The genesis of the “Sahara Kunstkasterl” – a report by painter Günter Haslbeck:
The “SAHARA KUNSTKASTERL” is a beautiful art project in the middle of the Sahara. I did not need more than 2.5 square meters to realize my dream of having my own gallery. To see a lonely, empty phone booth snatched from its function in the endless Sahara desert sand in the dunes of Erg Lihoudi, was the initial spark for my gallery project.
A gallery of clay and glass defies the desert wind.
The beginning was an old telephone booth. In autumn 2017, a huge sandstorm swept the telephone booth across the dunes of Erg Lihoudi. The storm tore up the tents of the desert camp and smashed the smallest gallery of the Sahara into the desert sand. It was completly destroyed. My dream seemed to be finished!
For Ali Laghfiri, head of Caravane de Rêve, it was obvious that the desert camp had to be rebuilt. But the smallest gallery of the Sahara? How should it continue? To set it up again, to replace the windows of the phone booth and to have it destroyed by the next storm – no solution either.
I sat with Ali in a cafe in Marrakech and we consulted.
After three coffees, the solution was clear: A concrete foundation for the smallest gallery in the Sahara, 2 by 2 meters, the walls of clay with generous glass views.
Sahara watercolors illuminate the silence of the desert.
I like to show art in this unusual place in the midst of charming nature. Continuesly, new works are displayed. Not many, but my opinion is that six art works often say more than 100. On the one hand, the space in the “KUNSTKASTERL” is limited, on the other hand, it is my attempt in a world of abundance to make the single image here in apparent solitude.
I can well imagine that the viewer is delighted when he stands in front of the sunlit gallery. In this ambience, open day and night, visitors can view my Sahara watercolors in the Smallest Gallery of the Sahara.
For me, the “SAHARA – KUNSTKASTERL” ( name of the gallery) means: to see art in direct contact with the breathtaking Sahara landscape, to sensitize people, to treat nature in a sustainable and protective way.
To convey the joy of art and support the region – that’s my concept.
The images can, of course, also be purchased there. I finance my passion “watercolor art in the Sahara” out of my own pocket. At the same time, through my project “The Smallest Gallery of the Sahara”, I hope to enrich the Moroccan travel company Caravane de Rêve (Caravan of Dreams) with an attraction. Tourism is almost the only source of income for local nomads.
More information about Günter Haslbeck at: www.aquarelle-haslbeck.de.
If you want to join in, you can sign up for a creative Morocco trip. Accompanied by the artist and travel expert Caravane de Rêve, Monika Diefenbach. Maybe your art work will be exhibited in the Smallest Gallery of the Sahara.
The “Sahara Kunstkasterl” is open day and night from September to May.
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