Saudi Art and Scholarship Take the Global Stage

Art Across International Stages

Saudi visual artist Ayman Zedani is presenting “In the Bellies of the Rocks” at Paris International, where the installation stands at the fair’s entrance. Commissioned as part of AlUla’s Cultural Season in Paris, the work combines a two-channel video with newly unveiled sculptural interventions. It grew from Zedani’s residency in AlUla and brings together architectural 3D renderings, archival footage and speculative science fiction.

The installation builds a fictional account of ancient Arabian landscapes and archaeological histories. It invites international audiences to explore human-nature symbiosis and the Gulf’s ecological future. Paris International runs Oct. 20-24 at 187–189 Quai de Valmy, 75010, Canal Saint-Martin, Paris, at the same time as Art Basel Paris.

Saudi artist Sarah Brahim is presenting “Let us Love the Distance” at Forof, a Rome cultural space and gallery that brings ancient Roman archaeology together with contemporary art. The site-specific work leads visitors from the ground floor to an underground space containing the remains of the Basilica Ulpia, part of Trajan’s Forum. The basilica once hosted ceremonies in which enslaved people were legally granted freedom.

Brahim’s installation explores the body, water and surrounding space. She built a well in the floor using documents from her father’s archive, weaving her family history into the work. Videos and photographs make up a participatory installation; visitors can throw a stone into the well and trigger a luminous and sonic response. The exhibition runs Oct. 26, 2026-July 27, 2027, at Forof, Palazzo Roccagiovine, Foro Traiano, 1, Rome.

Research and Cultural Exchange

The inaugural Riwaq Prize for Science and Culture was presented in Berlin on Oct. 16, 2026, during Der Divan’s fourth Arab Book Fair. Der Divan – The Arabic Cultural House and the German Orient Institute Beirut established the prize to recognise scholarly monographs on Arab cultures and societies. It gives particular attention to original scholarship, innovative approaches and critical perspectives. The prize totals €3,000, divided equally among Arabic, German and English categories.

The first edition focused on the humanities and recognised three books addressing Ibn Taymiyya’s thought, modern Arab intellectual history through the Beirut journal Mawaqif, and early Qur’anic interpretation, asceticism and piety in Islam’s formative period. The awarded works look at the historical circumstances in which ideas and texts emerged and how their meanings and uses changed.

Dr Raed Al-Samhouri received the Arabic-language award for “Ibn Taymiyya al-Tarikhi wa-l-Mustaʿad (Ibn Taymiyya: The Historical and the Rediscovered),” published in 2024 by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. The book examines how Ibn Taymiyya appears in contemporary consciousness and how people invoke him in present-day debates. It sets his thought in historical, social and political contexts and challenges readings that reduce it to violence and takfir, or use passages to support positions and conflicts shaped by different circumstances. The author puts the central question this way: “free Ibn Taymiyya from our time—or perhaps free our time from him.”

Prof. Dr Yvonne Albers received the German-language award for “Beirut und die Zeitschrift Mawaqif. Eine arabische Intellektuellengeschichte 1968–1994,” published by Brill Fink in 2023. Her book follows the Beirut-based journal Mawaqif as a cultural and intellectual institution where people produced ideas and brought literary, political and philosophical currents together. The jury praised its original approach and accessibility to a broad academic readership.

Nora K. Schmid won the English-language award for “The Ascetic Qur’an and its Kharijite Readers.” The book pairs close textual analysis with the historical and cultural circumstances in which early readers understood the Qur’an, focusing on asceticism and Kharijite readers. The jury said it contributes to a more differentiated understanding of early Islamic piety and interpretation.

New Commissions and Competitions

Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week has opened its fourth Global Digital Art Competition to artists aged 18 or older. Entries are due by Nov. 16. Under this year’s theme, “Securing Systems. Sustaining Growth,” artists are asked how creativity, technology and imagination can contribute to a stronger and more prosperous future. Entries can address future energy; advanced technology and AI; water, food and resource security; investment and infrastructure; or human development. Artists using AI or other generative tools must declare their use and explain what the tools contributed.

One winner and two finalists will be honoured in Abu Dhabi on Jan. 13, and their work will appear at the event. Masdar hosts the competition with District1795, a technology platform for arts and culture in the Middle East and North Africa. An international jury will assess concept, artistic vision, originality, impact, representation and accessibility.

Saudi Arabia took part in 71 international cultural events in 2025, more than twice its target of 34, according to the Saudi Press Agency. Cultural events in the kingdom spanned 6,314 event days that year, above a target of 3,010.