Jeddah center of Japan’s TeamLab promises an inspiring art space for Saudis

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Japan’s TeamLab looks to explore the world “beyond borders,” merging both arts and technology to create their Borderless exhibitions around the world. (Via TeamLab/Supplied)
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Updated 22 September 2020
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Jeddah center of Japan’s TeamLab promises an inspiring art space for Saudis

  • Agreement between KSA and Tokyo-based technology group envisions region’s first digital-art museum
  • TeamLab Borderless Jeddah is in line with Kingdom’s Vision 2030 reform strategy’s Quality of Life program

DUBAI: Japan’s TeamLab Borderless has brought to life the idea of a world of digital art without boundaries, a museum where art installations can move from one room to another and come alive in different parts of the world simultaneously.

Artworks such as these will be seen in Saudi Arabia, now that its Ministry of Culture has announced plans for a space in Jeddah to exhibit interactive digital artworks created by the Tokyo-based technology group.

TeamLab Borderless Jeddah, scheduled to open in 2023, will feature an array of interconnected artworks created by a group of physicians, CGI animators, engineers and mathematicians.

Kudo Takashi, TeamLab’s communications manager and brand director, said the plan is to create an art space in Jeddah that is positive and futuristic. “What we create isn’t something we can explain through words,” he told Arab News Japan.




Japan’s TeamLab looks to explore the world “beyond borders,” merging both arts and technology to create their Borderless exhibitions around the world. (Via TeamLab/Supplied)

Takashi said growing up in the UAE, he developed a deep appreciation and love for Arab countries, which inspired him to bring innovation to the region’s art landscape.

Formed in 2001, TeamLab sees itself as an international art collective. Its first permanent exhibition, TeamLab Borderless, opened at Tokyo’s Mori Museum in 2018.

The artworks are displayed across a 10,000-square-meter space. Another permanent exhibition opened in Shanghai, China, in November last year.

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TeamLab museums are known for their interconnectivity between installations in different locations. Takashi said entering any of these is like entering a unified digital world.

“There’s no boundary between the visitors and the artwork. If you’re standing inside our space, some flowers will (start to) bloom around you. If you touch them, you’ll activate them,” he added.

Borders are mere “illusions,” Takashi said, adding: “Despite our age, location or background, we’re able to connect. As humans we naturally find a way to connect.”

This is apparent in TeamLab’s art, where if a visitor touches a piece in Tokyo it will be affected in Shanghai, demonstrating how interconnected the installations are.

Most of TeamLab’s work is programmed to respond to light, sound and touch. One piece, “Hopscotch for Geniuses: Bounce on the Water,” involves visitors hopping on shapes that appear on the ground, activating images and depictions of fish, insects and other animals.




Japan’s TeamLab looks to explore the world “beyond borders,” merging both arts and technology to create their Borderless exhibitions around the world. (Via TeamLab/Supplied)

Another piece, “Multi-Jumping Universe,” allows people to direct the flow of light and music around them simply through their own movements.

The Jeddah location is near Al-Balad, the city’s old town and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

There are plans for a children’s section, the objective being to inspire the next generation of artists through its exhibits.

The children’ sections at several of TeamLab’s other museums include experiences such as the Sketch Aquarium that highlight the power of imagination.

Children are invited to color in drawings of sea creatures, scan the artwork and then watch as their colored art piece floats in a virtual aquarium.

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TeamLab Borderless Jeddah is in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 reform strategy’s Quality of Life Program, which seeks to diversify the country’s economy through cultural and artistic ventures.

Saudi artists will be involved in the project, and arrangements for a similar exhibition in Riyadh are in the pipeline.

Takashi said TeamLab’s aim is to “explore the new relationship between humans and their world,” adding that in the 20th century people entered a new digital era that changed their relationship with the world and others.

The idea behind the installations, Takashi said, is to create an extension of people’s imagination and creativity.

TeamLab’s website puts it this way: “Within the digital domain, art is able to transcend physical and conceptual boundaries. Digital technology allows art to break free from the frame and go beyond the boundaries that separate one work from another.”

Takashi said it is important to consider the feelings and emotions that art installations can evoke in visitors.

“Human beings aren’t logical creatures. Groups can be controlled through logic, but as individuals they can be very emotional,” he added.

In order to elicit feelings and emotions in their patrons, however, TeamLab Borderless installations utilize different software and programs that the company created together with various hardware.

“In Japan’s Borderless, we use over 470 projectors and over 520 high-spec PCs,” Takashi said, adding that the technology is set in place to create a higher dimension in the immersive experience, something the organization is looking to expand on.

Explaining that the shift in perspective from 2D to 3D enhances how we experience art, he said: “We understand the world not just through our eyes and brains; the process is also physical and emotional.”




Japan’s TeamLab looks to explore the world “beyond borders,” merging both arts and technology to create their Borderless exhibitions around the world. (Via TeamLab/Supplied)

TeamLab has reconstructed many ancient Asian drawings using today’s technologies, and it is a sign of the times to come, he added.

Much of TeamLab’s work is inspired by Japanese traditions of immersive technology-based environments and workplaces, symbolized for instance by Takashi Murakami’s postmodern art movement Superflat, which combines the flatness of commercial graphic design and characters from popular Japanese anime and manga (animation and comics) with the influences of fine art.

Takashi maintains that good designs are those that can be used by everyone. “If you’re the only person who can understand a design, it isn’t good,” he said.

As for the relationship between art and design, he said: “If I compare what’s art and what’s design, design is the answer and art is the question.”

He believes that the right answer is always changing. “A good business model or answer may (have been) the correct answer in the 18th century, but not in the 19th century, due to the industrial revolution,” he said.

TeamLab’s aim is to create the questions, and for visitors to find the answers within the interactive artworks displayed in its installations.

Takashi said the overarching question that TeamLab is trying to answer is: “The borderless world is very beautiful, right?”




TeamLab also has a special section for children, which will be implemented at Borderless Jeddah to inspire the next generation of creatives. (Via TeamLab/Supplied)

Art may seem “weird,” but it is simply expanding on the questions asked, and the answer is in “global feelings,” he added.

Summing up the purpose of the Borderless exhibitions, Takashi said it is neither geographical nor political — the key idea is to understand the relationship between humans and the world.

He said TeamLab is “lucky to find good partners in Saudi Arabia who could understand what we’re talking about.” Equally, he is excited about the TeamLab projects that will be announced in the coming year.

Twitter: @DianaFarahANJP
 


Highlights from Art Week Riyadh: Selected works by some of the Saudi artists participating in the inaugural edition

Updated 04 April 2025
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Highlights from Art Week Riyadh: Selected works by some of the Saudi artists participating in the inaugural edition

RIYADH: Selected works by some of the Saudi artists participating in the inaugural edition of Art Week Riyadh, which begins April 6. 

Maha Malluh 

‘X-Rayed 1’ 

The Najd-born artist is one of the most significant figures in the Kingdom’s contemporary scene. Several of her works will be on show at AWR. This one comes from her “X-Rayed” series, in which Malluh used images from an actual x-ray scanner of an actual passenger’s luggage, as would be seen at airport security when possessions are “being targeted and scrutinized,” the artist has written. “What makes these images even more peculiar is that the suitcases contain cassettes (labeled in Arabic) that are linked to dogmatic interpretations of Islamic practice,” she continued. “It is these ideas, when exported, which have led to several social evils, including the export of extreme thinking and rigid philosophy.” Like many of Malluh’s other series, “X-Rayed” examines “my own culture and its transformation from tradition to modernity.” 

 

Lulwah Al-Homoud 

From ‘The Language of Existence’ 

This work forms part of the influential Riyadh-born artist and calligrapher’s “The Language of Existence” series, in which she presented interpretations of the myriad Arabic names of Allah. According to her gallery, it “reimagines language as a universal visual system, transcending conventional meaning to create a new form of communication.” Al-Homoud created this ‘language’ by “deconstructing the letters of the Arabic language by using mathematical squares to compose new codes for each letter. With these codes, I inscribe the 99 names of God,” she has written. “The first step towards enlightenment is to search for the inner. It is this inner truth that leads to the light of knowledge. My art is concerned with the inner veracity of everything. It is a deep look at creation and its hidden rules that led me to the truth of existence…” 

 

Ahmed Mater 

‘Hulm’ (Dream) 

In his 2011 work “Cowboy Code II,” Ahmed Mater used plastic gun powder caps glued onto a wooden board to spell out, in English, the various ‘rules’ he had imagined. In this more recent work, Mater uses the same technique to present the Arabic word hulm, which translates to ‘dream.’ Whether that’s an instruction, a comment on what visitors to Riyadh can experience, or an explanation of his inspiration for the piece is unclear, but it’s one of a number of similar works the 45-year-old Tabuk native — arguably the most influential Saudi contemporary artist — will be presenting at AWR (others include “Hurriya” (Freedom) and “Salam” (Peace)).  

 

Manal AlDowayan 

‘Totem 1 (Dearest Women)’ 

The prolific Dhahran-born artist represented the Kingdom at the Venice Biennale last year (with “Shifting Sands: A Battle Song) and, unsurprisingly, is participating in perhaps the most significant arts event yet to take place in the Kingdom. Among several of her works on display at AWR is this piece from 2018, which AlDowayan has described as “an attempt at creating a permanent memorial of a fragmented moment.”  

She continued: “I look at the symbols used on the covers of books written by the religious men to address women and their bodies. I attempt to reform the symbols into new representations so that the invisible becomes visible.” The work is not, she stressed, “an attempt to critique or analyze history, but more of a totem of healing to help resolve the past in order to engage with the present, and time in general.” 

 

Bashaer Hawsawi 

‘Warm Space 1’ 

Much of the Jeddah-based visual artist’s practice revolves around found objects and mixed media, exploring, according to theartists.net “notions of cultural identity, cleansing, belonging and nostalgia.” Cleansing is the focus of this piece, which — like several other works by Hawsawi — uses the red-bristled broom heads familiar to anyone living in the Gulf and indicative of the remembered daily routines from which Hawsawi draws inspiration for much of her work. Cleansing also carries a spiritual symbolism — the purification of the self — that features regularly in Hawsawi’s work. 


‘Theater Tour’ initiative celebrates local culture across Saudi Arabia

Updated 03 April 2025
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‘Theater Tour’ initiative celebrates local culture across Saudi Arabia

  • Award-winning play ‘Bahr’ debuts in Baha, with performances in Jubail, Dammam, Al-Ahsa to follow
  • New project boosts local theater, community engagement and cultural awareness nationwide

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Theater and Performing Arts Commission launched the “Theater Tour” initiative on Thursday to bring exceptional theatrical performances to cities, governorates and villages across the Kingdom.

The project aims to promote the cultural and performing arts scene while encouraging community engagement, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The first phase begins with the play “Bahr” (Sea), running from April 3 to May 3, the SPA added.

The production will debut in Baha from April 3-5 at the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Theater in the Cultural Center, before moving to Jubail from April 17-19 at the Royal Commission’s Conference Hall in Al-Fanateer.

It will then continue in Dammam from April 24-26 at the Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University Theater, and conclude in Al-Ahsa from May 1-3 at the Society for Culture and Arts’ Theater.

The project is part of the commission’s broader efforts to raise awareness of the theater and performing arts sector, while ensuring that cultural services are accessible in underserved areas and to marginalized communities, according to the SPA.

It also aims to support local theater groups, boost theatrical production and strengthen the cultural sector’s contribution to the national gross domestic product.

Additionally, the initiative fosters investment opportunities and serves as a platform for discovering and nurturing emerging talent, the SPA reported.

The play “Bahr,” written by Abdulrahman Al-Marikhi and directed by Sultan Al-Nawa, has received critical acclaim, winning several prestigious awards, including for best actor, best script, and best overall production at the inaugural Riyadh Theater Festival, as well as best musical effects and best director at the 19th Gulf Theater Festival.


Art Week Riyadh: A ‘constellation of events’ that ‘pushes the boundaries’ 

Updated 03 April 2025
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Art Week Riyadh: A ‘constellation of events’ that ‘pushes the boundaries’ 

  • Curatorial team discuss the aims and intentions behind inaugural edition of AWR 

RIYADH: The inaugural Art Week Riyadh begins April 6 in the Kingdom’s capital. A non-commercial initiative, AWR builds on the city’s already thriving art community while inviting international artists and art lovers to join in. 

Princess Adwaa bint Yazeed bin Abdullah, head of Art Week Riyadh, explained the event’s inspirations and goals in a statement, writing: “Art Week Riyadh is born from a belief in the power of art to inspire, challenge, and connect us. 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.” 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Curator Vittoria Mataresse heads a team including associate curators Basma Harasani and Victoria Gandit-Lelandais and public program curator Shumon Basar who have worked tirelessly across multiple time zones over several months to bring the event to life. 

“It was very important for us to be playful and not have the kind of rigid structure or format we’re used to seeing. Art Week Riyadh sits in between an exhibition and an art fair. It’s really a constellation of events,” Matarrese tells Arab News. “Unlike major art events that often impose universal themes and rely on globally established artists, we wanted to work within the frame of a regional art ecosystem, embracing the textures, the urgencies, the sensibilities of the Arabian Peninsula. We are trying to retrace something which is very specific and, in this way, we propose a critical departure (from the normal) format.” 

Curator Vittoria Mataresse (pictured) heads a team including associate curators Basma Harasani and Victoria Gandit-Lelandais and public program curator Shumon Basar who have worked tirelessly across multiple time zones over several months to bring the event to life. (Supplied)

The theme of AWR’s inaugural edition is “At the Edge” and the event brings together more than 45 galleries from the Kingdom, the wider Arab world, and beyond. There are three main sub-themes: “Everyday Life,” “Landscapes,” and “Motifs.”  

JAX District in Diriyah will host three major exhibitions offering an expansive insight into Saudi Arabia’s cultural identity. A number of established Saudi artists whose studios are based in JAX will also be opening their doors to the public. Meanwhile, in central Riyadh, more than 15 galleries housed in the Al-Mousa Center will present exhibitions, and a wider program across the city will feature several talks and collaborations.  

Gandit-Lelandais, who has worked in the region for more than two decades focusing on contemporary Arab art, tells Arab News: “Art Week Riyadh really is different, because the market and the ecosystem is different. I think it’s about making people stop implementing the European and American formats into different places because they don’t have to fit — the format can be adapted.” 

The team have designed the event as “an umbrella for everyone to gather under,” Gandit-Lelandais says. “It is inclusive and it’s meant to be niche — it is for the public, and for the art enthusiasts and for the collectors. 

“With Riyadh growing so fast, the kind of dialogues that we have built are so important to bring people here, but not with a Western look at how art should be,” she adds. 

Harasani, the lone Saudi in the curatorial team, tells Arab News: “I’m really excited to link our local artists and our local scene (with the world). I think an educational foundation is super-exciting and super-necessary at this time for artists, art practitioners, young collectors and everyone that comes under that umbrella. We wanted to allow these generations of artists from Saudi Arabia to narrate themselves, beyond the usual framework.” 

Lamya Gargash, Lions, The Architect, Bath, UK, 2024, Archival pigment print, 90 x 120 cm, Edition of 3, 1AP. (Courtesy of the artist and The Third Line, Dubai)

While none of the curators live in Riyadh, they all offer a nuanced and sensitive take on the capital.  

“I’ve been working in Riyadh so much that it does feel like a second home,” Harasani says. “Riyadh is culturally different from Jeddah, where I’m from, and it was interesting to delve into the art scene. I thought it would be similar to the Hajazi scene, but it’s completely different. It was a massive learning experience for me to see that — given that we’re all from Saudi — there are so many different ways of working, ways of producing, ways of communicating.” 

Maha Malluh, Sky Clouds, 2009-2015, 100 black polyester gloves filled with polyester and desert sands, praying rugs. (Courtesy of Galerie Krinzinger and Maha Malluh)

Riyadh’s rapid expansion, both physically and culturally, over the past decade contributes to the richness and diversity on show at AWR, the curators say. 

“That’s the beauty of the Middle East, 10 years here is 100 years elsewhere,” Matarrese says. “I think what’s really smart about what Saudi is doing right now is they’ve learned from other people’s mistakes and they’re looking at how to navigate this in a better way. 

“There’s one thing that is important in the DNA of what we are doing,” she continues. “Our visitors are not going to know what to expect. We really pushed the boundaries of what this could be showing; we are trying to deconstruct the conventional display models, to experiment with something else and re-articulate the dialogue between the different parts of the art world.” 

For Harasani, the event is another marker of the artistic progress that has been made in the Kingdom in recent years. 

“This did not exist when I was growing up,” she says. “The fact that we can see our dreams come to fruition now — and (see) bigger projects like Art Week Riyadh — I feel very lucky and privileged to be a part of that.” 


New York Arab Festival returns with diverse lineup

Updated 02 April 2025
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New York Arab Festival returns with diverse lineup

  • The New York-based dance music collective showcases beats from the Arab, Asian, and Pan-African diasporas

DUBAI: The fourth edition of the New York Arab Festival (NYAF) runs from April 1- May 30, with headlining acts including DJ duo Haza Party.

The New York-based dance music collective showcases beats from the Arab, Asian, and Pan-African diasporas. The festival will play host to a special version of the collective’s signature “Haza Souk” event, featuring a lineup of DJ sets, merchandise outlets and food.

On April 8, Palestinian poet Ahmad Almallah will present his latest book “Wrong Winds” while April 13 will see Palestinian rockstar, singer and songwriter Rasha Nahas perform at Brooklyn Art Haus.

A double bill dedicated to the centennial of dancer Samia Gamal will take place at the Jalopy Theatre on April 16, with New York based choreographers and dancers Angie Assal and Soumaya MaRose celebrating the history of the late Egyptian choreographer.

Meanwhile, the NYAF Arab Shorts Film Program at the Bartos Screening will feature the work of filmmakers including Alia Haju and Khaled Jarrar.

From May 1-4, NYAF will collaborate with experimental theater club La MaMa ETC for a “festival within a festival” celebrating Arab artists in four multidisciplinary “happenings” featuring spoken word performances based on texts by the late poets Etel Adnan and Joyce Mansour, dance, music and multimedia visuals. Performers include Andrew Riad, Nadia Khyrallah, Sarah Brahim, and Amr Kotb, among others. 

On May 14,  Lebanese American singer-songwriter H.Sinno’s “Poems of Consumption” — which turns Amazon customer reviews into pop songs — will be presented.

NYAF was established in 2022 to commemorate Arab American Heritage Month and “fight the erasure of Arab and Arab American identities from NYC, a place Arabs have called home for over three centuries,” the festival said in a released statement.


Maja-Ajmia Zellama tackles cultural identity and grief in ‘Têtes Brûlées’ 

Updated 28 March 2025
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Maja-Ajmia Zellama tackles cultural identity and grief in ‘Têtes Brûlées’ 

  • The Belgian-Tunisian director discusses her Saudi-backed debut feature 

RIYADH: Belgian-Tunisian-Danish filmmaker Maja-Ajmia Zellama’s debut feature “Têtes Brûlées” (‘Hotheads’) received two special mentions at last month’s Berlin International Film Festival.  

The film, which was backed by Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Fund, has been praised for its depiction of a universal story through a singular lens. Zellama wrote and directed the movie, which follows the story of Eya (played by Safa Gharbaoui), a 12-year-old girl growing up in a Tunisian-Muslim family in Brussels, whose life revolves around her beloved 25-year-old brother Younès and his friends. Following Younès’ sudden and unexpected death, Zellama takes viewers through the culture, customs, resilience, and solidarity of this tight-knit community through the family’s mourning period.  

Safa Gharbaoui, Mehdi Bouziane and Mounir Amamra. (Supplied)

“I didn’t expect so many compliments about the film from people who are not Muslims or not from immigrant backgrounds,” Zellama told Arab News. “I spoke a lot with a teenager from Germany, and I understood at that moment how grief is so universal. There are other people who say, ‘Oh yes, I’m learning a new thing about a new culture and new religions.’” 

Zellama also expressed her appreciation for the Red Sea Fund’s support of a “multicultural” story. “For me, it was a major recognition to have this help and support from a Muslim country. It helped me to make this kind of film, and I’m also very curious about working more with Middle Eastern countries,” she said.  

The film tackles aspects of identity, the Arab diaspora, collective grieving, religion, cultural customs, and commentary on street crimes. Largely set in the family house, constantly filled with people after Younès’ tragic death, one of the director’s goals was to show the contrasting comfort and simplicity of immigrants’ family lives compared to their lives outside of their homes.  

Safa Gharbaoui. (Supplied)

“For me, the most complicated part of identity and immigration is systemic racism,” Zellama said. “It’s oppression in the society. But in the home, it’s not always so complicated. There are nuances; it’s complex, but in a positive way.”  

Zellama’s own life was a major inspiration for the film. Her father is Tunisian and her mother Danish. She was born and raised in Belgium around a large Tunisian community. Her household was home to two religions and three languages. “The question of identity has been present all my life, of course, as a mixed kid, but also as a person of the diaspora,” she explained.  

And Zellama’s experience of losing a much-loved family member was central to the narrative. “When I was grieving with my family, it was the most difficult time in my life. But it was also one of the moments in my life when I felt the most love and solidarity, because we were surrounded by so many people who were (making us) dinner, going to the grocery, giving money,” she said. “So, for me, yes, there is the grief that we had in our family, but also — and most of all — the love.”  

Safa Gharbaoui and Mehdi Bouziane. (Supplied)

The film explores spirituality in a nuanced and open way, particularly in its funeral and burial scenes, inspired by Zellama’s own journey with faith. She was keen to have Eya find a kind of forbearance through religion while also providing representation and an alternate, more complex, portrayal of Islam in countries outside the Middle East.  

“Muslims are very different, and each person practices religion in a different way,” Zellama said. “She finds this way, and she’s good with it.” 

And the film has proven to cross cultural and religious boundaries, with viewers from other faiths and backgrounds connecting to its central themes. 

“Just to hear the Qur’an, (even if) you don’t understand it, you can feel something,” she said. “You don’t know what it is, but you can feel something. When you see her praying, you can imagine. And, for me, that’s enough.” 

The character of Eya is key to the film’s success: she’s mature, but also playful; she’s creative, clever, defiant, and works to break stereotypes throughout the film. One of the most affecting, and effective, scenes is when she breaks away from the group of mourning women to help bury her brother alongside the men.  

“I wanted to have a character who grows up in a lovely family who give space for this young girl to be what she wants,” Zellama said. “She doesn’t (think to) herself, ‘Oh, this is a boy thing or a girl thing.’ No, she’s doing what she wants to do at this moment.  

“She’s very impulsive, and the impulsivity was also an important thing in the character of Eya,” she continued. “She looks like so many Muslim women and children I see around me. So, this was not me making a ‘statement.’ It was more me thinking that there are so many strong little girls around me, and I wanted to have a character like that.”