Manal AlDowayan's Now You See Me, Now You Don't was made for Desert X AlUla in Saudi Arabia in early 2020: a field of trampolines sunk flush into the sand, each lit from inside its chamber so that visitors' shadows jump across the desert at night. The work is a reminder of the rain pools and oases that have all but disappeared from the Saudi landscape.
KitMapper was the artist's UK production partner. Working from London, we sourced twelve trampolines in three sizes, from 1.2 to 4.2 metres across, and the lighting for each chamber, and wrote the method statements and risk assessments for the install. We detailed how each trampoline sits in a drained concrete chamber with ply decking, safety foam and weatherproof power, and after the show organised the packing and shipment of the work into storage.
In 2020 we turned that knowledge into a technical installation manual, lighting and power plans and an operations and maintenance manual, so the work can be rebuilt by a local contractor. The documents set out a two-week install with four construction technicians and two lighting technicians, weekly trampoline inspections and daily checks for drifting sand and drainage, and we went on to plan the work's re-siting at two further locations in Saudi Arabia.
Installation views: Lance Gerber. Courtesy the artist and Desert X AlUla.
