Richard Serra is one of those artists that is devoted to bringing art to the larger public. His artworks are usually large in size, and custom-made for the place where they are displayed. In his work, he explores the three-way relationship between the viewer, the artwork, and the location. It was Sheikha Al-Mayassa who suggested that Serra build a sculpture in the Qatari desert, and in 2014 that idea came to fruition under the name of East-West/West-East.
East-West/West-East encapsulates Serra’s artistic approach. It consists of four steel plates aligned along a one-kilometer stretch of the desert in the Brouq Nature Reserve. The plates are over 14 meters (46 feet) tall, but their exact heights differ in order to account for the changes in the terrain level and still reach alignment. The plates are aligned along the East-West axis and they are flanked by two equidistant escarpments that separate two gypsum plateaus.
About the source
Atlas Obscura aims 'to inspire wonder and curiosity about the incredible world we all share'. You can contribute to their collection on their website.
2012
Pearling, Testimony of an Island Economy
The site consists of seventeen buildings in Muharraq City, three offshore oyster beds, part of the seashore and the Qal’at Bu Mahir fortress on the southern tip of Muharraq Island, from where boats used to set off for the oyster beds. The listed build…
2005
Qal’at al-Bahrain – Ancient Harbour and Capital of Dilmun
Qal’at al-Bahrain is a typical tell – an artificial mound created by many successive layers of human occupation. The strata of the 300 × 600 m tell testify to continuous human presence from about 2300 BC to the 16th century AD. About 25% of the sit…
