natural landscape so instead focused on creating something ‘invisible’.

The result: 12 sunken trampolines representing transient puddles – a comment on the world’s depleting natural water reserves (and you thought they were just for bouncing on!).

Monumental Moments

How the new crop of artists respond to this awe-inspiring landscape when Desert X AIUIa gets underway on February 11 is a challenge co-artistic director Neville Wakefield is looking forward to witnessing. “The landscape is, in all its harsh beauty, always challenging. AlUla is no exception, and the question that persists among artists and curators alike is how the art can exist in relation to the scale of the surroundings and remain symbiotic without being imposing,” says Wakefield.

“AlUla stands at the crossroads of so many histories, both ancient and modern. Many of the works in the show speak to this, invoking not just the history of AIUIa as an oasis but its future as a site of cultural, environmental, and social change,” he adds.

Riyadh’s very own king of neon, Abdullah Al Othman, is one of 15 artists who have answered the call to create site-specific works inspired by this year’s theme of Sarab (think riffs on concepts such as mirage, oasis, illusion, myth and what Wakefield calls “meditations on the nature of time”).

And having previously wrapped a mudbrick building in AIUIa’s Old Town in aluminium, we can’t wait to see how Al Othman responds to the sight of Jabal AIFiI (aka Elephant Rock), which dominates the valley chosen as the location for this year’s desert display.

As you might have gathered, Desert X AIUIa is definitely not the kind of showcase that requires you to observe art in hushed reverence (you’ll be doing far too much ‘oohing’ and ‘ahhing’ to keep quiet). As Nora Aldabal, Arts and Creative Planning Director at the Royal Commission for AIUIa, notes, “We want visitors to lose themselves in the experience as they weave their way between the works.” But what do you do when your tolerance for sand in your shoes peaks? You make a beeline for the mirror-clad Maraya and ask yourself ‘What Lies Within’?

Food for thought

As a prolific international collector and patron of Saudi art, Basma AlSulaiman founded her virtual museum, BASMOCA, more than a decade ago and was the first to use video gaming technology to showcase her private art collection to the world (because, who doesn’t want to be an art-loving avatar?).

What Lies Within is our first real-world peek at some of the works within this collection, and has been curated by artist Lulwah Al Homoud to enable visitors to, as she puts it, “discover many news stories from this collection and engage with dialogues around Saudi culture sparked by the artworks on show.” Spanning painting, sculpture, photography and installation, there’s plenty here to spark your curiosity.

Take Riyadh-based artist Maha Malluh’s work, Food For Thought Almuallaqat. A collection of flea market-salvaged aluminium cooking pots, their bases blackened by fire, the piece celebrates both Arab history and preserves the memories of the pots’ previous owners. The work’s title also refers to the great muallaqat or ‘Hanging Odes’; pre-Islamic poems that once hung on the Ka’ba in Mecca.

“Through the composition, I sought to evoke the rhythm of poetry and a time when Arabian culture proudly celebrated its sophisticated language,” Malluh reveals. “I hope the work will give visitors a moment to pause, observe, and reflect on its universal message within the unique and historic surroundings of AlUla.”

The Black Arch

The sacred Ka’ba also features an installation that first made its debut at the Venice Biennale in 2011. Exhibited in Saudi Arabia for the first time in the Maraya, The Black Arch by Shadia Alem features a giant mirrored ellipse surrounded by small chrome spheres in perfect concentric arcs. A black cube appears as if balancing on one corner, its distinctive shape immediately evoking the Ka’ba in a visually arresting set-up. The final addition, in a tweak since its Venice debut, is the projected audio/visual elements Alem has recorded during her time in AIUIa and Mecca.

“The work marks the culmination of the journey I made from Mecca to Venice, Paris, and now to AlUla,” says Alem. “This installation symbolises our crossing from the black to what lies beyond; from the personal to the universal, the sphere of creations or nations inhabiting each one of us while being ceaselessly exposed to the world.

“I also have a personal fascination with the concept of ‘the black arch’ as my grandmother used to tell me a story taken from The One Thousand and One Nights, in which a king’s new peasant bride is led into a room of a thousand arched doors at the top of the palace. He warns her that she can enter any of these, except for the black door. Eventually, however, the queen goes through the black arched doorway, which turns out to bring her downfall. This created an intriguing mystery in my imagination as to what might be encountered behind the closed door.”

So, when asking ‘what lies within?’, you may get more than you bargained for.

Desert X AlUla: February 11-March 30. What Lies Within: February 11-March 20. experiencealula.com.