Thursday, February 17, 2022

Desert X AlUla 2022

Abdullah AlOthman, Geography of Hope, installation view, Desert X AlUla 2022, courtesy the artist
and Desert X AlUla, photo by Lance Gerber 
  •  
    Desert X AlUla 2022
     
    Desert X AlUla is a recurring, site-responsive, international art exhibition taking place in AlUla, a globally significant ancient dessert region in the Arabian peninsula.  This year's exhibition - until March 30 - under the curatorial vision of Reem Fadda, Raneem Farsi and Neville Wakefield, places contemporary artworks by 15 Saudi and international artists amidst the extraordinary landscape of AlUla, a majestic region in north-west Saudi Arabia of natural and creative heritage steeped in a legacy of cross-cultural exchange.

    Abdullah AlOthman 
    Geography of Hope - installation

    Abdullah AlOthman’s piece references theories of light refraction rooting back to the early days of desert civilisation and culture, with stainless steel plinths that interact with the light and create a radiant space that seeks to manifest the experience of capturing the mirage for the first time.

    https://desertx.org/

    https://www.livingmuseum.com/

     


    Dana Awartani, Where The Dwellers Lay, installation view, Desert X AlUla 2022, courtesy the artist and Desert X AlUla, photo by Lance Gerber
     
    Under the theme of Sarab, this year’s exhibition explores ideas of mirage and oasis, both intrinsic to desert history and culture, that have taken on complex worldwide significance over time. Invited to consider these ancient concepts, participating artists have responded with new works that address dreams, camouflage, fiction, dis/appearance, extraction, illusion and myth, while also examining the dichotomy between the natural and man-made worlds.
     
    Dana Awartani
    Where The Dwellers Lay
    - installation
     
    Dana Awartani’s sculpture draws inspiration from the vernacular architecture of AlUla, taking the form of a concave geometric sculpture that references the Nabataean tombs and mimics the shapes of surrounding mountains, gorges, caverns and rock formations. 

    Screenshot from video
    1. “AlUla has always been at the crossroads of trade and culture. Its landscape and history have and continue to draw people from across the globe. In captivating the imagination of artists and travelers alike, AlUla presents itself as the perfect site for an exhibition that explores the idea of the desert as a place of cultural interaction, dialogue and exchange. The first edition of Desert X AlUla in 2020 proved how much there is for artists and audiences from different parts of the world to learn from one another. Artists are often leaders in these conversations and so it is particularly exciting for Desert X AlUla to have such a significant role in the region’s many programs of cultural transformation.”
      Neville Wakefield,
      co-artistic director of Desert X AlUla + artistic director of Desert
      X

       Neville Wakefield and Nora Aldabal - executive director Desert X Alula
       
      Shaikha Al Mazrou - Measuring The Physicality of Void, installation view, Desert X AlUla 2022, courtesy the artist and Desert X AlUla, photo by Lance Gerber
       
      Shaikha Al Mazrou 
      Measuring The Physicality of Void - installation 
       Shaikha Al Mazrou’s lengthy steel-made inflated structures are wedged in the voids of rocks, tensely balanced in the landscape, occupying the liminal state between stasis and movement, creating a silent yet imposing composition suspended in inertia. 
       
                
       Jim Denevan, Angle of Repose, installation view, Desert X AlUla 2022, courtesy the artist and Desert XAlUla, photo by Lance Gerber
       
      Jim Denevan, 
      Angle of Repose - installation 
      Land artist Jim Denevan creates ephemeral drawings whose interlocking patterns speak to the shifts in magnitude and scale that so often shape our experience of the desert and our attempts to position ourselves within the vastness of unbounded space. 
       
      photograph courtesy DesertX AIUla 2022
       
      “As a powerful form of self-expression, art has the power to transform societies, cities, and perspectives. Everyone is hungry for the best in contemporary art – and Desert X AlUla is feeding that appetite in an unprecedented way. Having worked for many years on the development and representation of the Saudi art scene, I can see that today Saudi artists are getting more attention and opportunities than ever before, both locally and internationally. Desert X AlUla plays a very important part in a vast wave of art and culture initiatives that is shaping the ecosystem for creativity in Saudi Arabia.”
        Raneem Farsi
      co-artistic director of Desert X AlUla 
       

      Zeinab Alhashemi, Camoul age 2.0, installation view, Desert X AlUla 2022, courtesy the artist and Desert X AlUla, photo by Lance Gerber 
       
      Zeinab Alhashami
      Camouflage 2.0 - installation 
      Zeinab Alhashami's interactive sculpture uses discarded camel skins on an abstract, geometric base, resembling a rock formation in the desert; like a camouflage, these camel hide sculptures merge into the mountains.
       
       
       
      Serge Attukwei Clottey - Gold Folds, installation view, installation view, Desert X AlUla 2022, courtesy the artist and Desert X AlUla, photo by Lance Gerber 
       
      Serge Attukwei Clottey
      Gold Folds - installation
      Serge Attukwei Clottey's installation addresses the experience of globalisation, migration and water equity by shrouding slabs of rock in meticulously crafted tapestries made from  yellow Kufor gallons, which are plastic containers used in Ghana for storing and transporting water.
       
      Alicja Kwade, In Blur, installation view, installation view, Desert X AlUla 2022, courtesy the artist and Desert X AlUla, photo by Lance Gerber 
       
      Alicja Kwade
      In Blur - installation 
      Alicja Kwade's architectural structures reflect and frame the natural artefacts she encountered on the desert floor, which she rearranged and supplemented to create constantly changing perspectives that strike the fine line between reality and illusion.
       


      Sultan bin Fahad, Desert Kite, installation view, Desert X AlUla 2022, courtesy the artist and Desert X AlUla, both photos by Lance Gerber 
       
      Sultan bin Fahad
      Desert Kite - installation 
      Sultan bin Fahad's mud structure shaped like a desert kite, with mirrors on the facade that create a look of mirage, and houses an urn-like sculpture embossed with four protective symbols traditionally used in Nabatean tombs. 
       

      Claudia Comte, Dark Suns, Bright Waves, installation view, Desert X AlUla 2022, courtesy the artist and Desert X AlUla, photo by Lance Gerber 
       
      Claudia Comte 
      Dark Suns, Bright Waves - installation
      Claudia Comte's work features a progression of walls imposing their architectural presence within the natural order of AlUla canyons, with each carrying a section of a larger algorithmic pattern relating to the waveforms that shape the sound and surface of the desert. 
       

       Shezad Dawood, Coral Alchemy II (Porites Columnaris), installation view, Desert X AlUla 2022, courtesy the artist and Desert X AlUla, photo by Lance Gerber  

      Shezad Dawood 
      Coral Alchemy II (Porites Columnaris) - installation
      Shezad Dawood's work explores ideas of deep tie and the geo-biological relationship between the desert floor and nearby Red Sea through a pair of coral-like forms whose temperature-sensitive surface reflects the effects of climate change and mankind's continuing struggle to find a sustainable relationship with a rapidly changing ecosystem.
       
       
      Khalil Rabah, Grounding, installation view, Desert X AlUla 2022, courtesy the artist and Desert X AlUla, photo by Lance Gerber 
       
      Khalil Rabah
      Grounding - installation 
      Khalil Rabah creates a mirage of an orchard of olive trees, which stand here in the desert as living things displaced from their indigenous land and longing to be repatriated, as an exploration of territory, survival and citizenship. 
       

      Shadid Alem,I Have Seen Thousands of Stars and One Fell in AIUla, installation view, Desert X AlUla 2022, courtesy the artist and Desert X AlUla, photo by Lance Gerber 
       
      Shadid Alem
      I Have Seen Thousands of Stars and One Fell in AIUla
      installation 
      Shadia Alem's sculptural installation adapts the art of origami, applying the basic principles of geometry and beauty to create shapes that make reference to the Arabian desert's literature, mathematics and mythology.
       



      Stephanie Deumer, Under the Same Sun, installation view, Desert X AlUla 2022, courtesy the artist and Desert X AlUla, both photos by Lance Gerber 
       
      Stephanie Deumer
      Under the Same Sun - Installation
      Working at the intersection of nature and technology Stephanie Deumer has created an underground greenhouse; hinting at the lush sanctuary of native plants below, a large puddle-shaped array of solar panels mounted flush with the desert floor creates an energy feedback loop where the energy of the sun is captured, stored and transformed through photosynthesis into growth and transformation. 
       

      Ayman Zedani, The Valley of The Desert Keepers, installation view, Desert X AlUla 2022, courtesy the artist and Desert X AlUla, both photos by Lance Gerber 
       
      Ayman Zedani
      The Valley of The Desert Keepers - installation 
      Ayman Zedani's soundscape installation in a rocky cavern comprises horizontal sculptural wires and an audio projection of music, voices and footsteps, creating a cacophony of sounds that add to the chimes of nature. 
       
      photograph courtesy DesertX AIUla 2022

      “The desert concepts of mirage and oasis have long been tied to ideas of survival, perseverance, desire and wealth. The oasis pertains to ideas of finding prosperity or heaven, while the mirage is a universal symbol of the mysteries of imagination and reality. They also connote the incomprehensible beauty and abundance of nature in its most bereft state – the desert – and humans’ obsessive desire to capture and control it. Under the theme of ‘Sarab’, the artists presented in the exhibition – all of whom have spent time in the AlUla region – have developed ambitious and strikingly innovative, site-specific responses, all of which address profound issues, that emerge from the local context but also resonate with audiences the world-over.”  

      Reem Fadda, 

      curatorial advisor to Desert X AlUla 2022 

       

       

       



       
       
       
       
        
       
       

       

       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       

       

       

       
       
       


       

       
       
     
     


     

     

     



Wednesday, February 09, 2022

Venice - Sneak Preview - 59th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia - The Milk of Dreams

 
59th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia
The Milk of Dreams
 
The 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, titled The Milk of Dreams, will open to the public -  April 23-November 27 - at the Giardini and the Arsenale; it will be curated by Cecilia Alemani and organised by La Biennale di Venezia chaired by Roberto Cicutto
 
Cecilia Vicuna
Leoparda de Ojitos -1977
Martiillo y Repollo - 1973
 

https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2022/

  
"The travelling companions - the artists - who accompany the Curator all come from very different worlds. Cecilia tells us that there is a majority of female artists and non-binary subjects, a choice I endorse because it reflects the richness of the creative force of our time.  My wish for the 
59th International Art Exhibition 
is that we can all immerse ourselves in the - re- enchantment of the world - that Cecilia evokes in her introduction. Perhaps this is a dream, 
which is another of the constituent elements of this Exhibition.
Many works are new productions created specifically for this edition."
Roberto Ciucutto 
 

President - La Biennale di Venezia - Roberto Cicutto 
Cecilia Alemani
- Curator

 


The Milk of Dreams takes its title from a book by Leonora Carrington - 19172011 in which the Surrealist artist describes a magical world where life is constantly re-envisioned through the prism of the imagination. It is a world where everyone can change, be transformed, become something or someone else. The exhibition The Milk of Dreams takes Leonora Carrington’s otherworldly creatures, along with other figures of transformation, as companions on an imaginary journey through the metamorphoses of bodies and definitions of the human. 
 

Baya Mahiedddine
Femme robe jaune cheveux bleus - Femme au panier et coq rouge
Femme robe a chevrons - all 1947
 
 
The Milk of Dreams will includes over two hundred artists from 58 countries. More than 180 of these artists have never been in the International Art Exhibition until now. For the first time in its 127- year history, La Biennale will include a majority of women and gender non-conforming artists, a choice that reflects an international art scene full of creative ferment and a deliberate rethinking of man’s centrality in the history of art and contemporary culture.
 
Dorothea Tanning
Deirdre
- 1940
 
 
Gertrud Arndt 
all 1930
 

The exhibition features contemporary works and new projects conceived specifically for the Biennale Arte, presented in dialogue with historic works from the 19th century on. 
 
Andra Ursuta
Predators 'R Us - 2020 
 

"How is the definition of the human changing? What constitutes life, and what differentiates plant and animal, human and non-human? What are our responsibilities towards the planet, other people, and other life forms? And what would life look like without us?
These are some of the guiding questions for this edition of the Biennale Arte, which focuses on three thematic areas in particular: the representation of bodies and their metamorphoses; the relationship between individuals and technologies; the connection between bodies and the Earth.
Cecilia Alemani 
 
Cecilia Alemani is an Italian Curator based in New York who has organized many exhibitions of contemporary artists. She is currently Director and Chief Curator of High Line Art, the programme of public art in New York, and is the past curator of the Italian Pavilion at the Biennale Arte 2017.
 
 
Laura Grisi
Sunset Light - all 1967
 
 
Ulla Wiggen 
Iris XVIII Line - 2021
 
 
Lenora de Barros
POEMA - POEM - 1979/2014
 
 
Minnie Evans 
Untitled - 1967
 
 
Sable Elyse Smith
Landscape III - 2017

 
Vera Molnar
Transformation de carre concentriques - both 1976

 
Zheng Bo
Pteridophilia 4 - 2019
 
 
Jalder Esbell
Amamentacao - 2021
 
 
Bridget Tichenor
La Espera - The Wait - 1961
 
 
Fa. Auzoux - Womb Models - 1844
Aletta Jacob
 
 
Magdalene Odundo
Untitled Vessel - Symmetrical Series - 2017
Untitled Vessel - Symmetrical Series - 2009


Marianne Brandt
Stilleben mit Bauhausstoff - Kugein und Wellpappe - Selbstportrait
Bauhaus Dessau - c. 1928-1929 
Das Atelier in der Kugel II - Selbstportrait - c. 1928-1929
 
 
Alexandra Exter
Costume design for a female character in Aelita - Queen of Mars - both 1924


Kiki Kogelnik
Artificial Man in Four Parts 1-4 - 1967


Geumhyung Jeong
Toy Prototype - 2021
 

 

"During these endless months,  I have pondered the question of what role the International Art Exhibition should play at this historical juncture, and the simplest, most sincere answer I could find is that the Biennale sums up all the things we have so sorely missed in the last two years: the freedom to meet people from all over the world, the possibility of travel, the joy of spending time together, the practice of difference, translation, incomprehension, and communion. 
The Milk of Dreams  
is not an exhibition about the pandemic, but it inevitably registers the upheavals of our era. In times like this, as the history of La Biennale di Venezia clearly shows, art and artists can help us imagine new modes of coexistence and infinite new possibilities of transformation".  
Cecilia Alemani
 
Barbara Kruger
FOREVER 
installation view - Spruth Mager - Berlin - 2017
 
Please Note
All photographs are screenshots taken during the La Biennale press conference
The 59th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia 
The Milk of Dreams