Episode Synopsis "Episode 8: Curators and artists reflect on the impact of Desert X AlUla"

On the final episode of the Desert X AlUla podcast, curators and artists look back at Desert X AlUla, and reflect on the art and the politics of the collaboration. This first exhibition of site-specific contemporary art in Saudi Arabia brought artists from the Arab world and the West together at a moment of great change in Saudi Arabia. But the collaboration also provoked controversy in the West. Neville Wakefield and Raneem Farsi talk about their shared desire to stimulate cross-cultural engagement and how the artworks achieved this. Artists Lita Albuquerque, Manal AlDowayan and Sherin Guirguis and explain why they felt they had to participate. “I think what we're doing here is about art,” says Albuquerque, “and it's not about retreating, but it's about making a statement to actually open up conversation, open up the doors. That goes beyond politics.”

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More episodes of the podcast Desert X AlUla Podcast

• Episode 8: Curators and artists reflect on the impact of Desert X AlUla
• Episode 7: Artist Manal AlDowayan sends a serious message, playfully
• Episode 6: Artist Sherin Guirguis makes a crown from an anklet
• Episode 5: Artists Superflex and El Seed send love and engagement to Saudi Arabia
• Episode 4: Artists Muhannad Shono and Zahra AlGhamdi draw lines in the sand
• Episode 3: Artist Lita Albuquerque brings NAJMA to the Arabian desert
• Episode 2: With artists Nadim Karam, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim and Gisela Colon
• Episode 1: Desert X AlUla co-curators introduce the exhibition