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 Ayman Zedani, 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 visitors from international audiences to visitors from all over the globe.

Gathering a dedicated team, Manifesto manages the artist liaison, especially for Ayman Zedani, 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. 

Across Gulf cities, nature is increasingly experienced as simulacra, from artificial rainforests to simulated ski slopes, plastic flowers to mummified palm trees, butterfly gardens to neon forests, blurring the distinction between the natural and the artificial. Yet some of these arrangements have given rise to novel ecosystems utilized by other species.

Zedani’s Between Biotic and Bionic (2022) is an installation that amplifies this tension by engaging with elements of the region’s specific flora and geology to examine how nature, landscape, and environment are understood, experienced and consumed across the contemporary Gulf.

The installation brings together sound, lighting, sculpture and plants integrated into a fountain. Within the meditative space, it creates individual elements for the audience, prompting several questions upon close inspection. The sculptures are made from welded metal, before being covered in a resurrection plant (a plant able to withstand extreme dehydration), Kaff Maryam, to create animal-like forms called ’The Emergents’. Surrounding these sculptures, red brick and earthenware bases are used for an installation of plants and trees, alongside a system of dynamic smart lights and audio. The work intends to be playful yet engages with urgent ecological matters that require our collaborative attention.

Contributors:

Ernie Indradat

Federico Acciardi

Muhannad Muhammad

George Abounader