The third edition of the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, curated by Nora Razian and Sabih Ahmed, gathers over seventy artists to explore processions, migrations, and cultural connections across mediums and geographies.
Image of the JAX District, the site of the 2026 Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale. Courtesy of the Diriyah Biennale Foundation.
Opening on 30 January 2026 in the historic town of Diriyah, northwest of Riyadh, the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2026 presents over 70 artists under the title In Interludes and Transitions (في الحِلّ والترحال). Led by Artistic Directors Nora Razian and Sabih Ahmed, this edition explores how movement and transmission shape cultural forms and collective memory. With scenography by Formafantasma, the Biennale will unfold across JAX, Diriyah’s industrial creative district, transforming it into a space where sound, image, and performance intersect.
The curatorial concept is inspired by a phrase that describes the cycles of encampment and journey in nomadic life across the Arabian Peninsula. In this spirit, the Biennale reflects on migration, trade, and exchange as ongoing processes that connect the Gulf region with the broader world. “Processions have produced relations and forms in this region,” explain Razian and Ahmed. “Thinking of the world in procession allows an understanding of cultural forms through exchange, intersections, and retelling.”
The Biennale will feature more than twenty new commissions alongside works by artists such as Ahaad Alamoudi, Afra Al Dhaheri, Raven Chacon, Rahima Gambo, Petrit Halilaj, Aziz Hazara, Thảo Nguyên Phan, Raqs Media Collective, and Yu Ji. Bringing together visual art, sound, architecture, and performance, the exhibition emphasises the porous boundaries between media and traditions, tracing how artistic practice operates as both archive and movement.
With its focus on rhythm, choreography, and collective experience, In Interludes and Transitions positions art as a way to sustain continuity amid change. The scenography by Formafantasma will transform JAX’s warehouse spaces into fluid environments where past and future coexist.
Aya Al-Bakree, CEO of the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, describes this edition as a moment of connection and renewal: “This Biennale places transmission and the movement of cultures at the forefront, welcoming audiences from near and far to JAX, which has become a vital site of creative exchange.”
The curatorial team also includes Maan Abu Taleb, May Makki, Kabelo Malatsie, and Lantian Xie, with Sammy Zarka serving as Associate Architect and Exhibition Designer. Together, they have crafted a project that situates Diriyah as a nexus of regional and global artistic dialogue.
As the Biennale approaches, it signals the expanding role of Saudi Arabia as a hub for cultural engagement and reflection. Interludes and Transitions invites audiences to move, listen, and witness together, tracing how stories, sounds, and images travel through time and place to shape new forms of belonging.
Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2026: In Interludes and Transitions runs from 30 January to 30 May 2026 at JAX, Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. For details, visit www.biennale.org.sa.
