The four plates
Steel rising up to 16.7 m.
KeithPhilippe — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Youssef.ma.o — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Hisham Thamin — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Hisham Thamin — CC BY-SA 4.0
East-West/West-East is a desert artwork by the American sculptor Richard Serra in the Brouq Nature Reserve near Zekreet, on Qatar's west coast. Four steel plates, each about 4 m wide, stand in a straight east-west line some 850 m long: the two outer plates rise 16.7 m, the two inner ones 14.7 m. Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani, chair of Qatar Museums, invited Serra to work in the desert after his tower 7 in Doha; shown other deserts, he kept returning to this one. The plates came from Germany, and the work was unveiled on 8 April 2014. Their heights follow the ground, so all four tops sit exactly level, roughly in line with the gypsum plateaus on either side. A visit is a walk along the line. The gaps are uneven, widest in the middle, so the plates seem to drift apart and realign as you move. The steel, grey when installed, is weathering to rust tones, and low sun casts long shadows over the pale ground. The work lies about 70 km west of central Doha in a straight line, at least an hour by car: take Dukhan Highway exit 72 for Zekreet Road; the last stretch is unpaved and poorly signed, so a 4x4 is recommended, and rain can bring mud. Come November to March, early morning or late afternoon: there is no shade. Ras Abrouq and Film City lie about 8 km north and the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum 44 km east-south-east, both in a straight line.
Steel rising up to 16.7 m.
Flat-topped hills flanking the line.
About 850 m, plate to plate.
Brouq Nature Reserve, Zekreet peninsula, west coast of Qatar
In dry weather, usually yes: Qatar Tourism says a standard car can make the trip to Zekreet, though a 4x4 is more comfortable on the unpaved final tracks, and after rain mud has trapped even off-road vehicles. There is no public transport, so without a car of your own, book a guided 4x4 tour from Doha.
Yes: his 24-metre tower 7, seven steel plates on a plaza jutting into the sea at MIA Park in Doha, unveiled in December 2011. It was his first sculpture shown in the Middle East.