Desierto Florido
Event 'Corpora Aliena: Desert Stories' at IKLECTIK

We created an artistic exploration of the feeling during Covid Times.
The Atacama Desert is situated between the Andes and the Chilean Coast Range in South America. It covers about 1600 km of land on the Pacific coast, and is known for the driest place in the world. This may be the oldest desert on earth, and has experienced extreme hyperaridity for at least 3 million years, making it the oldest continously arid region on earth.

The soil in a region ca 100km South of Antofagasta has been compared to that of Mars. In 2003, team of researchers published a report in which they duplicated the tests used by Viking1 and Viking2 Mars landers to detect life, and were unable to detect any signs in Atacama Desert soil in the region of Yungay. Generally, the Atacama Desert receives less than 12mm of rain a year. But in those years when rainfall is unusually high, a phenomenon occurs, which is called a desert bloom, desierto florido.

This comparison to the Atacama Desert in Chile serves as an inspiration that even in the most hopeless situations there might be miracles.