Diriyah Biennale reflects Saudi Arabia in transformation
Seen above is the restored ruins of a mud-brick wall in the At-Turaif District in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. The town of Diriyah is considered the birthplace of the kingdom, having served as the capital of the first Saudi state. It is also home to the newly developed cultural hub known as the JAX District, where the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2024 is running until May 24. Korea Times photo by Park Han-sol
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Upon arriving in the historic town of Diriyah, nestled in the northwestern edge of the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, one can easily sense the sweeping impact of the conservative Arab kingdom’s ongoing socioeconomic metamorphosis.
Considered the birthplace of the kingdom as the capital of the first Saudi state, the town is now the focus of a $63 billion project, gradually evolving into a tourism hotspot with new museums, hotels and an array of cultural events aimed at attracting up to 27 million annual visitors from around the world by 2030.
“Ambitious” alone is not enough of a descriptor here. For the record, Saudi Arabia only opened its borders to nonreligious foreign tourists in 2019 — the same year it ended the mandatory gender segregation imposed on every public space in the kingdom. And it was just a year earlier that the country granted women permission to drive and lifted a 35-year ban on cinemas.
A panoramic view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia / Korea Times photo by Park Han-sol
The site of the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale in the JAX District in Diriyah / Courtesy of Diriyah Biennale Foundation
A significant part of Diriyah’s cultural transformation lies in the development of the JAX District. Originally a cluster of industrial warehouses and factories in the 1970s, the zone is transitioning into a new creative hub housing artist studios, museums and entertainment venues.
And it is here that the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, the first-ever art biennial put forth by the kingdom, returns for its second edition. The event is organized by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, which operates under the country's Ministry of Culture.
Helmed by German-born curator and educator Ute Meta Bauer, this multimedia biennale features 177 works by 100 artists from the wider Gulf region and around the globe.
The Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2024 features 177 works by 100 artists from the wider Gulf region and around the globe under the theme of “After Rain" in the JAX District. Courtesy of Diriyah Biennale Foundation
The title of the exhibition, “After Rain,” refers to a sense of renewal and revitalization — a fitting theme for the nation that is not only opening up to the outside world, but is striving to diversify its economy beyond oil under the banner of Vision 2030.
“Every time I came to Saudi Arabia (since 2018), I had the feeling that I had come to another country because of how quickly things changed. It was like going through a time warp,” Bauer told The Korea Times, Feb. 19. “It’s amazing to see women enjoying life in public, to see men and women sharing space in the biennale.”
Much more so than other contemporary art biennials staged around the world, the Diriyah Biennale is deeply intertwined with its immediate local context, as the participating artists remain in dialogue with the landscape confronting a whirlwind of change — from women’s expanded role in the workforce to a string of multi-billion-dollar construction megaprojects currently underway.
In their first-time collaboration, Italian photographer Armin Linke and Saudi physician-turned-artist Ahmed Mater unveil “Saudi Futurism,” where images representing the kingdom’s industrial past, present and future converge to form a multilayered portrait of its transformation.
The changes in the nation’s infrastructure are documented through multi-sized photographs of various archaeological, commercial and scientific sites — from the remnants of the first Saudi cement factory and dairy farms, to the Shaheen supercomputers and the futuristic $500 billion desert city project known as NEOM.
The two artists consciously present these images without a coherent order, thus visualizing an unsettling mix of idealism and apprehension experienced in a state of rapid yet uncertain transition.
"Saudi Futurism" (2024) by Armin Linke and Ahmed Mater / Courtesy of Diriyah Biennale Foundation
German photographer Christine Fenzl has created a “time capsule” of the transformative period in Saudi society through a series of portraits of young women born and living in Riyadh.
In “Women of Riyadh,” commissioned for the biennale, her subjects are portrayed face-on and at eye level in nearly life-size dimensions against the chosen backdrop of their homes and neighborhoods.
Each photo serves as a window into the lives of these women, who have witnessed and been an intimate part of the recent seismic societal shifts in the Arab kingdom. For Fenzl, the project was an experience of “sharing moments that did not exist before.”
“Everybody says 63 percent of the Saudi population is below the age 30. Sure, but what do they actually look like? Who are these people? That’s why I invited Christine to take these portraits,” Bauer noted. “You see many different kinds of women here. It’s this diversity that is really radical. It’s provocative.”
Installation view of Ade Darmawan's "Tuban" (2019), front, and Christine Fenzl's "Women of Riyadh" (2023) / Courtesy of Diriyah Biennale Foundation
The biennale dedicates one section to revisiting the still-underrepresented legacies of senior creatives from Asia and the Gulf region, many of whom pursued their practice under politically and socially challenging conditions and have yet to be discovered by major institutions.
“They had to be their own agents, their own advocates to make their works visible,” said the artistic director.
A number of them were mentors, educators and archivists who paved the way for the following generation of regional artists to exercise more creative freedom today, according to the biennale’s co-curator Wejdan Reda. “This is about creating a platform to recognize the historical lineage that led to this particular moment.”
Installation view of Abdulrahman Al Soliman’s gestural Chinese ink drawing series, "Palm, Bow, and Fragments" (1990-91), created during the 1990 Gulf War / Korea Times photo by Park Han-sol
Many pieces here are showcased to the public for the first time. These include Nabila Al Bassam’s textile collages depicting distinct Saudi vistas, birthed from antique fabrics, beads and traditional dressing garments she collected throughout decades of research trips.
Not far from Al Bassam’s delicate fabric collages stand Abdulrahman Al Soliman’s gestural Chinese ink drawings created during the 1990 Gulf War. In his “Palm, Bow, and Fragments” series, the palm tree is a recurring motif — a symbol of shelter from his hometown, Al Ahsa, home to the world’s largest oasis and over 2.5 million palms.
Also on display are the earlier ink and watercolor works of the noted Iranian American architect Siah Armajani. These pieces from the 1950s and 1960s are characterized by an indecipherable, subversive mix of Persian pro-democracy slogans, talismans and other Islamic imagery. After moving to the U.S., Armajani began applying this deconstructive approach to his architectural conceptions. His best-known public projects are the Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge in Minneapolis and the cauldron designed for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
El Anatsui's "Logoligi Logarithm" (2019) / Courtesy of Diriyah Biennale Foundation
Other eye dazzlers fill the sprawling exhibition space of 12,900 square meters.
The celebrated Ghanaian master El Anatsui presents “Logoligi Logarithm,” a colossal, labyrinthine veil bedecked with tens of thousands of discarded liquor bottle caps all stitched together with copper wire. Its source material lends the installation a culturally loaded significance, addressing themes of consumerism and European colonial imports in Africa.
Nearby is a tower of handmade soap bars crafted by emerging Yemeni artist Sara Abdu. Each block is inscribed with stirring Arabic and English words, collectively spelling out “Now That I’ve Lost You in My Dreams, Where Do We Meet?” It’s her scented ode to the Islamic rituals of washing the deceased’s body before burial.
And the installations dealing with climate change and sustainability — from a fabric “hydromap” documenting polluted tap water throughout Beirut to an elevated stilt house inspired by South American Indigenous architecture — resonate even more strongly in Saudi Arabia, an oil-dependent country with a fast-growing and young population.
Sara Abdu's "Now That I’ve Lost You In My Dreams Where Do We Meet?" (2021/2024) / Courtesy of Diriyah Biennale Foundation
For Bauer, it was critical to organize a biennale that could genuinely strike a chord with the curious Saudi public, as contemporary art is still relatively new to most.
“For me, it was very important to stage an exhibition that is actually in conversation with this moment in time in Saudi Arabia. I really would like this show to be a personal experience for people, something that speaks to them. People come here with their families and kids. We want art to become a part of their lives.”
The Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2024, “After Rain,” runs through May 24 in the JAX District.
The At-Turaif District, once the capital of the first Saudi state in the 18th century and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site / Korea Times photo by Park Han-sol
A garden inside the At-Turaif District is populated by palm trees and wooden gazebos. Korea Times photo by Park Han-sol
What lies outside walls of biennale
For those seeking to get a closer look at the historical and cultural heritage that shapes today’s Diriyah, venturing beyond the confines of the biennale becomes a must.
One unmissable destination is the At-Turaif District, once the capital of the first Saudi state in the 18th century and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Located a 10-minute drive from the JAX District, this 300-year-old site boasts remnants of royal palaces, mosques and towers built in the traditional Najdi mud-brick architectural style before the city fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1818.
Scattered across the winding adobe alleyways are mini-themed museums — including the Military Museum, Arabian Horse Museum and Museum of Traditional Architecture — that offer glimpses into life in historic Diriyah.
The place remains open until midnight, making it ideal to visit in the early evening for a spectacularly lit view of the restored ruins and the adjacent garden filled with palm trees and wooden gazebos.
Installation view of the exhibition, "In the Night," at the Saudi Arabia Museum of Contemporary Art (SAMoCA) in the JAX District / Korea Times photo by Park Han-sol
Alternatively, some may choose to stay in the JAX District and further explore the industrial complex-turned-creative hub to get a wider picture of the Saudi contemporary art scene beyond the Diriyah Biennale.
Just a few blocks away from the biennial’s venue are a cluster of artist studios belonging to the country’s most prominent creatives, including Ahmed Mater and Muhannad Shono.
There is also the new Saudi Arabia Museum of Contemporary Art (SAMoCA) — the first of its kind to open in the kingdom last year — that is currently hosting a group exhibition, “In the Night.”
Over 30 featured international talents delve into the nocturnal world, reimagining its mystery and the spiritual moments of introspection that accompany it.
Saudi-born artist Arwa Alneami’s pitch-black echo chamber summons the nights she spent in her childhood village without electricity, as only the faint hum of women’s songs and the heady scent of cardamom spice permeate the space. Meanwhile, London-based sculptor Saad Qureshi creates his cosmic paper tapestry, “Starry Night,” by cutting photos he took of significant textiles he grew up with — family rugs and home library books — into strips and reweaving them into a pixelated carpet of galaxies.
Rashed Al Shashai's “Brand 16” (2022) is on view as part of Noor Riyadh's shimmering group exhibition, "Refracted Identities, Shared Futures," in the JAX District. Korea Times photo by Park Han-sol
Directly across the street from SAMoCA stands the Riyadh Art building with the shimmering show, “Refracted Identities, Shared Futures,” which opened in November last year in time for the citywide light art festival known as Noor Riyadh.
The exhibition, headlined by globally celebrated creatives like Philippe Parreno and Leo Villareal, alongside other regional artists, views light as an eye-popping lens into the constantly changing cultural landscapes of today.
One striking installation, “Brand 16” by Rashed Al Shashai, resembles stained glass windows found in places of worship with its glowing colors and form. Only upon closer inspection can visitors realize that what they had been seeing all along are rows of rainbow-colored food packages encased in plastic supermarket crates.