MONIRA AL QADIRI
W.A.B.A.R.

DESERT X ALULA, ALULA, SAUDI ARABIA
9 FEBRUARY – 23 MARCH 2024

Following two exhibitions since 2020, Desert X AlUla returns for its third edition from 9 February – 23 March 2024, placing visionary contemporary artworks by Saudi and international artists amidst the extraordinary desert landscape of AlUla, a majestic region in north-west Saudi Arabia of natural and creative heritage steeped in a legacy of cross-cultural exchange.

Under the theme of In the Presence of Absence, Desert X AlUla 2024 asks "What cannot be seen?" Often dismissed as spaces of emptiness, deserts are rendered mute, and 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.
Photo by Lance Gerber © Courtesy of the Royal Commission for AlUla

Monira Al Qadiri exhibits her newly commissioned sculptures, W.A.B.A.R., at this year's Desert X AIUAa. Sitting atop a large sand dune with a 360-degree panoramic view around them, these enlarged meteorites made of bronze mimic the otherworldly mountainous landscape in the distance. Inspired by her time spent in the Empty Quarter, the sculptures' in this scenic desert landscape feel like a homecoming for the artist and her “black pearls.”

Photo by Lance Gerber © Courtesy of the Royal Commission for AlUla

Open to all, Desert X AlUla is a recurring and temporary, site-responsive, international open-air art exhibition taking place in AlUla, a globally significant ancient desert region in the Arabian Peninsula. Desert X AlUla takes place as a highlight of the AlUla Arts Festival. Raneem Farsi and Neville Wakefield return as this year’s artistic directors and the exhibition will be curated by Maya El Khalil and Marcello Dantas. El Khalil is a renowned art advisor and curator with a focus on the MENA region. Dantas is an award-winning curator known for innovative interdisciplinary practices linking science, history, and technology to create engaging and participatory exhibition experiences.

Photo by Lance Gerber © Courtesy of the Royal Commission for AlUla

EDITION

Wabar Pearl

Monira Al Qadiri

Wabar Pearl

FEATURED ARTIST

MONIRA AL QADIRI
Monira Al Qadiri (b. 1983) is a Kuwaiti visual artist born in Senegal and educated in Japan. Spanning sculpture, installation, film, and performance, Al Qadiri’s multifaceted practice is based on research into the cultural histories of the Gulf region. Her interpretation of the Gulf’s so-called “petro-culture” is manifested through speculative scenarios that take inspiration from science fiction, autobiography, traditional practices, and pop culture, resulting in uncanny and covertly subversive works that destabilize mythologies of statecraft and modernization as well as traditional notions of gender. Tracing the delicate ecologies threate...
Read more