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.” 

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.” 

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.” 

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.” 

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.”