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Desert X AlUla Podcast

This Desert X AlUla podcast series gives voice to artists from Saudi Arabia, the neighboring region, Europe and the U.S. It accompanies Desert X AlUla, a site-responsive exhibition that took place January 31–March 7, 2020 in the desert of AlUla, an ancient oasis in Saudi Arabia. Desert X AlUla co-curators Neville Wakefield, Raneem Farsi and Aya Alireza talk with some of the participating artists about how they responded to the mighty landscape and why they welcomed the opportunity to participate. Their large-scale site-specific art works have inspired new dialogue about the desert and themes that range from the passage of goods and ideas along the ancient incense route, the cultural memory that passage has left, and the natural resources that have shaped the region, both past and present.

Serving as a crossroads between three continents and a gateway between East and West, AlUla was built from successive civilizations and for millennia was a place for cultural exchange. As AlUla’s first major contemporary art exhibition, Desert X AlUla marks an exciting and transformative moment for Saudi Arabia, reviving this cultural legacy and adding new layers to the destination’s future as an open living museum that inspires creativity.

Desert X 2019 Podcast

Desert X is a contemporary art exhibition framed by the mountains and desert of the Coachella Valley. On this podcast, we’ll introduce you to some of the artists of Desert X 2019. Their site-specific artworks range from murals and projections to large-scale sculptures and virtual installations. And they take on themes like fossil fuel use, rising sea levels, and class divides.