Curated by UCCA's Philip Tinari, the biennial features a strong contingent of Chinese artists including Xu Bing, Zhang Peili, and Nabuqi.

 Simon Denny, Sarah Morris, and Lawrence Lek are among the international artists who will show at the biennale from 11 December 2021 till 11 March 2022. It will take place in Diriyah's JAX district, which comprises over 100 refurbished warehouses not far from Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh.

Of the event's 63 artists, 26 come from Saudi Arabia, including Maha Malluh, Manal AlDowayan, Ahmed Mater, and Sarah Abu Abdallah.

Maan was initiated as a response to the magnitude of the current crisis and its impact on the arts community and a continuation of Athr’s support of the art scene and its artists. It is intrinsic to our mission to proactively participate in their sustainability all while making art accessible to a wider audience and triggering change, particularly in times of uncertainty.  Initiated by Athr in cooperation with artists, the production and research fund consists of creating limited edition artworks by established and emerging artists to support fellow practicing artists.

Open to all Saudi Arabia-based visual artists, irrespective of medium of practice. There are no limitations concerning age, region or provenance of the applicant. If you are a visual artist and have a project that needs a stimulus of funds for completion or need seed funding for production or research, please see the link below and apply online.

For further information, please contact us via this email address.

maangrant@athrart.com

There is at present a remarkable flowering of the Jeddah art scene, a sense that the young and reforming country of Saudi Arabia – having been relatively isolated from the rest of the world – has something new and different to offer on the artistic stage.

Jeddah’s yearly arts festival, 21,39, took place last week, and its ancillary events this year stretched across the country. Organisers took international visitors to Dammam, on the country’s east coast, to see the gorgeously high-spec Ithra: King Abdullah Aziz Centre for World Culture, the Saudi Aramco-funded art and cultural space that opens later this year, as well as to the King Abdullah Economic City to see the country’s first-ever solo show, Drum Roll, Please of Ahmed Mater.

The Clocks Are Striking Thirteen, curated by one of Athr Gallery’s former directors, Maya El Khalil, showed works that played with materiality and symbolism in novel ways. And it had feeling: there was a sense of things at stake.