Desert X: The Latest Architecture and News

Desert X AlUla will open its latest exhibition themed “In the Presence of Absence,” from February 9th to March 23rd, 2024. Featuring 15 commissioned artworks that explore the unseen, the festival takes place bi-yearly in the desert region of Saudi Arabia. This edition of Desert X AlUla is curated by Maya El Khalil, renowned for her art advisory and MENA-focused curation, and Marcello Dantas, an award-winning curator known for his interdisciplinary practices.

Returning for its third edition, Desert X AlUla 2024 invites artists to engage with the landscape, nature, and heritage of AlUla. The exhibition aims to position AlUla as the hub for monumental art experiences in the region. This year’s theme, “In the Presence of Absence,” challenges the concept of deserts as “empty spaces.” Artists worldwide are encouraged to investigate conceptual ideas of the invisible, engaging in a dialogue with AlUla’s environment.

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Desert X AlUla has just announced its return in 2024 in the Saudi Arabian Peninsula. Marking the significant highlight of the AlUla Arts Festival, Desert X AlUla is a transient, site-responsive, and inclusive open-air art exhibit that takes place bi-yearly in the desert region of the country. Launching on February 9^th and continuing until March 23^rd, 2024, this edition is curated by Maya El Khalil, renowned for her art advisory and MENA-focused curation, and Marcello Dantas, an award-winning curator known for his interdisciplinary practices.

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The new cultural destination Wadi AlFann, Valley of the Arts in AlUla desert, Saudi Arabia, unveiled its first permanent large-scale installations by some of the world's most compelling contemporary artists. Agnes Denes, Ahmed Mater, James Turrell, Manal AlDowayan, and Michael Heizer will be the first five to be completed and unveiled by 2024, starting a program of commissions with more renowned artists to be announced.

The site, a vast valley spanning approximately 39 square kilometers with a millennial legacy, aims to become the new global cultural destination for contemporary art, contemplating another 15-20 artworks by 2035. The plan builds upon the success of two editions of the international art exhibition Desert X AlUla, in 2020 and most recently the 2022 edition, featuring work by Ayman Zedani, Jim Denevan, and Zeinab Al Hashemi.

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As part of the Desert X international contemporary art exhibition, the second edition of the Desert X AlUla features 15 contextual installations across the Saudi Arabian desert that explore "ideas of mirage and oasis". This year's exhibition is curated by Reem Fadda, Raneem Farsi, and Neville Wakefield, under the theme of Sarab (arabic for 'Mirage'), and invites artists to address the history and culture of the desert, its contemporary significance, and the dichotomy between the natural and man-made world.

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19 installations have been unveiled across the California Desert as part of the Desert X international contemporary art exhibition. The second edition of the exhibition, running from February 9th to April 21st, 2019, is free and open to the public, and seeks to “activate the desert landscape through nineteen site-specific installations and performances by some of today’s most recognized international contemporary artists.”

Co-curated Amanda Hunt and Matthew Schum, the exhibition explores ideas of site-specificity, framing post-industrial art and the interactive possibilities it contains. The 2019 edition includes film projects and process-driven works, spanning 50 miles across the Coachella Valley into Mexico.

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