For its second edition, in November 2022, the groundbreaking Noor Riyadh festival of light and contemporary art presents 190 monumental works signed by 130 artists from 40 countries and scattered in 40 emblematic locations throughout the city.

Curated by Hervé Mikaeloff, Dorothy Di Stefano and Jumana Ghouth and adviser Arnaud Morand, Noor Riyadh brings together Saudi and international artists such as Ahaad Alamoudi, Grimanesa Amorós, Gisela Colón, Douglas Gordon, winner of the Turner Prize, Alicja Kwade, Sabine Marcelis, Muhannad Shono, who represented Saudi Arabia at the Venice Biennale 2022, and French artists Daniel Buren, Jean-Michel Othoniel and Bertrand Lavier.

Entitled "We dream of new horizons", this second edition transforms the city into a dazzling nighttime gallery without walls, welcoming over 2.5 million from international audiences to visitors from all over the globe.

Gathering a dedicated team, Manifesto manages the artist liaison and production, especially for Ahaad Alamoudi, but also the monitoring of artworks production and installation, their monitoring during the Festival and their dismantling, as well as supplier research for 82 of these monumental artworks in the public space. 

Ghosts of Today and Tomorrow (2022) by Ahaad Alamoudi is a performative installation that considers light and sound as natural carriers of information. Alluding to the historical use of pigeons as message carriers, the installation comprises two pigeon towers. From each, a majes singer will perform a mawwal vocal piece, a variant local to the Hijaz and Tihama regions of the traditional vocal Arabic music.

The illuminations are animated by the performers in conversation: when one begins to sing, light will emanate from their structure while the other remains silent and their structure dark. A mawwal, Alamoudi explains, in its form, is ephemeral, but its brief performances are outlived by the lasting impressions they leave. Here, making use of the apertures of the dovecote used to shelter pigeons, light will pour out and spread over the surrounding audience and space. 

The current period of change in Saudi Arabia is considered by many to be a time of enlightenment. In order to parse this moment, this installation creates contrasts – between light and darkness, silence and noise, the past and the future.

Manifesto team coordinated the suppliers to build the pigeon towers allying the traditional techniques with the technology of the light and sound projectors, to achieve spectacular artwork in the natural landscape of Wadi Hanifah.