RIYADH: The 2026 edition of the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale — “In Interludes and Transitions,” which opens Jan. 30 — will bring together more than 70 artists, and include more than 20 new commissions at JAX, Diriyah’s creative district.
The title comes from a colloquial Arabic phrase that refers to the cycles of encampments and journeys in nomadic communities across the Arabian Peninsula, reflecting the movements, migrations, and transformations that continue to connect the Gulf region with the world.
Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale Artistic Director Nora Razian. (Courtesy of the Diriyah Biennale Foundation)
“There’s also this very contemporary conversation we’re presenting to complement that sentiment,” artistic director Nora Razian tells Arab News. “I think COVID changed the way people work, but I also think the whole ‘everything going digital and online’ has kind of faded away now and people are already craving the intimate conviviality of sharing an experience together.
“Of course, if you are Saudi you kind of know Diriyah, but it was always a little bit outside of the city. Now it’s very much integrated into the city, and the way that people think about the city. It’s become its own kind of place,” she continues.
The biennale will explore movement, processions, and cultural transmission. Sound-based works will be presented along with visual art, music, and performance, offering audiences a full-bodied, cross-disciplinary experience, according to the organizers.
Artistic Director Sabih Ahmed. (Courtesy of the Diriyah Biennale Foundation)
While acknowledging that “some people may have been a little fatigued (by the number of biennales in the region, including the Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah, also run by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation),” Razian’s fellow artistic director, Sabih Ahmed, tells Arab News that this edition feels “a little bit like an edited anthology of many voices that come through together.”
Both artistic directors were drawn to the idea of processions as a curatorial thread. In a joint statement, they wrote: “Processions have produced relations and forms in this region. The movement of winds and the flow of trade, migration, and exile are carriers of stories, songs, and languages, producing rhythms and poetic meters such as the rajaz. Thinking of the world in procession — a braiding of movements that commemorate and celebrate — allows an understanding of cultural forms through exchange and transmissions; itineraries of travel, intersections, and mutations; and the retelling of fragments of exiled stories that have persisted through bodies, materials, rhythms, and cadences.”
Saudi artist Ahaad Alamoudi. (Photo by Zaynab Odunsi)
The biennale will unfold across multiple venues and outdoor spaces in Diriyah, with scenography by design studio Formafantasma and contributions from a team of international curators including Maan Abu Taleb, May Makki, Kabelo Malatsie, and Lantian Xie. Milan-based architect Sammy Zarka joins as associate architect and exhibition designer.
The preliminary list of participating artists features Saudi artist Ahaad Alamoudi alongside international figures including Pio Abad, Rand Abdul Jabbar, Yussef Agbo-Ola (Olaniyi Studio), Afra Al Dhaheri, Mohammed Alhamdan (7amdan), Ruba Al-Sweel, Taysir Batniji, Raven Chacon, Rohini Devasher, Merve Ertufan, Ivana Franke, Rahima Gambo, Petrit Halilaj, Aziz Hazara, Alana Hunt, Yazan Khalili, George Mahashe, Théo Mercier, Nour Mobarak, Nancy Mounir, Hussein Nassereddine, Daniel Otero Torres, Thảo Nguyên Phan, Gala Porras-Kim, Sarker Protick, Raqs Media Collective, Oscar Santillán, Trương Công Tùng, Wolff Architects, Agustina Woodgate, and Yu Ji.
By blending visual art, music, and poetry — a hallmark of cultural expression across the Arab world — the biennale is intended to amplify continuity and resilience in times of uncertainty. Through song, stories, dance and collaborative processes, it highlights how art preserves memory, asserts the power of the collective, and sparks hope.
The Diriyah Biennale Foundation, chaired by Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al-Saud, continues to champion creativity and the transformative potential of culture. With the upcoming edition of the Contemporary Art Biennale, the foundation hopes that Diriyah can solidify its place as a generator of culture.
