THE RED PALACE RETURNS TO LIVE
It is in Riyadh that the artist  Sultan bin Fahad  (Riyad, 1971) - a member of the royal family and one of the most active and enthusiastic promoters and initiators of the change - installed a monumental exhibition divided into seven chapters, curated by Reem Fadda, in the evocative spaces and  délabré  of the Red Palace. Center of power and magnificence, the Palace, completed in 1944 - the first building in the capital to be built with concrete and iron-steel - was the residence of the then Prince Saud bin Abdulaziz, later the office of the Saudi Ministers Council and until 1987 the Palace of complaints. It has been closed and abandoned for twenty years and after the exhibition it will be converted into a hotel.
The artist has long been fascinated by the palace and his exhibition, through installations, videos and photographs, talks about the events that took place there - from the power meetings behind the scenes to the work of the many attendants who worked there - over the years and the history of the country. Family history.  "On the evening of the opening to the public,  " he says, "  I met a lady in her nineties who told me that she lived in the Palace. Walking with his grandchildren he recognized the various rooms. He began to cry, seized by nostalgia and the many memories of his days spent in the Palace ”
 
 

Shedding light on “The wave won’t stop when you leave”, Basmah Felemban, curator of the activity, said that the enthusiasm that the local kids showed during the workshops and the outstanding creativity they demonstrated will no doubt contribute to enriching the Historical Area artistically and maintain a culture of beauty and creativity. 
She pointed out that street art in its various shapes and forms can be noticed across the country, whether it features poetic or social statements, group tags, or beautiful murals; this type of visual outcome is at once an individualistic form of expression, and a form of social commentary.

Previous winners of the Ithra Art Prize are Ayman Zedani and  Dania Al Saleh . Zedani won in 2018 for his large-scale, concrete construction,  Meem , while this year, the jury chose Alsaleh, who produced a digital, audio-visual presentation, consisting of 28 screens, based on the phonemes of the Arabic language.

“Amma baad” has no direct correlation in English. It is used to signal a move out of the honorific salutations with which Arabic letters or formal emails begin, and towards the content of the correspondence itself. “It’s like ‘thereafter’,” saysMaya El Khalil, curator of Al Salem’s exhibition at the Delfina Foundation in London. “It’s a moment of pure transition: now the real business begins.”
 
For Al Salem, who says he has been toying with the idea for a year, the phrase offered an intriguing philosophical problem. “‘Amma baad’ is impossible to capture. The moment you say, ‘amma baad,’ you are already in what came after – of what comes after that moment of transition,” he says. “I wanted to take something inexpressible and give it visual form.”

Works by Ayman Zedani, Faisal Samra, and Fatima Al-Banawi on show in the world’s first travelling contemporary art biennale showcase the transformation currently taking place in the Kingdom

“We welcome very much the participation of  artists  from around the world – it renews us and keeps us fresh,” says Cecilia Cavanagh, Director of the Pavilion of Fine Arts at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina (UCA) where this month three Saudi  conceptual artists are exhibiting works  at Bienalsur., the Southern Hemisphere’s contemporary art event.

Saudi Arabian artist Zahrah Al-Ghamdi contributes an installation made of leather and cotton thread. The artist told Arab News last month that she is inspired by the land artists of the 1970s, and their “ability to use raw materials to express their feelings. They helped me to see ‘nothing’ as something important.”

Also located in the piazza of Rubbat Al-Khunji House, an outdoor exhibition and visual study called The City in my Playground, a collaborative work between Zahra Bundakji and artist Mohammed Al Faraj, where he and children of the neighborhood take ownership of the streets through activities, explorations, and guided workshops. As part of SAC’s art and culture events, Sharbatli House is also hosting an aleatory created by Nasser Alshemimry. The term aleatory refers to the random interactions of different sound sources to generate a whole one large sound that is more than the sum of its parts. Legendary musician John Cage pioneered the use of aleatory in his compositions. Aleatory allows the composition to be ever evolving and influenced by the environment, surroundings, and observers. Additionally, visitors can enjoy a Book Fair Co-space at the Historic Jeddah Season. The Book Fair is designed as a co-space of knowledge at the Sharbatli House Annex, which has been repurposed to offer a space that brings people together by presenting a design bookshop, reading space and lush gathering spot. It is a quiet modest' space, serving as a canvas for community engagement and debate.

A reflection on heritage, the WEHE Collective Design exhibition in Jeddah’s Athr Gallery highlights the duality of the past and present

 
Curated by Montreal-born architect Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte in collaboration with Fonderia Artistica Battaglia and Carwan Gallery, the  WEHE Collective Design  exhibition launched in  Athr Gallery , Jeddah on 18 May 2019, has brought together various renowned architects, designers and artists specialising in Middle Eastern design, including Omar Chakil, Karen Chekerdijian, Ghaith&Jad, Rasha Nawam, Mary-Lynn Massoud, Carlo Massoud and Anastasia Nysten. Aptly named, the word Wehe stems from the ancient  Egyptian  word meaning ‘dwelling place’.
Inspired by sociological and anthropological observations of the urban oasis of Siwa in Egypt, the exhibition explores the relationship between primordiality and the geographical context of the Middle Eastern  desert . “I am always fascinated by how local Berber populations managed to adapt tradition with modern lifestyle,” says curator Bellavance-Lecompte. The inspiration behind the exhibition was, as Bellavance-Lecompte says,  “to redefine an identity in relation with the region and somehow with materials and techniques that are indigenous. At the same time, I wanted to push the boundaries of their use so we’re able to revisit our perception of these objects.”

Sultan bin Fahad’s second solo exhibition opened the doors for the first time of a palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Rebecca Anne Proctor surveys the artist’s material investigations as well as the show’s explorations regarding the subjects of rebirth and reappropriation

Inside the main atrium of a stately building in  Riyadh  are large rectangular air conditioning unit holders with a heap of stacked crystal chandeliers. At first glance they seem to have been destroyed, perhaps the leftovers of some domestic catastrophe, but upon closer look the holders seem to symbolise a desire to preserve the luxury objects and also the grandeur of what once was. Above them hang several other chandeliers in perfect condition, suspended and scintillating from the ceiling just as a chandelier does.
There’s an element of violence and of  beauty  here as well as musings on material wealth and ruins. Maybe it is the element of crystal, its ability to cut and inflict pain that summons up this sense of turmoil and change, and then there’s the eerie beauty that the crystals radiate from the air conditioning holders that protects the found objects, perhaps meant soon to be used again for another location, a new purpose for beauty.

Moath Al-Ofi is a prominent young Saudi artist, researcher and explorer of the Madinah region. He is currently serving as the head of cultural programs at the Madinah Regional Development Authority.
In 2013, he founded Al-Mthba, which is a multidisciplinary art studio that focuses on research, tours, art and education. Al-Ofi also co-founded Erth Team, a production group that specializes in safari trips, aerial photography and travel documentation.

The main exhibition, titled Public/Private, is an artist-led initiative comprising a series of temporary exhibitions spanning visual art, performance, publications, and street art as well as sculpture, interactive sound installations, photography, video and sound art. Under the leadership and vision of architect duo, Abdulrahman and Turki Gazzaz, Bricklab has set up various locations in Jeddah’s Historical Area to exhibit works of art. These locations included Rubat Al-Khunji Al-Sagheer, Sharbatly Annex, Bait Al-Sharbatly, Xenel Building and Barahat Al-Hazzazi. Speaking on the occasion, Abdulrahman Gazzaz, Curator of 21,39 Summer Edition, said they have selected works by a range of local and international artists, from young and emerging to established international figures. “The participating artists are Ahaad Alamoudi, Alaa Tarabzouni, Aziz Jamal, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Emy Kat, Hajra Waheed, James Turrell, Manal Al Dowayan, Mammafotogramma Studio, Nasser Alshemimry & Blank Studio, Rashed Al Shashai and Traumnovelle.” he said. Abdulrahman pointed out that this year’s Summer edition of 21,39 takes as its central theme questions about the development, restoration, and revival efforts initiated and supported by Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, in Al-Balad and its potential to establish a fresh perspective on our understanding of the values of civic life.

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabian artists Dania Al-Saleh and Lulwah Al-Homoud are representing the Kingdom at the Artificial Intelligence and Intercultural Dialogue Art Exhibition, which began Thursday at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and ends July 7.
The exhibition explores the role of AI in contemporary art and features work that combines art and technology.