ArtDayME: Desert X AlUla, the international open-air art exhibition, will return for its third edition next year.

The event, part of AlUla Arts Festival, will run from Feb. 9 to March 23, 2024. It will feature contemporary artworks by Saudi and international artists set amidst the desert landscape.

This year’s theme is “In the Presence of Absence,” with artists invited to explore ideas of the unseen and the inexpressible. They will stage new encounters with the landscape, featuring alternative perspectives of time, wind and light as well as the area’s myths and history.

Returning as artistic directors are Raneem Farsi and Neville Wakefield, while the exhibition will be curated by Maya El-Khalil and Marcello Dantas.

Dana Awartani, Where The Dwellers Lay, Desert X AlUla 2022, photo by Lance Gerber. (Courtesy of the Royal Commission for AlUla)

El-Khalil is a renowned art advisor and curator with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa region. Dantas is an award-winning curator known for his innovative interdisciplinary practices linking science, history and technology.

El-Khalil said: “The region of AlUla is monumental. We challenged the artists to adjust their perspective to encounter the unseen aspects of the place with reverence, attuning to the forces, rhythms and processes that shape the landscape in imperceptible ways. Their works diagram and engage ephemeral phenomena like the movement of light or the erosion of wind.”

Dantas added: “The desert, often perceived as a place of emptiness, gradually unveils its intricate layers of existence. These manifest through the ever-shifting terrain, the intricate dance of time, the evidence of life and the transformative power of climate.

Alicja Kwade, In Blur, Desert X AlUla 2022, photo by Lance Gerber. (Courtesy of the Royal Commission for AlUla)

“Desert X AlUla invites artists to create original works with a unique canvas on an unprecedented scale. We tasked these artists with the mission of uncovering traces that transcend the limits of our sight, blurring the line between what we see and what we truly perceive in the presence of absence.” 

Desert X AlUla is a collaboration between Desert X and the Royal Commission for AlUla and aims to advance new cultural dialogue through art. It fosters exchanges between artists, curators and international and local communities, taking the desert as inspiration. 

Next year’s edition will take place at locations within the Wadi Al-Fann desert, Harrat Uwayrid and Al-Manshiyah Railway Station.