Noor Riyadh 2023 curators discuss the festival’s themes
• This year’s theme ‘The Bright Side of the Desert Moon’ explores light as a unifying force
• The festival is curated by Jérôme Sans, Pedro Alonzo, Fahad Bin Naif and Alaa Tarabzouni
Noor Riyadh, the world’s largest light art festival, has returned to the Saudi capital, transforming it through a series of stunning public installations. Running until December 16, the third edition presents more than 120 artworks by over 100 artists, representing more than 35 countries.
Presented by Lead Curator Jérôme Sans and Curators Pedro Alonzo, Fahad Bin Naif and Alaa Tarabzouni this year’s festival theme ‘The Bright Side of the Desert Moon’ explores light as a unifying force that sustains, comforts and connects us all. Artworks are dispersed across five main hubs and additional locations throughout Riyadh City, with the central hub located at the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), complemented by those at JAX District, Salam Park, Wadi Hanifa and Wadi Namar.
French curator Jérôme Sans says the range of environments across these five hubs offers artists opportunities to explore the theme in various ways. Sans says: “A burgeoning metropolis planted in the middle of vast arid land, Riyadh is a city that is completely inventing itself. The speed at which the city moves and breathes is in line with this exhibition and its aim to showcase a world in full mutation, like a whirlwind in the desert.
“The scale of the city and the variety of its landscape also enables to write a story which holds a plurality of different chapters: from the ultra-contemporary setting of KAFD, to the artistic district of JAX, to the flourishing artificial nature of Salam Park, to the waterfalls of Wadi Namar, and to the desertic setting of Wadi Hanifa.
Reflecting on the theme, Sans adds: “The desert here is approached as a metaphor for today’s Meta cities in which individuals can easily get lost in the mass. Reminiscent of the extensive, infinite mass of the metaverse, of today’s ever-changing new technologies, the image of the desert is also one that points to the swarming new realities that exist simultaneously in one’s life. In this extremely interconnected world, individuals have never been so disconnected. The exhibition twists and plays with this vision of the desert, considering it as a platform to rethink our relationships and reconnect.”
Despite working across different sites, Mexican curator Pedro Alonzo says the curatorial team emphasized working together with what Sans calls “One voice”, with a dialogue between one another. Discussing what sets Noor Riyadh apart from other art festivals, Alonzo explains: “Unlike most art exhibitions and festivals, Noor Riyadh is primarily for the people of Riyadh. The festival organizers have an impressive understanding and knowledge about their public. Thinking about the residents of Riyadh, the public who will enjoy the art, was instrumental in picking artists, developing artworks and placing work in the hubs.”
As someone from Riyadh, Saudi curator Fahad bin Naif has a unique perspective on these locations: “I’m from Riyadh so I have a bias towards Riyadh. It is the capital and also a cultural capital that’s rapidly and surely competing with global capitals as well.”
He says there are several factors that set this edition of Noor Riyadh apart from the previous two iterations. “Each year it gets progressively better and larger as well with the inclusion of more new artists, and also the combination of international curators, with local curators, which creates this dialogue between different nations.
Curator Alaa Tarabzouni, also from Riyadh, adds: “This combination between architecture and the artworks and that intersection between both is really special.” She says: “I think what surprised me about Noor Riyadh this year is first being able to be reintroduced to the city of Riyadh, with this new lens of exploring areas that are the main hubs for the festival.”
Running concurrently in JAX District until March 2, 2024 is the Noor Riyadh exhibition ‘Refracted Identities, Shared Futures’. Presented by Curator Neville Wakefield and Assistant Curator Maya Al Athel, the exhibition explores the ways in which light shapes our human and cultural identities.
Discussing his approach towards the festival theme, British curator Neville Wakefield says: “The sub-theme for this year’s exhibition is Refracted identities: Shared Futures. Treating art as a prism through which different approaches to art, light and life create a spectrum of possibility the curatorial strategy has been to embrace a diversity of artists and artworks that speak to common themes. Broadly divided into three thematic sections – Cosmos, Temporality, Connectivity – the approach has been to bring Saudi, regional and international art and artists into dialogue with one another.”
On what makes light art such an interesting medium, he adds: “We are in the midst of an unprecedented revolution in communication that has taken us from Guttenberg’s invention of the printing press to the unknown horizons of AI. Light has become information: it is the ink of our current times. Light art is a direct reflection of the way we write ourselves into these new cultures of technological and social change. It speaks to communication and transformation, commonality and shared experience.”
“Just as Los Angeles was famously described as the city of quartz, Riyadh is a city of light. Not only is it a beacon to the world announcing the power of social and cultural transformation but it is the promise of a future in which art and culture play leading roles.”
Elaborating on this point, Saudi curator Maya Al Athel says: “Riyadh, as the capital of Saudi Arabia, possesses a rich cultural heritage that forms a meaningful backdrop, enriching the resonance of artistic expressions.
“The standout feature of this year’s event, for me, is the transformative impact that light brings to a city as radiant as Riyadh. The profound nature of how light interacts not only with the cityscape but also engages with the public is truly captivating.”
Developed with the aim of nurturing local talent and amplifying Saudi Arabia’s cultural economy, Noor Riyadh is part of Riyadh Art, one of the largest public art initiatives in the world. Riyadh Art aims to transform the Saudi capital into a “gallery without walls”, with more than 1,000 public art installations, to be spread out across the city through 10 programs and two annual events.
Across its editions, Noor Riyadh has created unique moments of joy across the city and provided millions of visitors the opportunity to appreciate world-class light artworks, and rediscover the city of Riyadh in a new light. In 2022, Noor Riyadh celebrated multiple achievements, including welcoming 2.8 million visitors to the festival and winning six Guinness World Records, one of which being the largest celebration of light art in the world.