Galerie Magazine | Paul Laster
2022.11.11
| On view through November 19, the immersive event features 190 creative installations that turn Riyadh into a dazzling gallery without walls
Presenting a festival of light and art, Noor Riyadh returns to illuminate Saudi Arabia’s capital for its second annual edition with 190 creative installations by over 130 artists from more than 40 countries, on view across various locations in Riyadh until November 19. Exploring the theme “We Dream of New Horizons,” which is centered around a sense of hopefulness for the future, the festival aims to promote a positive outlook for the Middle Eastern country’s current societal transformation and spirited architectural renewal. One of the most ambitious international festivals of its kind, the event transforms the city of some seven million into a dazzling night-time “gallery without walls,” which reaches across the largest urban area of any light art festival worldwide.
Curated by Hervé Mikaeloff, Dorothy Di Stefano, and Jumana Ghouth, the immersive experience highlights work by such internationally renowned artists as Doug Aitken, Jean-Michel Othoniel, and Jennifer Steinkamp, who are joined by major Saudi talents including Ahaad Alamoudi and Muhannad Shono.
BOTANIC, Jennifer Steinkamp, Riyadh City Boulevard in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on November 4, 2022, as part of the Noor Riyadh Festival 2022.PHOTO: AURELIEN PERRIAUD /ABACAPRESS.COM
In an exceedingly lively area called the Boulevard, which has been dubbed the Times Square of Riyadh, Jennifer Steinkamp’s ongoing Botanic video installation animates the downtown shopping and dining district with an immersive projection of colorful, colliding plants which meditatively transition between breaking apart and coming back together. Displayed on dozens of billboard-size screens, the powerful piece—which has also been presented on the jumbo advertising screens of the actual Times Square—brings a bit of nature into an otherwise commercial zone, while reminding viewers that nearly everything sprouting from the desert nowadays is manmade, with a big helping hand from technology.