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Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale transports visitors through time
Inside the third edition of the event in Saudi Arabia, which probes the idea of movement, journeys and migration through art, video and sound experiments
- PUBLISHED: Thu 19 Feb 2026, 2:28 PM
Inside the repurposed warehouses of JAX district in Riyadh, Dhaka-based Sarker Protick's series of photographs exude a soft and luminous glow. Titled Awngar, this large body of work by the young Bangladeshi artist, educator and curator is based on years of research about the British railway infrastructure in what was once undivided Bengal.
After reading about colonial railway networks, Protick got increasingly interested in the coal mining regions of his native Bangladesh. Subsequently, he travelled to the neighbouring Indian cities like Asansol and Dhanbad (where the Bollywood gangster hit Gangs of Wasseypur was set) to further understand "the subcontinent's railway towns, their architecture, housing, landscape and ecology and the historical context that has shaped South Asian identity," he says.
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"This research has been a gradual process, akin to solving a puzzle," laughs the 39-year-old who serves as the co-artistic director of the Chobi Mela, the first festival of photography in Asia. Apart from the fraught colonial legacies that continue to influence South Asian politics and culture even today, Awngar (a poetic Bengali term meaning fire but can equally imply internal struggle) subtly comments on the historical and imperial impulses behind climate change.
But probably the reason it has found itself as one of the exemplary works in the third edition of the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2026 could be that it explores an idea of movement, journeys, time, migration, transformations and processions — all the themes that sit perfectly at the heart of this year's biennale in Riyadh.
Titled In Interludes and Transitions, the biennale which returns to JAX district and will run until May 2, is an adventurous whirlwind, featuring the works of 68 artists from all over the world and includes over 25 new commissions.
Led by co-artistic directors Nora Razian and Sabih Ahmed, In Interludes and Transitions feels more like a musical note in which histories, cultures and migrations dance together through song, stories and experiences. The biennale's title in Arabic 'Fil hil wal terhal' draws from a phrase used colloquially to denote the cycles of encampments and journeys among nomadic tribes in the Arabian Peninsula — evoking community, connection and a sense of continuity in a constantly changing world.
Consider it as an "invitation to think rhythmically" and see time "as layered" instead of static, as Razian and Ahmed write in their curatorial note. They want us to both contemplate and celebrate the cadences of language, memories across time, cultural production and exchange through a tapestry of voices, from the past to the present reflecting perhaps Saudi Arabia's own recent transformation under Vision 2030.
The biennale's opening ceremony on January 30 attracted a huge crowd, proving once again the Kingdom's growing appetite for cutting-edge contemporary art — particularly, the enthusiasm from young Saudis was a sight to behold. It is apt that the art carnival started with a procession, led by a performance called Folding the Tents by Mohammed Alhamdan (7amdan) whose caravan of Chasse cars roared through the JAX district heralding the arrival of yet another art-filled season for the Saudis.
Like Sarker Protick, the Kosovar artist Petrit Halilaj's installation is about unfinished history. As you approach his work titled Very volcanic over this green feather, you find yourself immersed in a childlike wonderland but soon, you are confronted by more ominous themes. Born from the artist's childhood memories, fears and dreams of the war in Kosovo in the late 1990s, it confronts violence and displacement.
"For me, the work is about survival and imagination as tools of resistance. When you are a child in a war, fantasy and invention are not escapes, they are necessities. In that sense, the work is hopeful: it insists on tenderness and vulnerability as political positions," Halilaj tells Wknd.
The biennale's theme, its ideas and intent resonated profoundly with Halilaj. As a first visitor to Saudi Arabia, he sees the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale as a space for new encounters and a creative beacon which is full of questions and learning. He feels that this is a dynamic moment for arts and culture in the Gulf region, which is becoming a catalyst for change and drawing the attention of major global talents.
"It is important to listen carefully to places in transformation, to acknowledge history and time without rushing to conclusions. Progress, for me, is not a race nor a competition with the other countries. What matters is care — for people, for minorities, for foreigners and for landscapes. Progress should not come at the cost of erasure or suffering," he adds.
Nearby, Théo Mercier's House of Eternity packs a paradoxical punch. At first, this striking sand sculpture resembles termite mounds or desert monoliths and you are not quite sure if it's made by human hand or it's a natural formation. Visitors feel like they have entered an excavation or archeological site. Talking to the Paris-based sculptor, one discovers that around 400 tonnes was sourced from a dune close to Riyadh and the idea was to underline the fact that the humble desert sand is resilient enough to carry untold stories and ancient memories.
"I am using sand as an allegory of time but also of metamorphosis," shares the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres 2022 recipient, adding that he also wanted to highlight how humans are busy plundering sand from islands, mountains and rivers to build our cities and social landscape. "But the reality is that the world is a unit — or shall we say, a unity. I call this installation a 'living fossil,' as it is about slow change and it's both unbreakable and fragile."
No doubt, House of Eternity is a contradiction in terms. The ultimate irony is that after the biennale is wrapped up, it will be dismantled and the sand shall be taken back to its original site — a final punchline that Mercier, who's also a stage director, cannot wait to deliver. The biennale is also showcasing a range of video works and sound-based experiments, perhaps making a point that moving images are like movements, if only to be read in cinematic frequencies. The India-based Raqs Media Collective's Something Rare to Lose (complete with an installation of a hospital bed) and Rohini Devasher's From the Dust of This Planet stand apart due to their conceptual rigor and research-intensive approach.
The young Saudi artist Ahaad Alamoudi's dreamlike moving imagery shows her running to catch something elusive and forever out of reach, turning the single-channel video into an arena of both motion and monotony. Interestingly, Sharjah Art Foundation has just rolled out Alamoudi's solo exhibition titled Sunkissed at Gallery 6, Al Mureijah Square in Sharjah which explores the notions of the sun, sand and collective identity through her characteristic pop art-esque lens.
Meanwhile, art lovers visiting Diriyah from the UAE will run into a couple of familiar faces — Abu Dhabi-born Afra Al Dhaheri is being represented by a plexiglass dining table and Abdullah Al Saadi is showing The Slipper's Journey comprising dozens of found stones and rocks. And of course, the biennale's co-artistic directors Nora Razian and Sabih Ahmed are no stranger to the UAE's cultural scene.
Ahmed is currently projects advisor at the Ishara Art Foundation while Razian serves as deputy director, head of exhibitions at Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai. Both have played a pivotal role in shaping artistic dialogue in the UAE and in their accomplished hands, the biennale blossoms into an instrument of care, empathy, awareness, knowledge and listening.
In a world where attention spans are shrinking and politics of hatred is on the rise, the months-long event offers us a chance to pause and forces us to see human bodies, songs, poetry and diverse cultures moving together along what seems to be essentially a common map. Be it camels and falcons on the Arabian Peninsula or humans migrating in search of a better life, movement has long defined history and given our lives meaning.
As Petrit Halilaj concludes, "This is something I truly believe — birds will save us. They did for me in 1999, when I was living in a refugee camp. They remind us that freedom, movement and dreaming is still possible."
The third edition of Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale titled In Interludes and Transitions is on view at JAX District, Riyadh until May 2