Walk on Real Omani Sand at the Heart of La Biennale di Venezia
VENICE — The Sultanate of Oman’s pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition is not just another stop on the biennale circuit. It is a place to slow down, take off your shoes, and walk on real sand shipped from an Omani desert.
“We are bringing sand from a desert in Oman to Venice,” artist and curator Haitham Al‑Busafi told Arab News. “It is important that the floor is not a symbolic image of the desert, but a real material presence.”
The installation, titled “Zinah,” transforms the space at Arsenale Artiglierie into a participatory environment. A silver canopy hangs overhead. As visitors walk across the sand, hidden laser sensors capture their footsteps. That data triggers motors inside the ceiling, causing different parts of the metal canopy to move and produce personalized “shimmering sounds.”
“The technology remains invisible,” Al‑Busafi said. “The visitor should not feel that they are operating a machine. They should feel that the space is responsive to them, that each step is answered by sound, motion, and light.”
The work merges Omani heritage — specifically the tradition of silver horse adornment — with immersive technology and architecture. Commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, “Zinah” is designed to shift visitors into a slower gear.
“In that slowed state, the visitor can begin to listen to the gentle resonances of the suspended metal canopy,” Al‑Busafi said. The biennale runs until Nov. 22.
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