Invisible Possibilities
Under The Theme of 'In the Presence of Absence', Desert X AlUla 2024 Enquires ‘What Cannot Be Seen?’
As their third collaborative event together, Desert X AlUla yet again transforms a seemingly baron desert landscape into new cross-cultural enquiries with multi-dimensional installation works from both local Saudi and international contemporary artists.
Running from February 9 – March 23, fifteen new site-specific artwork installations have been created in the vast desert of AlUla in Saudi Arabia led by a stellar curation by Maya El Khalil and Marcello Dantas, alongside Desert X Artistic Directors Raneem Farsi and Neville Wakefield.
‘Often dismissed as spaces of emptiness, deserts are rendered mute, static, but there is much more than meets the eye. Artists taking part in Desert X AlUla 2024 have been invited to explore ideas of the unseen and the inexpressible. Encouraged to engage with what is not immediately apparent, they stage new encounters with the landscape, imagining alternative perspectives that appreciate the imperceptible forces and atmospheres of time, wind, light, the flows of history and myths woven into the place.’
Desert X AlUla 2024
9 February – 23 March, 2024
Text: Editor-in-Chief Joanna Kawecki
Images: As credited, Desert X AlUla 2024 © Courtesy of The Royal Commission for AlUla