UFO HUNTERS - Mehreen Murtaza

UFO HUNTERS
BY MEHREEN MURTAZA
This book is published to accompany the art project
Deep Earth Object, 2015 by artist Mehreen Murtaza
commissioned by Art Dubai Projects in collaboration with
Alserkal Avenue. The installation was exhibited from 16th
March, 2015 until 16th May 2015 at the Alserkal Avenue.
The project was curated by Lara Khaldi, Art Dubai Projects
Curator, 2015 and produced by the Art Dubai team which
includes: Fair Director: Antonia Carver; Assistant Fair
First published in 2015 by:
Director: Natasha Carella’ Programme Manager: Lee Xie;
Art Dubai Fair LLC
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Bukhari; Researcher and Artist Assistant: Ailsa Sachdev;
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
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Communications and Marketing Assistant: Isabelle Hanson;
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And made possible with the kind support of patrons of
the arts, the Alserkal family, and the Alserkal Avenue team
All images © the artists and copyright holders
which includes: Director: Vilma Jurkute, Programming
Director: Tairone Bastien, Projects and Development
The excerpts and images selected by the artists and the editors are
Manager: Fiza Akram and Communications Executive:
considered integral to the representation of the artists’ projects. Every
Haniya Bhatty.
effort has been made to contact all writers, artists and copyright
holders of the images included in this book.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical
All opinions expressed and contained in this publication are those of
means (including photocopying, recording, or information
the participants and artists and not necessarily of Art Dubai.
storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Printed in Dubai, by International Printing Press LLC. 2015
We would wake up every morning, charged with caffeine and brimming with the inexplicable
hope of spotting a UFO.
1
As we rode over the floating bridge into industrial areas, our eyes scanned the drive-by
landscape, etching each sandy terrain and speed bump into our bodily memories.
2
But to recognize an object that no other human being can possibly have seen - that is quite
shocking.
3
We insisted on rocketing through as many dumping grounds for
scrap, plastic and used furniture. Adding blue to the mix, the flashing
light on the Lexus’ GPS indicated a trail of co-ordinates we had
stopped over, drove around or crossed diagonally.
4
We caught a dizzying glimpse of these mysterious capsules at the edge of existence.
There they were, mystically inclined, easily dismissible as the memory of a photograph. The
experience was disquieting, though not particularly rare.
5
The landscape looked like a cheery ruin from a spaghetti style mid-western.
6
Only ragged vestiges of blackened, dead, fossils unhinged from even the most vague sense
of time. Corroded metallic frameworks lay in slumber.
7