Desert X 2026 AlUla, Saudi Arabia 16 January - 28 February 2026
Set within the expansive landscape of the AlUla Desert, Imole Red by María Magdalena Campos-Pons emerges as a luminous gathering point where sculpture, memory, and landscape converge. Installed against the vast horizon of sand and stone, the work transforms the desert into a site of encounter, drawing together histories of migration, ecology, spirituality, and human connection. Through a constellation of monumental palm-like forms, Campos-Pons creates an environment that is both grounded in the material and geological realities of AlUla and open to broader reflections on endurance, renewal, and shared cultural memory.
Imole Red unfolds as a sculptural meditation on gathering, of light, memory, and energy, situated within the vastness of the desert landscape. Rising from the sand, a constellation of palm-like forms establishes a quiet yet potent meeting point, transforming the desert from a site of isolation into one of convergence and connection. At the heart of the work is the date palm, a form the artist elevates as both symbol and portal. Long associated with beauty, sustenance, and spiritual endurance across the Gulf and beyond, the palm here becomes a collector of light and a conduit for unseen forces. Its elongated, luminous stems evoke both the human body and vegetal growth, while clustered, deep-red forms suggest fruit, seed, or organ, sites of fertility, exchange, and renewal. Together, these elements articulate a center of energy where ideas, histories, and presences gather.
Emerging from foundations that recall coral and seashells, the sculptures carry the memory of ancient oceans that once covered these lands. This geological remembrance anchors the work in deep time, collapsing distinctions between sea and desert, past and present. In doing so, Campos-Pons foregrounds transformation as a constant, of landscapes, of cultures, and of bodies, while honoring the enduring traces of water embedded within arid terrain.
Through this work, the desert is reimagined as a site of communion. The date palm stands as an emblem of shared roots and collective memory, reaching upward while remaining grounded in ancient foundations. Imole Red invites viewers into a space where the delicate strength of a single form becomes a testament to connection, continuity, and the celebration of life.
