The voyagers
The AlUla experience is branded a ‘journey through time’. The starting point of that journey is hard to pinpoint: up to 850 million years ago, perhaps, to the Precambrian rocks that make up the ‘shield’ on which the western part of Arabia sits.
And the furthest point in the future? The 25th century. That’s the time Lita Albuquerque’s female astronaut comes from. Her name is Elyseria. She sits in a lotus position, resplendent in her blue shawl and blue skin, gazing across the AlUla desert landscape.
“AlUla is a vast and ancient desert landscape with many distinctive geological wonders from three eras of geology,” says Nora Aldabal, arts and creative planning director of the RCU (Royal Commission for AlUla). “This makes it unique from other desert landscapes and gives our curators and artists many different inspirational options.”
Jennifer Stockman, former President of the Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation Board of Trustees, describes the experience of visiting the first Desert X AlUla:
“They were all contemporary works put into the ancient monuments, within the mountains,” she says. “Some of the works were quite brilliant. Some of the art wasn’t as good: but for the first Desert X AlUla it was a wonderful job.”
A new geography for the art world
arts and creative industry
Jennifer Stockman is the former President of the Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation Board of Trustees. She was closely involved in the forthcoming Guggenheim museum opening in Abu Dhabi and is a director of the Saudi Arabia Museums Commission. In this interview, she suggests that the Middle East in general and AlUla, in particular, are helping to reshape the geography of the international art market.
Classical space: the proposed Nabatean theatre, recreating the drama of an earlier civilisation
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Artists, craftspeople and explorers of all kinds
are again finding inspiration and a home in
AlUla – including a female astronaut
from the 25th century
Lita, an American installation and environmental artist, painter and sculptor, describes Elyseria as “a fictitious character who comes to this planet to teach
us about our relationship to the cosmos”. She first appeared in the Desert X AlUla exhibition in 2020. She may become, in her own way, as much part of the AlUla landscape as the Tomb of Lihyan son of Kuza.
She will be joined by other figures, perhaps just as fantastical, as Desert X AlUla will return in 2022, between February 11 and March 30. The theme of this latest manifestation of AlUla’s living museum is captured in the Arabic word ‘Sarab’, or mirage. The newly-commissioned works at the free exhibition will explore the meaning of mirage and the allure of the oasis.
Like the rock stratum, the different geological eras that layer the AlUla landscape, so contemporary artists are laying down new evidence of
human creativity and ingenuity alongside the legacy of the Nabatean and
earlier civilisations.
This is in all likelihood the largest under-examined archaeological territory in the world. So right away
that creates an atmosphere and environment and
a palette that is unprecedented
Allan Schwartzman – Art consultant
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Art consultant Allan Schwartzman
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Why the landscape of AlUl teaches humility to even the starriest architects and designers
The embrace of time
New jewels and old ways
The flourishing of the creative arts in Saudi Arabia is very much part of the Vision 2030 plan. For all the focus on economic diversification and tourism, in the future, it may be the artistic and architectural legacy from this period in Saudi history that proves most valuable.
Desert X AlUla and the flourishing fine arts scene in Riyadh, Jeddah and beyond, are inevitably attracting artists, curators and consultants from across the globe. Projects such as the Jeddah Sculpture Park, displaying works from the likes of Henry Moore, Maha Malluh and Alexander Calder have changed the physical as well as the cultural landscape.
But what of the country’s home-grown talent? In this country of young people, how will a new generation of artists and artisans make their mark?
Artists, artisans and explorers of all kinds
are again finding inspiration and a home in
AlUla – including a female astronaut
from the 25th century
The 2022 event promises to take the concept of an outdoor, living museum still further. The artworks will be sited in the Al Mutadil valley, close to Jabal AlFil, the ‘Elephant Rock’ – a 52-metre high sculpture worked not by human hands, but by nature.
Attracting exhibitions and artists to AlUla is like asking them to compete – or at least coexist – with a Stonehenge or an Angkor Wat. For the art consultant Allan Schwartzman, that is precisely what drew him to the project.
“The fact that from the beginning the Royal Commission saw contemporary art as being central was what really connected me to the project”, explains Allan Schwartzman. “So it's a great responsibility for artists, but it's also a singular opportunity for them to work within this environment and make permanent works.”
Jennifer Stockman
Former President of the Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation Board of Trustees
PLACEHOLDER
How a new generation of local artists and artisans is working
alongside international artists and brands – and a rich artistic legacy
The people of AlUla will be at the core
of this activity
Nora Aldabal – Arts and Creative Planning Director of the RCU
And at the core of the core is Madrasat Addeera, a former girls’ school in AlUla, which is now working with Turquoise Mountain, an NGO founded in 2006 by HRH The Prince of Wales to revive historic areas and traditional craft. Its longer-term goal: to provide jobs, skills and a ready market for the pottery, wicker-work, textiles and jewellery they create.
Again, you see that ‘layering’ of contemporary art and design on the bedrock of skills from former civilisations. You see that most tangibly in the Piaget Design Competition, where twelve AlUlans worked alongside an expert mentor from Piaget and 20 students from Geneva over a four-week period. The charms, pendants and jewellery the students created were directly inspired by the beauty of AlUla. The objective, says the Swiss luxury jeweller and watchmaker, is to “revive design principles rooted in heritage through mentoring and fostering of local talent.”
The winning designs were all by female artists.
Nora Aldabal: “It was wonderful to see the passion and workmanship our young women brought to this project as they pursued a craft that opened doors to a new future – and then the deep emotion of the winner as her hard work was validated by the esteem of her newfound peers from afar.”
AlUla has also launched its first art residency program. Six artists were invited to work in the area for 11 weeks, exploring the theme ‘rebirth of the oasis’.
“The AlUla art residency aims to foster dialogue and exchange not only between emerging and established artists and a community of experts working on the ground, but also with local practitioners, and members of the local community,” says Nora Aldabal.
Interdisciplinarity and collaboration at its core
Nora Aldabal – Arts and Creative Planning Director of the RCU
Lord Snowdon, Honorary Chairman of Christie’s and Vice President of The Prince's Foundation
Snowdon on the Saudi renaissance
The Earl of Snowdon is both an ambassador for
arts and crafts and a very hands-on practitioner. How will AlUla help preserve the skills he cherishes?
The AlUla project brings together the international fine arts market, educating local people in traditional and contemporary crafts and a determination to preserve the skills and techniques of the past.
It’s hard to think of anyone better qualified to comment on that blend of aspirations than Lord Snowdon.
Snowdon is the Honorary Chairman of the Christie’s auction house. In that capacity, he has seen growing interest in the Middle East: not just as a place where wealthy and influential collectors dwell, but also as a region where local artists are creating a stir internationally.
Then there is his dedication to continuing and preserving the craft skills that have been handed down throughout the generations. He is Vice President of The Prince's Foundation School of Traditional Arts in London, set up by his cousin, HRH the Prince of Wales, to ‘encourage an awareness of the holistic nature of the traditional artist, whose inspiration derives from the highest sources and whose skill and dedication creates masterpieces which we can all recognise as part of our world heritage’.
Last but not least, he is a craftsman himself: his Linley company specialises in bespoke commissions and furniture that relies greatly on blending traditional skills with a contemporary eye for design.
We asked him to speak about the blend of arts and crafts, tradition and modernity we see at play in AlUla:
On preserving traditional skills:
“I’ve seen all these things [traditional handicrafts] being pulled back from the precipice. We’ve taken stock and asked, ‘What am I leaving behind? What am I going to hand down?’ It’s wonderful to see the resurgence of young people especially wanting to learn old skills again.”
“The Christie’s charity auction in Al Balad, Edge of Arabia [2019] is one of many commitments we have made to the region. We want to encourage collectors of the future and take local talent to an international market.”
On contemporary art in Saudi Arabia:
“Some of the modern colours they were using [in the AlUla Artisan Campus at The Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts] were rather garish. One of the teachers said, ‘why don’t you use the colours that are here?’ They’ve got rather marvellous paint colours from the stones they find around there.”
On using the materials at hand:
“I’ve been trying to blur those lines since I started. Three years ago, for example, I did a collection with a fine artist called Jonathan Yeo. I’ve been steeped in that since my grandmother gave me a copy of British Architects and Craftsmen by Sachavelerell Sitwell. Hopefully, we will see more of that in AlUla.”
On the division between fine arts and crafts:
Stars beneath the stars
International and local artists in music, drama and cinema are adding AlUla to their itineraries. It’s fair to say they won’t experience any other venue like it
The artists and creators who come to the region in the coming years are not pioneers: they are following in the footsteps of masons and calligraphers, master builders and ceramicists, artists of all kinds who have found inspiration – and a ready market for their work – in AlUla for perhaps 200,000 years.
“It's a kind of living library.” says art advisor and a member of the AlUla advisory board, Allan Schwartzman. “The development of language from ancient Aramaic straight through to modern Arabic is written in the natural rock formations.”
“It has been a major crossroads of civilisation and economies in the history
of the world. It has bridged the cradle of civilisation to the East.”
Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah must be one of the most recorded and most performed, songs in the history of popular music. But you wonder if there has ever been a more spectacular rendition than the one that took place on April 8, 2021?
The singers were the acclaimed tenor Andrea Bocelli and his nine-year-old daughter, Virginia. The stage: the ancient city of Hegra near AlUla, deep in the Arabian desert. ‘Magical’ is an overused word; but you’ll struggle to find a more apt description for the combination of light, shadow, ancient art, stillness and sublime music a small audience experiences that night.
Bocelli, who lost his sight at the age of 12, spoke of the experience to
The Independent and his sense of an immense desert: “A place where a
man can think more deeply.”
Bocelli had already performed at AlUla, at a very different but equally
awe-inspiring venue: Maraya, itself an architectural aria in glass and steel.
Other musical stars who have performed beneath the real variety in
AlUla include the pianist Lang Lang and another tenor voice for the ages, José Carreras.
As well as the big-name concerts, AlUla is launching a series of art festivals scheduled to take place during the winter season. In keeping with the mission to help local performers share the stage with their international counterparts, Cinema El Housh will showcase work selected by Saudi arthouse filmmakers.
The crossroads
Andrea Bocelli live in AlUla, April 2021
Nora Aldabal, Arts and Creative Planning Director at the Royal Commission of
AlUla (RCU)
What's next for Desert X AlUla?
Handing down precious skills
Lita Albuquerque’s installation NAJMA (She Placed One Thousand Suns Over the Transparent Overlays of Space)
infrastructure AND city building
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Open-air tram cars allow passengers an uninterrupted view of AlUla
Lita Albuquerque’s installation
NAJMA (She Placed One Thousand Suns Over the Transparent Overlays of Space)
Classical space: the proposed
Nabatean theatre, recreating the
drama of an earlier civilisation
Dr Khaled Azzam – The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in London and member
of the AlUla advisory board
Allan Schwartzman – Art consultant
The people of AlUla will be
at the core of this activity
Nora Aldabal – Arts and Creative Planning Director of the RCU
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Room to roam
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Architecture and Design
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