Sahara Malaise
By integrating critical reflection into artistic practice, Sahara Malaise, investigates the social, historical, and environmental dynamics in regions affected by human intervention in the Algerian Sahara.
It offers a profound reflection on urgent environmental and social issues, while simultaneously serving as an invitation to action and critical reflection on topics that mark our time.
The title of the project invokes the concept of malaise (illness), a term that acquires a complex meaning in this context, involving the power relations and historical tensions of the territory. Opting for the desert, and particularly the Reggane region, was determined by the legacy of the nuclear tests of the 1960s1 — this geography exposes the marks of destruction and contamination left by the detonations of atomic bombs.
Through the metaphor of the Sahara, the project does not limit itself to addressing the desert as a geographical space, but also as a symbol of the vulnerability of ecosystems to human intervention. Malaise transcends superficial discomfort, encompassing psychological, social, cultural, and environmental dimensions that still resonate in postcolonial structures.
Although the desert is usually seen as an arid place, Sahara Malaise offers a more complex view, highlighting the resilience of life in this dynamic ecosystem, where flora, fauna, and human communities, adapted to scarce resources, maintain a deep and continuous relationship with the land.
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1 On the morning of February 13, 1960, France tested its first nuclear bomb, called “Gerboise Bleue” (Blue Jerboa), in the Algerian Sahara, south of Reggane.
Gerboise Bleue had an explosive force of 70 kt, more than four times the force of Little Boy, the atomic bomb dropped by the US on Hiroshima at the end of World War II.
Blue Jerboa was followed by “Gerboise Blanche” (White Jerboa) on April 1, 1960, “Gerboise Rouge” (Red Jerboa) on December 27, 1960, and “Gerboise Verte” (Green Jerboa) on April 25, 1961.
Curator: Natxo Checa
Support: Dgartes – Direcção Geral das Artes, ZDB
Additional support: Fundação Carmona e Costa, Les Ateliers Sauvages-Concepteur, Couleurs de Timimoun
