The third edition of the Biennale de Diriyah in Riyadh opened on January 30, focusing on the theme of migrations. The war in the Persian Gulf has muffled its echo.
“Today, the most interesting biennales are taking place in Asia,” asserts Sabih Ahmed, co-commissioner of the event along with Nora Razian. “In places without museums, with less institutionalized but very varied artistic practices. There is a form of agility and new ideas can be tested.” Even though the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is rapidly acquiring museums (the Black Gold museum just opened in Riyadh, the Red Sea museum dates back to last year), it still does not quite fit this model. It is important to note that drawing was not introduced into secondary education until 1945, the first artistic education degrees were only issued in 1975, and Saudi artists were not shown internationally until… 1984 (in Brussels). In this race to catch up, biennales are an obvious instrument of international recognition and media coverage. For this third occurrence (following the editions by Philip Tinari in 2022 and Ute Meta Bauer in 2024), the Contemporary Art Biennale of Diriyah, named after the historic heart of Riyadh (undergoing massive development with around a hundred cranes building new complexes), has visibly reduced resources. In the old industrial district of JAX, where warehouses are gradually being transformed into artist studios and cultural spaces, the stakes nevertheless do not seem to be diminished.
Poetic Statistics This ambition is reflected in…
