Art Week Riyadh will ‘bring together the many layers of Saudi Arabia’s art scene’ – The Art Newspaper

A week-long flurry of art exhibitions, talks and events will sweep Saudi Arabia’s capital this month. The inaugural Art Week Riyadh (6–13 April) will include presentations from more than 45 local, regional and international galleries, as well as exhibitions organised by private and institutional Saudi collections, and a public programme of talks, films, workshops and studio visits.

The non-commercial event is “an opportunity to bring together the many layers of Saudi Arabia’s art scene—its artists, galleries, collectors, and audiences—while also welcoming new perspectives from around the world,” says Dina Amin, the chief executive officer of the Visual Arts Commission, part of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Culture, which is organising the initiative. She adds that the first edition of Art Week Riyadh is not only about presenting contemporary culture but also “fostering meaningful conversations” and helping “shape the future of art in the region”.

The main exhibition is titled At The Edge, held in the JAX District, a creative hub of former warehouse buildings now housing artist studios, galleries and art organisations. “At The Edge reflects the fluid intersections between tradition and innovation, local narratives and global influences, and heritage and future visions,” a press statement says. “This curated selection explores contemporary creativity as both a site of cultural expression and a catalyst for dialogue, capturing how visual culture in Saudi Arabia is deeply connected to, yet distinct from, global currents in contemporary art.”

As part of this overarching theme, more than 45 commercial galleries will each present works around three subjects: everyday life, landscapes and motifs. Participants include Saudi galleries such as Ahlam and L’Art Pur Foundation; galleries from the wider Middle East like Lawrie Shabibi (UAE), Gallery Misr (Egypt) and Wadi Finan Art Gallery (Jordan); and blue-chip international galleries Lisson (China, UK, USA) and Perrotin (China, France, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, USA). More gallery presentations, conceived specially for Art Week Riyadh, will be on show at the Al Mousa Center, a former commercial complex that is now home to around 20 art galleries.

Other offerings in the JAX District will include three exhibitions from art collections in Saudi. The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) will present a group show around the ideas of material and memory, showing artists such as Do Ho Suh, Maha Malluh, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Hazem Harb. Another exhibition will look at three decades of Saudi abstraction through works by artists Mohammed Al Saleem, Abdulhalim Radwi, Raeda Ashour and others, all from The Saudi Research and Media Group’s corporate collection.

And the foundation Art Jameel will explore experimental film and video art practices in the wider Middle East with a show of eight single-channel artworks from its collection by artists including Ahaad Alamoudi, Hiwa K, Yto Barrada, Ahmed Mater and others. The show will complement Art Week Riyadh’s moving image programme, which aims to highlight the medium’s capacity to explore complex personal, cultural and social narratives.

Alongside the exhibition programming, visitors to the JAX District will be able to take part in a series of workshops and talks titled “How to Art World? Lessons in Value”, that will ask the pressing questions facing the visual arts in Riyadh and Saudi Arabia specifically, and around the world more generally. Speakers include representatives from art businesses such as Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Gagosian. JAX District’s residents will also be participating in Art Week Riyadh, with some of Saudi’s best known artists, such as Ahmed Mater and Muhannad Shono, opening up their studios, and local galleries Athr, Hafez, Lift—as well as the Saudi Arabia Museum of Contemporary Art—presenting further exhibitions, panel discussions and interactive workshops.

“Riyadh has long been a city of growth, and through this platform, we hope to contribute to its cultural future—one that is open, dynamic, and deeply rooted in both heritage and innovation,” says Princess Adwaa bint Yazeed bin Abdullah Al Saud, head of Art Week Riyadh. “This initiative is not just about presenting exceptional works but about creating a space where ideas, histories, and creative visions intersect.”