A carpet of fabric in a gradation of red, brown, and maroon spreads across a dirt road leading up to a barren mountain range. Close by, a cross-section of land lights up in blue fluorescence at night. If the last edition of sā Ladakh, South Asia’s highest contemporary land art festival, is anything to go by, interactive public art has found an effective format in the country: imagine art at an altitude of 3,500 metres.
As you read this, bamboo pillars are being erected in the 22-acre Disko Valley Bike Park in Leh, one of the highest in the country, as it prepares for the festival. Here, Ladakh is not only the host but the subject too. This year’s edition, titled The Future of Immersive Land Art / Immersive Land Art and the Future, hosts site-specific art installations and sculptures crafted from locally sourced, discarded and renewable materials, with active participation from the local community.
Conceptualised one-and-a-half years ago by Ladakhi rock climber Tenzing ‘Jammy’ Jamyang, Austrian-Sri Lankan interdisciplinary artist Raki Nikahetiya, and Indian spatial designer Sagardeep Singh, the festival is a product of their love for Ladakh and land art . River of Sweat by Anshu Singh from the last edition| Photo Credit:special arrangement “We all had individual reasons to love Ladakh. Jamyang is from here, Sagar worked here for a long time, and I grew up in Austria around mountain landscapes and visited here often,” says Raki.
Initially, Sagardeep and Raki wante.
