{"id":26538,"date":"2023-06-04T09:16:46","date_gmt":"2023-06-04T07:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/?p=26538"},"modified":"2023-06-04T09:16:46","modified_gmt":"2023-06-04T07:16:46","slug":"olafur-eliassons-curious-desert-contrasts-qatar-and-iceland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/olafur-eliassons-curious-desert-contrasts-qatar-and-iceland\/","title":{"rendered":"Olafur Eliasson\u2019s Curious Desert<\/em> Contrasts Qatar and Iceland"},"content":{"rendered":"
Art and installations inspired by the desert remind museumgoers about the urgent need for environmental sustainability.<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

Safae Daoudi<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

A visitor to the Doha exhibition The Curious Desert<\/em><\/a>, on view at the National Museum of Qatar through the 15th<\/sup> of August, couldn\u2019t help but wonder, why would a Nordic artist focus on the desert, and why Qatar? This is Olafur Eliasson<\/a>\u2019s first solo exhibition in the Gulf. Born in 1967, Eliasson spent his early years between Iceland and Denmark, two Scandinavian countries known for their extremely cold weather, which contrast starkly with Qatar’s scorching temperatures and arid landscapes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough they could not be more different, the sandy landscape of Qatar and the lava fields of Iceland,\u201d Eliasson says in the exhibition literature, \u201care in a certain sense connected. They both experience extreme temperatures; they are both deserts. They are both fragile and vulnerable landscapes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Left
Left wall: The glacier melt series 1999\/2019. Installation at the National Museum of Qatar, 2023 (photo Safae Daoudi).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eliasson elaborated further in a recent interview with Ocula<\/a>: “The landscapes of Qatar share certain qualities with the Icelandic landscape, although in other respects they may seem to be as different as could be. Both environments might initially appear barren to humans, but on closer inspection they reveal themselves to be intricate ecosystems that are full of life. The ecologists we worked with on analyzing the Al-Thakhira site, for example, observed numerous scorpions and lizards, such as Arnold’s fringe-toed lizard and Blanford’s short-nosed desert lizard, and many types of birds, including Indian reef herons and common redshanks. They also found a healthy population of Arabian red fox in the area. I was inspired at the prospect of creating works that respond to this landscape. For me, Iceland has always been a site for trying out and exploring artistic ideas \u2014 a kind of experimental laboratory, if you will.”<\/p>\n

Last year his installation, \u201c<\/a>Shadows Travelling on the Sea of the Day”<\/em><\/a>\u00a02022, steel, fiberglass and glass mirrors, <\/em>was unveiled in the northwestern desert of the Qatar peninsula, outside Al Zubarah. The artworks explored how our perception of the world impacts our relationship to reality.<\/p>\n

In March, the NMoQ launched The Curious Desert: Indoor Works<\/em> by the Danish artist, which has been complemented by an extensive outdoor installation that includes 12 open-air pavilions 64 miles outside of the capital city, in the Al Thakhira Mangrove Reserve.<\/p>\n