Desert X, a contemporary art exhibition in the Coachella Valley, California, USA, boldly breaks free from the walls of galleries and museums and is set in the vastness and harshness of the desert. Artists from around the world designed and installed their works based on the unique natural environment. Curated and organized by Artistic Director Neville Wakefield and Co-Curator Diana Campbell, the exhibition radiates from a cultural-geographical perspective to a common situation around the world. Social issues addressed include the climate crisis, migrant refugee flows, and historical reconciliation of indigenous peoples. "Desert X does not intend to repeat the clichés of contemporary art; it draws its wisdom from the dunes, irrigates people's perception of the landscape, and nourishes public thinking about reality.

>Hylozoic/Desires, Namak Nazar

The infinite desert is homogeneous, monotonous and extends infinitely in all directions. Here, spatial and temporal depth and geo-reference are invalidated. The curatorial entry point of this year's Desert X goes against the usual image of the desert as "dry", associating the barren desert landscape with the memory of abundant water. The setting of the Coachella Rift is reminiscent of the novel Dune, which has captivated many of the giants of the directorial world. The tension of water scarcity permeates the pages of this magnificent work, and there is a lingering sense of death. According to the author's setting, the fight for water can even be as important as spice mining, and water directly determines the survival of people. A large, solid black building stands in the desert, the artist Torkwase Dyson's "Liquid A Place". Its abstract appearance is composed of pure geometry, with straight or smooth lines that create a metaphysical appeal. Dyson uses the building as an intermediary between the memory of water in the body and the memory of water in the desert. Visitors are encouraged to explore this commons, which is accessible to anyone, to gaze at it for meditation and to recapture the memories that water holds and preserves. At the same time, the building summons a liquid force that also symbolizes resistance and liberation. The trapezoidal hole in the center of the building is a sanctuary, creating a space of possibility for the enslaved to be free. As an outsider in the desert, the exhibition also deals appropriately with the relationship with the original inhabitants of the land, restoring their cultural dignity. Local Aboriginal artist Gerald Clarke has laid out a wide circular labyrinth of straw weaving. The visitor steps into the "board" game and can only move forward if he correctly answers questions about Aboriginal history and culture. The maze also takes the form of Rana Begum's "No. 1225 Chainlink. She uses a simple grid of enclosures to create a geometric architectural installation with an industrial feel. One can walk through it and feel the flowing rhythm of light, wind and sand.

> Torkwase Dyson's "Liquid A Place"

> Gerald Clarke, "Immersion

The scarcity and desolation of the desert test the limits of the human body and will, and it is also full of sensory wonders. The hardships of the desert highlight human weakness and forge human strength. The fantastical stories passed down from mouth to mouth rise to myth and eventually become the material of faith. Mexican artist Paloma Contreras Lomas' colorful, exaggerated fiber soft sculptures "blossom" from the interior of an old silver car to tell us stories of colonial economies and gender violence. The fictional narrative does not contradict reality, but rather hits the crux of it. "The Smallest Sea With the Largest Heart creates another poetic scene: a sculpture the size of a blue whale's heart floating above a pool full of salty water. This scene is not a harbinger of death, but rather a metabolism and cycle of life-giving energy, a reminder to retrace the vicissitudes of the sea and to imagine that the desert may once have been an ocean. Walking through the desert, we will also encounter one of the most enigmatic works in the exhibition - a sound installation by the creative group Hylozoic/Desires: salt crystals ooze upwards along the lower end of a wooden pole, the upper wooden exposed part of which is fitted with a loudspeaker facing a different direction. The broadcast is a bizarre conspiracy theory spoken in a psychic tone. According to the conspiracy theory, salt, the primordial agent of the universe, is now reappearing as an oracle, an ominous omen. The hollow voice creates a sense of the sacredness of the desert, and the disaster it foretells is another dimension of salvation.

> Rana Begum, "No. 1225 Chainlink

The curator admits that the greatest challenge in balancing the topicality of this exhibition is not to over-romanticize the desert, which should be seen as a field of reflection on reality. This is reminiscent of the book "America" written by French scholar Jean Baudrillard in the 1980s after his short tour of the United States. In the book, he used the "cultural geography" method to analyze the "deserts" of the United States that impressed him so much. The book concludes with a chapter entitled "Desert for ever", which raises this geographical landscape to the level of cultural criticism. In Baudrillard's writing, the most important characteristic of American culture can be defined and described by the desert state. In the desert, conflicting and incompatible things, such as extreme nature and extreme artificiality, are juxtaposed and strangely "symbiotic", merging into one. The cold mechanics of Mario García Torres' "Searching for the Sky -While Maintaining Equilibrium" is ironic, and the "western cowboy" style of the man is a very good example. The failure of "cowboy" masculinity, where the wildness of nature cannot be fully controlled by man. Juxtaposed with the male perspective is the "Pioneer" of Tschabalala Self, a post-90s artist. The savage bull submits to the woman's body, and Self reinvents a contemporary understanding of the black female body and temperament. The sculpture becomes a monument to the forgotten feats of women.

> Searching for the Sky - While Maintaining Equilibrium" by Mario García Torres

The tension of "Desert X" is also reflected in its active engagement with reality and its own voice. Matt Johnson stacks discarded shipping containers. They appear to be scattered randomly, but in fact they are twisted shapes carefully designed by the artist. The work is a graphic representation of the ruptures and folds that exist in the supply chain of global trade. And it is located next to a freight rail line - the invisible hand of the economy has plunged into the hinterland of the desert. The curators also decided to include the photography of amateur photographer Tyre Nichols at the last minute as the exhibition was about to open. His work is presented in the form of Nichols' landscape photographs enlarged into advertising canvas and hung on billboards along busy highways. In January, Nichols, a young black man, was beaten by police for no apparent reason while driving, and was killed. The silent beauty of the images stands in stark contrast to the racist horrors Nichols experienced.

> Lauren Bon and Metabolic Studio, "The Smallest Sea With the Largest Heart)

This year, Desert X specifically builds a cross-regional connection between the California desert and the South Asian subcontinent, allowing art from countries and regions that often go unnoticed to appear in international projects. This is closely related to co-curator Campbell's practice in South and Southeast Asia since 2010. From drought in the desert to flooding in Bangladesh, climate extremes have spread across the globe. Campbell invited Bengali architect Marina Tabassum to present her "Khudi Bari" (Bengali for small house). This is a modular, portable building unit. It is inexpensive, made of strong and durable materials, and can be assembled and disassembled with minimal labor in a short period of time. Tabasum's architectural research is rooted in the specific geographical and climatic conditions of Bengal, where "small houses" can withstand major floods. Always disinterested in formal beauty, Tabassum focuses on social and economic justice, serving the ultra-low income population. Her vision is to care for the well-being of the humble and to enhance the dignity of their homes and lives.

> Paloma Contreras Lomas, "Love of God in the land of the Indians, a maternal profession" (Amar A Dios En Tierra De Indios, Es Oficio Maternal)

> Matt Johnson, "Sleeping Figure

The work will eventually fade, but the reflection of the art lives on. Artist Héctor Zamora collaborates on an equal footing with itinerant street vendors who pull helium balloons in the shape of letters and sell them along the way. The balloons combine to form different semantic words floating in the air. As passers-by purchase the balloons, the words disintegrate and the work dissipates. This performance work moves continuously through the desert, dissolving the boundaries between the monumental and the temporary, and tying together all the artworks scattered throughout the desert. It leads all visitors to go beyond what they can see and take a journey of spiritual exercises. In this way, the desert no longer points to a mere landscape, but provides a pure place for people to change themselves and escape from the world. Underneath the seemingly gorgeous exterior of "Desert X", there is a deep cynical thought. Although the appearance is dazzling, the exhibition aims to completely avoid the hypocrisy and decay of the "old ways" of the art world - the wisdom of Dune again reconciles and accommodates the two opposing sides.

Article Source:艺术与设计

版权声明：【除原创作品外，本平台所使用的文章、图片、视频及音乐属于原权利人所有，因客观原因，或会存在不当使用的情况，如，部分文章或文章部分引用内容未能及时与原作者取得联系，或作者名称及原始出处标注错误等情况，非恶意侵犯原权利人相关权益，敬请相关权利人谅解并与我们联系及时处理，共同维护良好的网络创作环境，联系邮箱：603971995@qq.com】