MOSCOW.- As part of the programme of the 7th Cosmoscow International Contemporary Art Fair, the Embassy of the State of Qatar to the Russian Federation and Qatar Airways will present the “White Sun” exhibition project uniting photographs and an installation by Soundwalk Collective that are related to Qatar’s historical context. The exhibition will include works by such photographers as Henry Dallal, Abdulla Artuyev, Vlad Loktev, Mikhail Rozanov, and Danila Tkachenko.

“Arabian Sands”, an audiovisual installation by Soundwalk Collective, and “Oasis”, a project by Danila Tkachenko, form the centerpiece of the exhibition.

“Oasis” series was created upon commission from the National Museum of Qatar as part of Year of Culture Qatar-Russia 2018. In this series, Danila explores the issues of preservation of national identity now that the world’s picture has changed following Qatar’s economic takeoff.

The installation by Soundwalk Collective is an audiovisual interpretation of an acoustic phenomenon known as “singing dunes”. Under the wind, grains of sand roll down the dunes, generating sound waves between layers of dry and wet sand resulting in a bewitching melody.

Exploring Orientalism as a style, Soundwalk Collective created a work consisting of ephemeral musical phrases resembling a sound mirage. It is a piece of Middle Eastern music revised through the prism of Western consciousness, a metaphor, and imaginary geography. The sounds make us recall the image of the desert as a mystical and eternal place, and build a musical bridge between the West and the East.

Among the well-known artists who have collaborated with the group on numerous occasions are singer-songwriter Patti Smith, American photographer Nan Goldin, and European film director Jean-Luc Godard.

Henry Dallal creates beautiful and vivid stories about Arabian horses, filming them in their natural habitat, the desert. One of the oldest breeds in the world created by man, Arabian horses are light and hardy. It allows breeding a horse suitable for military operations, fast and long runs in the desert.

The exhibition will also feature works by Abdulla Artuyev, Vlad Loktev, and Mikhail Rozanov.