Art Conscious

by Babs Rappleye (aka Tucker Neel)

Artillery Magazine, March/April 2021.

Dear Babs, Desert X is putting their show on in the Coachella Valley this spring, after art-washing the murderous Saudi Arabian regime with a big outdoor show over there. In case you missed it, Saudi leader MBS had Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi killed and cut into pieces—not an accusation, there was overwhelming evidence of the crime and who ordered it. How is Desert X able to do this and continue working in this country with no repercussions? Is the art community in this country really as morally bankrupt as the Republican Party?

—Sick to my stomach in SoCal

Dear Sick to My Stomach,

In 2019 Desert X partnered with The Royal Commission for AlUla to produce an exhibition of public sculpture in the northwest desert of Saudi Arabia. In doing so, Desert X provided an art-infused PR-makeover to the repressive monarchy, which was facing global condemnation for repeated human rights abuses, including Koshoggi’s murder at the direction of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who also helms the AlUIa Commission. In its defense, Desert X claimed the whole public art exhibition was a successful opportunity for “cross-cultural exchange,” which among other things brought art by and about women to a country not known for its embrace of female representation.

There were consequences. Shortly after the partnership was announced, three Desert X board members resigned in protest. The LA Times’ Christopher Knight labeled the show “Desert Bonesaw.” More recently, the Palm Springs City Council pulled funding from a 2021 Desert X artwork because of the Saudi connection. More controversy is likely to come.

My advice is to turn your outrage into action. Create unsanctioned Desert “eXtra” artworks calling attention to the problem of arts organizations cozying up to dangerous benefactors. Co-opt the Desertx hashtag to interject news about the Saudi-led war in Yemen into the avalanche of Instagram selfies the event will generate. Use your voice to get the artists, media sponsors and galleries attached to Desert X to publicly answer some difficult questions.

Like art institutions that took money from the opioid epidemic-inducing Sackler family, or the museums who tolerate arms dealers on their boards and looted artifacts in their collections, Desert X decided that morally repugnant means justified culturally ambitious ends. But the amorphous “art community” you mention is NOT as morally bankrupt as the Republican party; to equate the two diminishes the real threat the GOP poses to American democracy. Desert X may have nefarious backers, but it’s not the agent of a fascist coup.