ALULA, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Right now marks the official opening of Desert X AlUla 2026, the landmark fourth version of the worldwide, open-air biennial exhibition. Arts AlUla, in collaboration with Desert X, welcomes guests to expertise a stellar line-up of Saudi and worldwide multi-generational artists whose site-responsive earthworks, sculptures, and installations will interact in a robust dialogue with the awe-inspiring landscapes and layered heritage of AlUla.
Agnes Denes, Desert X AlUla 2026 Artist, Courtesy of Lance Gerber
As a premier vacation spot wealthy in historic historical past and breathtaking nature, AlUla, situated in Northwest Saudi Arabia, solidifies its place on the worldwide stage as a dynamic, rising land artwork vacation spot with Desert X AlUla, the area’s first public artwork biennale, and a key spotlight of the AlUla Arts Pageant.
The 2026 version of Desert X AlUla brings collectively 11 acclaimed artists whose numerous works replicate a large spectrum of concepts, supplies, and traditions. From monumental kinetic sculpture to sound-based explorations above and beneath floor, every fee is deeply rooted in relationships to AlUla’s distinctive setting, additional cementing Desert X AlUla’s popularity as a globally vital platform for site-responsive land artwork.
Desert X AlUla runs till February 28, 2026, as a cornerstone of the annual AlUla Arts Pageant. Curated by Wejdan Reda, Zoé Whitley, with inventive course by Neville Wakefield, and Raneem Farsi, its fourth version explores ‘Area With out Measure.’ Impressed by Kahlil Gibran, the theme fosters contemplation of creativeness inside AlUla’s pure settings. The exhibition, set within the desert canyons of AlUla, serves as a pre-opening programme for Wadi AlFann, providing a pivotal glimpse into AlUla’s plans to create a everlasting land artwork ‘Valley of the Arts.’
Hamad Alhomiedan, Director of Arts & Artistic Industries on the Royal Fee for AlUla (RCU), mentioned: “At Desert X AlUla 2026, audiences will interact with artwork that deeply converses with AlUla’s distinctive landscapes and wealthy heritage. These compelling commissions spotlight AlUla’s dynamic transformation into a serious world vacation spot, the place historic and up to date expressions converge. This exhibition is a part of our broader revitalisation of AlUla as a culturally wealthy vacation spot to dwell, work and go to and integral to positioning AlUla within the world dialogue of up to date artwork and as a precursor to monumental initiatives like Wadi AlFann.”
Collaborating artist/artworks are:
- Sara Abdu, A Kingdom The place No One Dies: Contours of Resonance
- Mohammad Alfaraj, What was the Query Once more?
- Mohammed AlSaleem, The Thorn, AlShuruf Unit, The Triangles, Flower Bud, and Al Ahilla (courtesy of Royal Fee for Riyadh Metropolis)
- Tarek Atoui, The Water Tune
- Bahraini-Danish, Bloom
- Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Imole Crimson
- Agnes Denes, The Dwelling Pyramid
- Ibrahim El-Salahi, Haraza Tree
- Basmah Felemban, Murmur of Pebbles
- Vibha Galhotra, Future Fables
- Héctor Zamora, Tar HyPar
For additional data, please contact:
Sabrine.Shaw@bursonglobal.com
AlUlaArtsFestival@bursonglobal.com
Multimedia gallery:
Excessive-resolution pictures of all 11 artists and their artworks could be discovered right here.
About AlUla and Arts AlUla
Situated 1,100 km from Riyadh, in North-West Saudi Arabia, AlUla is a spot of extraordinary pure and human heritage. The huge space, masking 22,561km², features a lush oasis valley, towering sandstone mountains and historic cultural heritage websites courting again 1000’s of years to when the Lihyan and Nabataean kingdoms reigned.
Probably the most well-known and recognised website in AlUla is Hegra, the principal southern metropolis of the Nabataean Kingdom and Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Web site. AlUla can also be house to historic Dadan, the capital of the Dadan and Lihyan Kingdoms and regarded to be one of the crucial developed 1st millennium BCE cities of the Arabian Peninsula, and Jabal Ikmah, an open air library of a whole lot of inscriptions and writings in many various languages. AlUla Previous City Village, a labyrinth of greater than 900 mudbrick houses was developed from not less than the twelfth century and has been revitalised as the colourful hub for guests and residents.
The creation of Arts AlUla inside The Royal Fee for AlUla (RCU) is a dedication to crafting the following chapters in a millennia of inventive creation – celebrating cultural inheritance and shaping a future impressed by artists constructed be artists. The work of Arts AlUla seeks to protect this legacy: fuse the previous with the brand new; the native with the worldwide, retaining the humanities central to the spirit of AlUla as a spot of extraordinary pure and human heritage.
Wadi AlFann, that means ‘Valley of the Arts,’ might be a world cultural vacation spot for land artwork, unveiling from 2028 onwards, the place era-defining works by artists from all over the world might be completely sited within the monumental panorama of AlUla, the extraordinary desert area of north-west Saudi Arabia.
