It took Artwork Basel saying a brand new version in Doha, Qatar, and Sotheby’s not too long ago previewing its first public sale in Abu Dhabi on the St. Regis Saadiyat Island for the artwork world to begin paying nearer consideration to the Gulf artwork scene and its potential. However whereas the U.A.E.’s artwork ecosystem—which incorporates Dubai’s gallery community and institutional hubs like Sharjah—has lengthy been mentioned, far much less has been reported concerning the increasing artwork scene in neighboring Saudi Arabia.
Final February, within the UNESCO-protected historic metropolis of Diriyah, simply exterior the capital Riyadh, Sotheby’s held its first-ever public sale in Saudi Arabia. The cross-category sale featured works by Fernando Botero and Refik Anadol alongside jewels, watches, uncommon automobiles, purses and iconic sports activities memorabilia, totaling $17.28 million. This was not Sotheby’s first incursion into the Kingdom. The public sale home had already staged a number of charity gross sales, backed Saudi Arabia’s first Up to date Artwork Biennale in 2022, supported final 12 months’s inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah, and partnered with the Diriyah Biennale Basis on the general public program for its 2024 version. Since 2020, the land-art biennial Desert X, conceived in California, has staged a Saudi version in AlUla, with the following installment scheduled for January 2026—timed so guests touring to Artwork Basel Doha can proceed on to Saudi Arabia.
Nonetheless, little is understood concerning the day-to-day infrastructure behind these initiatives or the gamers shaping Saudi Arabia’s modern artwork scene. Observer not too long ago spoke with Mohammed Hafiz, cofounder with Hamza Serafi of ATHR, the Kingdom’s main modern artwork gallery, to study extra concerning the present state-of-the-art scene and its evolution, notably underneath Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Imaginative and prescient 2030. Since its launch in 2016, the strategic framework has opened the Kingdom to the world and positioned tradition as a central drive of transformation.
ATHR opened in 2009—properly earlier than Imaginative and prescient 2030 created the area to offer artwork and tradition a correct increase because the nation transitions from an oil-centric financial system to a worldwide hub—and now has places in Riyadh, Jeddah and AlUla. “We began the gallery at a time when the native artwork scene—and the broader cultural motion round it—was nonetheless fairly gradual,” says Mohammed Hafiz, noting that Saudi Arabia within the Forties and Fifties had a vibrant creative motion, with a few of the nation’s pioneering modernists rising throughout that point. In 1958, the Ministry of Data (then the schooling authority) inaugurated Saudi Arabia’s first formal artwork exhibition, a symbolic milestone that introduced advantageous artwork into nationwide consciousness. “For numerous causes, that momentum pale over the a long time, however after we opened, we wished to assist reignite that power.”
ATHR’s beginnings have been intertwined with “Fringe of Arabia,” a touring exhibition of Saudi modern artists that launched in London and toured throughout Europe and the Center East. The venture turned one of many key catalysts for bringing worldwide consideration to Saudi modern artwork. The 2008 London exhibition alone drew greater than 13,000 guests earlier than touring to Venice throughout the Biennale the next 12 months, and later to Berlin, Istanbul and Dubai.
Afterward, someplace in 2013, Hafiz expanded the gallery’s work and launched a social initiative known as 21,39. “The purpose was to provide one main curated exhibition every year and construct a complete week of programming round it—panels, talks and occasions that might carry collectively native curators, museum administrators, collectors, patrons and artists, native and worldwide,” Hafiz explains. The initiative had each non-public and public elements, led by Her Royal Highness Princess Jawaher and a gaggle of patrons, with Hafiz serving as vice chair all through its run. “It turned one other vital constructing block within the evolution of Saudi Arabia’s modern artwork ecosystem.”
Imaginative and prescient 2030 marked a watershed second: underneath its framework, the Kingdom elevated “tradition and humanities” as very important pillars of nationwide transformation—now not ornaments, however key drivers of tourism, delicate energy, id and financial development. “The management and the federal government acknowledged the significance of tradition and the inventive industries, not simply as types of expression however as engines of nationwide growth,” Hafiz says. As a part of that shift, the Ministry of Tradition was lastly established as a standalone entity—beforehand it had been folded into the Ministry of Media.
As a part of Imaginative and prescient 2030, the Ministry of Tradition developed its personal technique, set priorities, and constructed a community of specialised commissions: the Artwork Fee, the Culinary Fee, the Museum Fee and others—sixteen in complete—every targeted on a definite cultural sector. “This has given us as operators within the artwork scene many alternatives,” says Hafiz. “It has allowed us to help our artists extra successfully, to exhibit their work to a broader native viewers, and to have interaction with a whole new era of collectors more and more participating with modern artwork in Saudi Arabia.”
The Ministry of Tradition has develop into a pivotal drive, spearheading initiatives just like the Biennale, the Desert X exhibitions, and different main commissions which have remodeled the Kingdom’s creative panorama. These large-scale initiatives have given artists the prospect to understand a few of their most bold visions and have positioned them on the forefront of Saudi Arabia’s quickly evolving cultural scene, as Hafiz notes.
This fast evolution underscores the promising trajectory of the Saudi artwork scene. On the similar time, it highlights how ATHR has lengthy operated much less as a traditional gallery and extra as a cultural platform—an area devoted to producing and supporting artwork and tradition inside the Kingdom whereas selling their worldwide attain. “From the beginning, it was by no means nearly business illustration. Our area has at all times operated extra like a cultural hub,” Hafiz asserts. “What actually defines us is how we work with artists and interact with the broader creative group.”
At the moment, ATHR spans roughly 4,000 sq. meters throughout its authentic venue in Jeddah, its newly opened Riyadh location (ATHR JAX) and a smaller outpost in AlUla—the primary modern artwork gallery within the historic metropolis. It has additionally expanded to incorporate the ATHR Basis, which focuses on growing rising artists and different artwork areas.
Hafiz was a patron and collector earlier than turning into a gallerist. He describes his deep involvement in fostering Saudi Arabia’s artwork scene as a pure convergence of influences. Although his household wasn’t straight concerned in artwork, they have been lively in inventive industries—trend retail on one facet and publishing on the opposite. “There was at all times this twin engagement: the creativity of trend and the amplification of voices that comes with journalism,” he displays. “After I encountered artwork, I noticed it merged each worlds—it had the storytelling energy of journalism and the expressive creativity of trend. It was a language that transcended cultures and touched folks in a singular method.”
Hafiz started gathering artwork round 2007, after promoting his household enterprise. Quickly after, he felt compelled to spend money on his nation’s cultural potential. “All of a sudden, I had the time and sources to discover one thing new. I assumed, why not give this a strive—why not construct one thing that might assist artists and create a cultural motion? That’s the way it all started.”
Cultivating an rising artwork scene
ATHR’s diversified ventures now embrace AKTHR, an artwork providers company that helps Saudi Arabia’s broader artwork trade. Drawing on practically twenty years of expertise, the workforce advises and assists a rising group of people keen to have interaction with artwork and start gathering.
In the course of the inaugural version of the Islamic Biennale, ATHR hosted a significant rooftop dinner to open their exhibition, welcoming round 2,000 company—85 % of them native. What stood out most was the sheer variety of younger attendees. “The collector base isn’t enormous but, however there’s undoubtedly an urge for food—an eagerness to expertise, to see, to discover,” Hafiz confirms. “It’s extremely refreshing to witness.”
ATHR can also be investing straight in schooling and collector growth via initiatives like Younger Artwork Collectors. “By means of it, we set up talks with established collectors, information new ones and take them on journeys to artwork gala’s and studios,” he explains. “It’s actually about serving to them develop their data—understanding why they may wish to acquire, what their imaginative and prescient is and tips on how to interact meaningfully with artwork.”
One of many nation’s most important latest developments has been in schooling. Simply final week, the Minister of Tradition introduced a significant funding in a brand new arts and cultural college set to open in Riyadh inside the subsequent two or three years. The college is already forming partnerships and affiliations with worldwide establishments throughout artwork, music, theater and different inventive disciplines.
Hafiz notes that whereas artwork applications have beforehand existed inside Saudi universities, there has by no means been a devoted artwork college within the nation. “This would be the first establishment totally dedicated to the inventive industries, and that’s a big milestone.” In the meantime, the Ministry of Tradition has additionally launched a beneficiant scholarship program for Saudis who want to examine artwork overseas. As soon as accepted right into a pre-approved college, college students obtain full tuition and dwelling bills for each undergraduate and postgraduate research. “It’s a significant and actually inspiring initiative.”
On the similar time, Hafiz stays targeted on cultivating dialogue. “One in all our key targets is constructing connections and bridges between Saudi Arabia and the remainder of the world,” he says. ATHR helps that mission via its residency program, which invitations curators, institutional representatives and museum administrators to spend time in Saudi Arabia for exploration and examine journeys. “It’s about creating real change, fostering understanding, and constructing lasting relationships that strengthen the dialogue between Saudi Arabia and the worldwide artwork group.”
Championing a brand new wave of Saudi expertise
Saudi Arabia at the moment may also declare a brand new era of rising artists, a lot of whom ATHR is actively selling on the worldwide stage. When it comes to themes defining modern Saudi artwork, Hafiz factors to 2 recurring topics: faith and society. “Faith stays an integral a part of our id, so artists typically mirror on it—typically by commenting on the previous and its challenges, and typically by envisioning the longer term and its prospects,” he explains. “Then, there’s the social dimension, particularly round girls’s rights. Many feminine artists are exploring questions associated to gender, illustration and the transformations we’re experiencing at the moment.” Notably, a lot of this work carries an optimistic tone—acknowledging progress, participating thoughtfully with the nation’s ongoing social shifts and reflecting a shared hope for the form of future that Imaginative and prescient 2030 is shaping.
From there, the dialog naturally turned to censorship and creative freedom, because the nation continues to face worldwide criticism over its suppression of free speech—together with loss of life sentences—and the systemic exploitation of migrant laborers. Some critics argue that the official promotion of artwork capabilities as a “cultural façade” technique: amplifying a picture of openness and modernization whereas sustaining tight management over which narratives are permitted.
Hafiz acknowledges that censorship is a posh challenge, noting that what could also be thought-about delicate or unacceptable within the West will not be in Saudi Arabia—and vice versa. “Each society has its personal parameters,” and what’s deemed permissible or taboo is formed by native non secular, social and cultural frameworks, which frequently differ from Western norms. “What I discover encouraging is that Saudi artists have develop into very mature and clever in how they strategy complicated topics,” Hafiz provides, pointing to the rising use of symbolic, metaphorical, and conceptual methods. By embracing ambiguity, layering and coded imagery, Saudi artists invite a number of interpretations whereas making their work extra resilient to censorship. “They know tips on how to deal with points creatively—tips on how to make a degree, go away room for interpretation, and permit the viewers to have interaction with the work—whereas nonetheless remaining respectful of native tradition and values.”
ATHR will quickly carry Saudi artists to the forefront of the worldwide scene, with cubicles at each Frieze London and Artwork Basel Paris this October. Every presentation will deal with Saudi feminine artists and problem lingering stereotypes concerning the Kingdom—particularly these tied to feminine oppression—whereas highlighting its evolution and future ambitions.
ATHR, in truth, doesn’t deal with artwork gala’s as purely business platforms however as arenas for dialogue, change and shifting views, as Hafiz clarifies. “After all, when gross sales occur, that’s nice—we love that—however the true purpose is to create a long-lasting influence. We’re right here for the lengthy haul,” he says. “We don’t wish to seem for 2 or three years after which disappear. We wish to construct belief, connection, and respect—staying per our values and technique, returning yearly and constructing on what we’ve began. Thus far, that strategy has labored properly for us.”
On the similar time, Hafiz factors to a rising worldwide urge for food for Saudi artists. “We’ve at all times had worldwide collectors buying works from us and following our artists,” he says, noting that whereas Saudi artists might not but be totally mainstream, many have begun gaining world visibility.
This recognition extends properly past ATHR’s roster. “If you happen to look throughout the scene, you’ll discover Saudi artists represented by main worldwide galleries—Maha Malluh with Krinzinger Gallery, Mohammed AlFaraj with Athr and CAMEL, Ahmed Mater with Galleria Continua, Arwa Al Neami with Sabrina Amrani in Madrid and Dana Awartani with Lisson Gallery. These artists are already positioned inside worldwide gallery rosters that don’t take a look at geography as a limitation, and that’s a very encouraging signal for the longer term.” Hafiz additionally mentions names corresponding to Mohammed Al-Sanea, Dana Awartani, and Manal Al-Dowayan, all of whom have exhibited in museums overseas and are extensively collected internationally.
At Frieze London, the gallery is presenting a two-artist sales space that includes Daniah Alsaleh and Basmah Felemban, each exploring Saudi Arabia’s pure and cultural landscapes as websites in flux—repeatedly reshaped by the motion of individuals, ecologies and tales. Drawing on her analysis within the historical Nabataean metropolis of AlUla, Alsaleh incorporates mineral fragments to construct a layered chronology and geology, weaving pure and human histories via materials and reminiscence. Whereas Alsaleh appears to be like to the previous and the nation’s heritage, Felemban appears to be like ahead—reimagining the panorama as an informational system. Her futuristic strategy envisions new terrains and proposes multimedia, multidisciplinary methods of navigating the setting via fragments of language and information.
The next week, at Paris’s Grand Palais, ATHR will return to Artwork Basel with a three-artist, female-led presentation that includes Sarah Abu Abdallah, Hayfa Algwaiz and Lulua Alyahya. By means of distinct types—starting from suspended, symbolic compositions to conceptual reflections—these artists discover how photographs can mirror and translate the complicated, layered experiences of Saudi girls at the moment. Approaching these views from sociopolitical, anthropological, and emotional angles, their work challenges stereotypes and prejudices whereas providing worldwide audiences a uncommon glimpse into Saudi Arabia’s evolving modern artwork panorama—studio-based, globally networked and deeply rooted in native nuance and tradition.
Challenges and alternatives
Regardless of its many promising parts, Saudi Arabia’s artwork ecosystem stays in a formative stage and continues to face a number of key challenges. One of the urgent is the restricted variety of galleries working at ATHR’s stage, in addition to the shortage of different areas able to supporting each rising creative expertise and an increasing viewers for modern artwork.
Nonetheless, Hafiz notes that the normal idea of a gallery is itself underneath scrutiny. “Artists at the moment can promote straight via on-line platforms—straight from their studios, via Artsy, or different direct-to-collector channels,” he explains. “In that form of setting, the normal position of the gallery—as a consultant who works intently with artists to develop their careers, safe institutional participation, and place works in collections—turns into more durable to maintain.” A couple of new galleries have opened lately, which Hafiz sees as a constructive growth, however he emphasizes that the collector base nonetheless wants effort and time to mature.
On the similar time, Hafiz sees loads of alternative. As a result of Saudi Arabia’s artwork scene continues to be taking form, there may be room to experiment with new fashions—approaches that don’t depend on inherited frameworks. “We’re dwelling in a time when each idea of museum or gallery is in query,” he says. “When you have got a legacy, it’s very tough and difficult to alter the way in which you’ve been doing issues. However whenever you construct one thing new with a recent idea and a forward-looking technique, you’re not held again by that weight—and that provides Saudi Arabia a lot potential.”
It could take time to construct, however as soon as the muse is strong, momentum can speed up shortly—particularly in a area the place Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E. and Qatar are all deeply invested within the arts. Every serves as a significant patron, shifting in live performance to raise and strengthen the regional artwork scene and assist place it as a brand new world hub. Hafiz describes Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Saudi Arabia as complementary forces. “We’re all supporting one another and dealing collectively to construct a whole ecosystem. It’s like Europe or the U.S.—you have got artwork gala’s and museums unfold throughout totally different cities. That variety is wholesome. The extra exercise there may be, the higher for everybody.”
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