It’s about what is the easy story, not what is the interesting story or what are the two sides of the story. “This is not the journalism I grew up with in the United States. “Overall, there have been many disappointments, not in terms of the art, but because every story that ran last time dug for the negative,” she said. “You have the choice to engage in dialogue and change the narrative or push it forward or not,” artist Shezad Dawood told Artnet News. “There was something about the particular situation in AlUla, the ancient civilizations, the geology, those are all things that interest me.”īut while frustration and backlash, particularly from the United States, still linger, Susan Davis, Desert X’s president and founder, said that “the dust is settling.” Some participating artists also spoke of wanting to look beyond the government’s actions.
They are here to speak their minds, concerns, and anxieties that are universal. “There is no need for anyone to explain or defend themselves. “The mood now is that the artists don’t need to explain themselves anymore,” Reem Fadda, a curator of the 2022 edition alongside Neville Wakefield and Raneem Farsi, told Artnet News. The message, say Desert X organizers, is the same in Saudi Arabia as it is in the biennial’s other site, the Coachella Valley: Focus on the art, its relationship with the land, and the plurality of artistic voices and cultures represented. Shadia Alem, I Have Seen Thousands of Stars and One Fell in AlUla (2022). This year the biennial, which was organized again in partnership with the Saudi Royal Commission of AlUla, features commissioned work by 15 international artists (open now until March 30). The woman’s calm focus against her breathtaking natural backdrop, is reflective of the country’s determination to build an art ecosystem in AlUla, despite the chaos and controversy that surrounds it, including the ongoing war with neighboring Yemen, boycotts over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and other human rights violations.ĭespite the global pandemic, Saudi Arabia, closed off to the world for decades, has continued its ambitious plans for development, which are part of Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman’s “Vision 2030.” Desert X AlUla, which takes its cue from the Land Art movement of the late ‘60s and ‘70s, is a major part of that agenda. Now the work, which was installed during the first edition of Desert X AlUla in 2020, and purportedly marking the first public showing of a female figure in the kingdom, can be viewed from a pool lounger at a new eco-friendly luxury resort, Habitas AlUla.Īlbuquerque’s sculpture, titled NAJMA, is symbolic of Desert X AlUla’s historic launch two years ago. Lita Albuquerque’s electric blue sculpture of a woman, seated in a meditative lotus pose, sits atop a gigantic rock overlooking the sand in AlUla, Saudi Arabia’s ancient desert region.
0 kommentar(er)
