Artworks displayed this year during the first annual Noor Riyadh festival of art and light set two Guinness world records, the Saudi Press Agency.
“Beacon,” by Polish artist Carolina Halatek, broke the record for the largest LED (light-emitting diode) structure. The sculpture, which was on show at the King Abdul Aziz Historical Center between March 18 and April 3, consisted of 272,160 LEDs.
“Star in Motion,” by Belgian artist Koert Vermeulen, was suspended at a height of 256 meters on the Kingdom Center tower and radiated 1.2 million lumens of light. It set the world record for the brightest suspended ornament.
Noor Riyadh, which ran from March until June, featured a number of installations across the city and a series of events, including the Light on Light exhibition at King Abdullah Financial District Conference Center, a major retrospective of light art from the 1960s to the present day.
The festival included works by more than 60 artists from more than 20 countries, including Saudi Arabia, with the aim of providing an inspiring cultural and human experience for locals and visitors alike.
Other events included tours, musical and cinematic performances, virtual discussions, workshops, and family activities in 13 locations across the city. It also gave more than 200 volunteers the chance to gain professional experience in the creative field. More than 300,000 people attended the festival as a whole, including more than 12,000 who visited the Light on Light exhibition.
Noor Riyadh is an initiative of the Riyadh Art Project, which hopes to establish more than 1,000 public artworks throughout the city. It also aims to help achieve the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 by contributing to the development of a creative economy and making Riyadh one of the most livable cities in the world.