brief
Noor Riyadh first opened to the public in 2021, immediately establishing itself as the world’s largest light art festival. For the Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC), the festival’s organiser, Noor Riyadh is one of ten programmes under the Riyadh Art banner, a transformational urban cultural mega-project. Alserkal Advisory was tasked with building out the festival’s cultural programme to enhance and encourage the public’s engagement with the public artworks and, by extension, the city itself.
RESPONSE
Seeking inspiration from the festival’s curatorial theme ‘We Dream of New Horizons’, the Advisory engineered a programme around three threads or ‘-scapes’. The Cityscape provided a moment to reflect on and revel in the complexity of Riyadh. The Dreamscape explored a world in which reality blurs and alternatives emerge, and the Tech-scape was a blast of the future.
In addition to employing a research-driven method, the programme’s potency was in its exploration of experimental alternative formats, venue adaptation, and diverse participation: the artworks in the JAX District became the backdrop for artist-led performance workshop by Bilal Allaf, and the rooftop of Bayt Al Malaz, where Muhannad Shono’s work was installed, played host to Shireen Saif’s durational performance.
Over the festival’s duration, the Advisory programme engaged a total of 58 artists in 42 artist-led workshops and 14 panel discussions and talks, all aimed at providing audiences with a deeper understanding of the art and the artists with a more meaningful connection to the city.
