Ahlam Gallery, Riyadh, KSA
In cooperation with Goethe Institut Saudi-Arabien
and DAI German Archaeological Institute Berlin
Datadust skin of sand (2024) explores the convergence of ancient data and contemporary consumer waste found in archeological research sites of AlUla and Tayma in the northern Arabian desert. The coexistence of high levels of microplastics alongside archaeological contexts forms the starting point of the work cycle. Kriemann collected and photographed contemporary discarded objects on site. Printed with date syrup and make-up, which is full of microplastics, and then coated with sand, the images have a compelling tactile quality and seem to be of indeterminate age—as artifacts of recent human presence. Every grain of sand stores information in crystals that can be millions of years old; granules of contemporary plastics will be markers of human activity for hundreds of years to come. The work Datadust skin of sand (cycle I) situates itself within the hyper-sites of data and the desert, and questions our relationship to the seemingly unending stream of plastics production and its afterlives.