Art in the Desert: Desert X Lands in Saudi Arabia's AlUla

Among the towering sandstone canyons of AlUla in north-west Saudi Arabia, contemporary art met ancient landscape. The 2022 edition of Desert X AlUla set monumental installations against a backdrop of desert and rock millions of years old.

Part of Saudi Arabia's push to open up to global culture and tourism, the open-air show drew international artists to respond to the dramatic terrain — though it also drew scrutiny over the kingdom's human-rights record.

Set near the spectacular Nabataean tombs of Hegra, the exhibition framed a country better known for oil as an emerging, if controversial, player on the world art stage.

Image: “27, Hegra (Mada'in Salih), Saudi Arabia - 53534960013” — Following Hadrian, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.