Manal AlDowayan works on her art piece “Shifting Sands: A Battle Song.”
A multimedia installation at this year’s Venice Biennale combines the desert’s sonic and geological features with the voices of hundreds of women humming.
This is the Saudi pavilion’s theme entitled “Shifting Sands: A Battle Song,” created by artist Manal AlDowayan. It questions common Western views and myths surrounding the portrayal of women in Middle Eastern societies.
Art expansion is being hailed as a seminal moment in the region’s cultural transformation
The contemporary artwork consists of participatory action, soft sculpture (silk, ink and acrylic paint) and sound as the mediums. As a concept AlDowayan looks at the impact of image and media on self-perception, focusing on her own experience and that of other women in Saudi Arabia.
Curated by a trio of female art experts, Saudi native AlDowayan’s sound-meets-sculpture installation brings together much of what she has explored in her practice of photography, sculpture and other installations over the past two decades.
“The title … ‘Shifting Sands’ represents change with all its implications in a country like Saudi Arabia,” AlDowayan explains. “’A Battle Song’ references the traditional Arabian performances like alDhaha and alArdha, a ritual of dance movements, poetry and songs.”
Courtesy of the Visual Arts Commission, the Commissioner of the National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia/ Iman Aldabbagh
The sound component of “Shifting Sands: A Battle Song” consists of two recordings, one of which features 1,000 women in three cities who hummed and chanted in harmony with the other, a recording of “singing” sand dunes.
AlDowayan says the artwork’s sound component combines two recordings. The first is of singing sand dunes, which hum when wind moves across them. The second captured 1,000 women in three cities who hummed and chanted in harmony with the singing dunes.
“Alongside this artwork, the curators and my studio team have produced a beautiful catalog of commissioned essays that articulate the nuances of my artwork through the words of poets, historians and researchers,” AlDowayan says.
The Kingdom is home to many such talented artists who have been gaining recognition both domestically and internationally.
The country’s blossoming art scene includes an Andy Warhol exhibition underway in the oasis city AlUla, the fourth edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival taking place in November in Jeddah, and various works punctuating Noor Riyadh, world’s largest festival of lights, in the capital, Riyadh.
But the rise of contemporary art scene is a regional experience.
From installations in the desert to abstract sculptures by the sea, the Arabian Gulf has seen a cultural revolution in recent years and is flourishing as a multicultural hub for contemporary art. The surge of interest has helped regional artists rise to the global scene.
Photo courtesy of Lance Gerber; above: Courtesy of Fahad Alobaidly
“Now You See Me, Now You Don’t,” a 2020 installation by AlDowayan, was at Desert X, AlUla, Saudi Arabia.
While the art scene is rapidly developing in Saudi Arabia, the neighboring state of Qatar is no slouch in the culture department and has also been investing significantly in the arts for decades. Twenty-five years ago, the Gulf state opened the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, the region’s first art school.
Qatar boasts a plethora of galleries, art spaces and exhibitions. It has three new museums in the pipeline, including one dedicated to hosting a huge collection of Orientalist art.
Artists are pushing their creative boundaries and embracing opportunities that have allowed them to showcase their talent, says local artist Fahad Ahmed Al Obaidly. He has multiple interests ranging from drawing and installations to fashion design and film.
The country is actively fostering an environment where creativity can thrive. Qatar Museums has a nine-month Artist in Residence Program, in which Al Obaidly took part.
The 2017 acrylic-on-canvas work “Is it the Wrong Way!” by Fahad Al Obaidly, below, exemplifies how artists in the region are pushing their creative boundaries.
“It was my first real serious milestone in entering the art industry, and I felt both nurtured and endorsed,” he says. “The program gave me a voice and developed my artistic character; it helped me develop my cultural identity and diversity.”
Contemporary art is fast becoming a part of Qatar’s cultural identity under the government initiative. In addition to the country’s expanding museum sector, there has been a significant increase in public art installations by international artists, from Damien Hirst’s “The Miraculous Journey,” a series of bronze sculptures, some 46 feet high, of human reproduction at Sidra Medical and Research Center to Richard Serra’s “East-West/West-East” steel monuments in the desert area of Zekreet.
It has been well documented that Qatar has been one of the 21st century’s most avid buyers of art globally, buying some of the most expensive paintings in the world: Rothko’s “White Center” for $70 million; Cézanne’s “The Card Players” for $250 million; and Gauguin’s “When Will You Marry?” for $300 million.
Al Obaidly says art has always been important in Qatar.
“From education to investment, that is what really helped Qatar to have organic development in the country. That then led to the incubations; for example, the Doha Film Institute, the Fire Station art center, the Tasweer Photo Festival and Fashion Trust Arabia, to name but a few. All those initiatives and infrastructures really helped nurture and support local and regional talent.”
In the United Arab Emirates, the art scene offers profound experiences. As more museums and galleries have opened their doors, the appetite for learning, engaging with and collecting art has developed in fascinating ways, says Michaela Watrelot, the curator and director of exhibitions at the Bassam Freiha Art Foundation in Abu Dhabi, which showcases global and regional art collections. “A memorable example was Manar’s [light-art display] inaugural exhibition which ran from November 2023 to January 2024. Co-curated by Reem Fadda and Alia Zaal Lootah, these light-focused installations by local and international artists beautifully merged elements of nature, water and light art to celebrate Abu Dhabi’s unique environment.”
The arrival of new museums, universities and a buzzing art scene [in the United Arab Emirates] “has now given artists, collectors and art enthusiasts increasing access to contemporary art.” —MICHAELA WATRELOT
Courtesy of NIKA Project Space
NIKA Project Space in the United Arab Emirates focuses on artists and curators from the Global South. Among works the gallery highlights are watercolor paintings by Katya Muromtseva from 2023.
The UAE has a rich art history, and the government there, like its neighbors in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, has invested heavily in art over the past 20 years. The country is already home to several museums and galleries featuring contemporary art, such as Louvre Abu Dhabi and Manarat Al Saadiyat, with plans to open a branch of the Guggenheim in the heart of the Saadiyat Cultural District. The rise of contemporary art is down to multiple factors, according to Watrelot.
“The arrival of new museums such as Art Jameel in Dubai and The Louvre Abu Dhabi, new universities such as NYU Abu Dhabi and a buzzing commercial art scene that attracts international attention through annual art fairs and auctions has now given artists, collectors and art enthusiasts increasing access to contemporary art,” she says.
The NIKA Project Space focuses on artists and curators from the Global South. The gallery’s founder, Veronika Berezina, says she has always valued the potential of art to offer new perspectives and foster cross-cultural dialog.
“By championing emerging and established practitioners, with a particular focus on female practitioners from the Global South, the gallery aims to offer a platform for lesser-known stories to be told,” she says.
Photo by Sergio Ghetti
Bassam Freiha Art Foundation in Abu Dhabi, UAE, displays “Echoes of the Orient.”
Courtesy of NIKA Projects Space
Veronika Berezina is the founder of NIKA Space Project, also in the UAE.
Dubai-based NIKA recently started hosting a research program, inviting artists to create impactful works that implement research-based and experimental creative processes. Berezina says she hopes this will facilitate the exploration and portrayal of nuanced societal experiences and historical narratives.
AlDowayan says Saudi Arabia is a young country living through times of cultural change, and the art of an era has always been a vital tool to bear witness to societal transformations.
“Contemporary art is indeed developing at a high pace in Saudi Arabia; however, artistic expression has existed on our land for millennia, starting with rock engravings and sculptures created by the Nabateans, Lihyans and Dadanites,” she says.
“My generation of artists uses contemporary art as a language of documentation to write the canon of contemporary Saudi Arabia.”
Curator and painter Yasmeen Sabri, who is also an advisor to the Royal Commission for Riyadh City, agrees.
She describes the growing art scene as a “renaissance” and says government institutions are committed to prioritizing arts and culture in the Kingdom.
“There is a lot of intention with building institutions and grassroots spaces,” Sabri says. “And naturally, art speaks to everyone, so people are reacting positively to it, and they are excited to express themselves and to have spaces where they can come and see art and enjoy it.”
AlDowayan says the art sector in the Kingdom has changed significantly from when she began her career.
“Creatives, curators, artists, researchers are all working hand in hand-building the art scene with outstanding speed,” she says. “There are infinite opportunities, and creatives are collaborating in a fascinating way. So many artist-led initiatives are taking off the ground!”
