Agnes Denes

Agnes Denes is a leading pioneer of environmental art and widely regarded as one of the most prominent artists of our time. With a practice spanning over half a century, Denes is a highly influential figure and someone we admire deeply.

The Living Pyramid is both a monumental sculpture and an environmental intervention, the work unites Denes’ powerful public landworks with her ongoing exploration of the pyramid—a form that has been central to the artist’s practice.

For Denes, “art exists in a dynamic, evolutionary world where objects are processes and forms are dynamic patterns, where measure and concepts are relative and reality itself is forever changing”. The Living Pyramid embodies this, planted with native vegetation to AlUla, the structure and its appearance transform with the slow growth cycles of the desert environment. Over fifteen months, the plants will grow—some going to blooming and others withering. For Denes, this process serves as evidence of the organic development of nature as it interacts with the pyramid, one of the most iconic forms of human civilization.

“While the pyramids are based on mathematics, and thus achieve a kind of perfection, they contain all the imperfections they are dealing with or are representing and visualizing.” – Agnes Denes

Desert X AlUla 2026 was curated by Wejdan Reda and Zoé Whitley, under the vision of Founding Artistic Director Neville Wakefield and returning 2026 Artistic Director Raneem Farsi. Commissioned by the Royal Commission for AlUla.

The exhibition brought together 11 artists whose diverse and monumental works reflect a wide spectrum of ideas, materials and traditions. From monumental kinetic sculpture to sound-based explorations above and below ground, each commission is deeply rooted in relationships to AlUla’s dynamic and distinctive environment.