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 Projects Coordinator: Salma Serry; Projects Assistant: 19 ,1901th Floor, Index Tower Melanie Sindelar; Commissions Coordinator: Bader Dubai International Financial Centre Bukhari; Researcher and Artist Assistant: Ailsa Sachdev; Dubai, United Arab Emirates Communications and Marketing Manager: Jessica Mason; Communications and Marketing Assistant: Isabelle Hanson; T: +971 4 384 2000 Press Consultant: Farah Atoui info@artdubai.ae artdubai.ae 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