The event, which will take place from January 23 to April 23, 2023, was originally planned for Riyadh but was shifted to Jeddah in April. The city’s plethora of historical sites, such as Bab Makkah, and the diversity of its cultural history “support the biennale’s mission to interlink past, present, and future,” according to organisers.
More than a year after Saudi Arabia’s first cultural biennale, the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, which took place on the outskirts of Riyadh in December 2021, the Islamic arts exhibition will take place. The exhibition, which featured more than 60 recognised international artists, was the kingdom’s largest and most significant international exposition of contemporary art to date.
The theme for this year’s event is Awwal Bayt (First House). In the Quran, the term Awwal Bayt refers to the Ka’bah in Makkah, Islam’s holiest shrine, as well as the direction (qiblah) that all Muslims face in their daily prayers.
According to organisers, the biennale’s theme explores how the Ka’bah and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah inspire Muslims around the world, giving them a sense of belonging in their own land.
In order to create a conversation between sacred locations and rituals, galleries and outdoor exhibits will be curated in this manner. The indoor galleries will be themed Sacred Direction (qibla), with Makkah as the focal point. Meanwhile, the installations will investigate the sensations of hijrah (migration).
The inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale has enlisted the help of an international curatorial team. Saad Alrashid, a Saudi scholar and archaeologist; Omniya Abdel Barr, a Barakat Trust Fellow at the Victoria and Albert Museum; Julian Raby, Director Emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Asian Art; and Vally, architect, designer, and principal of Counterspace, a design, research, and pedagogical studio.
When the new venue was announced, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Culture, Prince Badr bin Farhan Al Saud, remarked, “Cultural and artistic interchange are crucial in this period of exceptional expansion and development in the creative community in Saudi Arabia.”
“The Diriyah Biennale Foundation is at the front of this cultural renaissance and burgeoning art scene.” Our most recent edition, which received great praise, ended in March, and the Islamic Arts Biennale marks the start of our next chapter.”