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Saudi Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka Celebrates Saudi National Day with Rich Cultural Program

The Saudi pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka is launching a rich cultural program. SPA
The Saudi pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka is launching a rich cultural program. SPA
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Saudi Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka Celebrates Saudi National Day with Rich Cultural Program

The Saudi pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka is launching a rich cultural program. SPA
The Saudi pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka is launching a rich cultural program. SPA

The Saudi pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka announced the launch of a rich cultural program, to be held from September 19 to 24, in celebration of the Kingdom's 95th National Day.

The program aims to highlight Saudi Arabia's cultural identity and historical legacy since its unification, while showcasing its ambitious transformation journey under Saudi Vision 2030 and its contributions to global sustainability.

Saudi Ambassador to Japan and Commissioner General of the Kingdom's pavilion Dr. Ghazi Binzagr stressed that celebrating this occasion with Japan and the international community at Expo 2025 Osaka reflects the strong ties that connect nations, cultures, and peoples.

“The program offers everyone the opportunity to learn about the Kingdom's journey, from its rich heritage to its ambitious future. These events highlight identity, progress, and future potential, while underscoring the value of dialogue and cultural exchange in shaping a future full of opportunities for all,” Binzagr said.

The celebration comes as part of the Saudi pavilion's efforts to mark the Kingdom's National Day, observed annually on September 23, and to share this national occasion with the international community.

It reflects Saudi Arabia's civilization, rich history, and promising future under Vision 2030, while promoting cultural exchange and building bridges with diverse global cultures.

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Culture

Monumental Art Displayed in Shade of Egypt's Pyramids

An art installation, "The Shen" by Mert Ege Kose, is displayed near the Giza pyramid complex, in Giza, Egypt, 11 November 2025. (EPA)
An art installation, "The Shen" by Mert Ege Kose, is displayed near the Giza pyramid complex, in Giza, Egypt, 11 November 2025. (EPA)
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Monumental Art Displayed in Shade of Egypt's Pyramids

An art installation, "The Shen" by Mert Ege Kose, is displayed near the Giza pyramid complex, in Giza, Egypt, 11 November 2025. (EPA)
An art installation, "The Shen" by Mert Ege Kose, is displayed near the Giza pyramid complex, in Giza, Egypt, 11 November 2025. (EPA)

Installations by renowned international artists including Italy's Michelangelo Pistoletto and Portugal's Alexandre Farto have been erected in the sand under the great pyramids of Giza outside Cairo.

The fifth edition of the contemporary art exhibition "Forever is Now" is due to run to December 6.

The 92-year-old Pistoletto's most famous work, Il Terzo Paradiso, comprises a three-meter-tall mirrored obelisk and a series of blocks tracing out the mathematical symbol for infinity in the sand.

"We have done more than 2,000 events all around the world, on five continents, in 60 nations," said Francesco Saverio Teruzzi, construction coordinator in Pistoletto's team.

"There is an estimate that it's more or less five million people reached by the message of the Third Paradise."

The Franco-Beninese artist King Houndekpinkou presented "White Totem of Light", a column composed of ceramic fragments recovered from a factory in Cairo.

"It's an incredible opportunity to converse with 4,500 years -- or even more -- of history," he told AFP.

South Korean artist Jongkyu Park used the measurements of the Great Pyramid of Giza to create the geometric structures of his installation "Code of the Eternal".

A thousand small cylindrical acrylic mirrors planted in the sand compose a Morse code poem imagining a dialogue between Tangun, the legendary founder of the first Korean kingdom, and an Egyptian pharaoh.

Farto, better known as Vhils, collected doors in Cairo and elsewhere in the world for a bricolage intended to evoke the archaeological process.

Six other artists, including Turkey's Mert Ege Kose, Lebanon's Nadim Karam, Brazil's Ana Ferrari, Egypt's Salha Al-Masry and the Russian collective "Recycle Group", are also taking part.

Culture

Saudi Culture Ministry Announces Third Edition of Common Ground Festival

Saudi Culture Ministry Announces Third Edition of Common Ground Festival
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Saudi Culture Ministry Announces Third Edition of Common Ground Festival

Saudi Culture Ministry Announces Third Edition of Common Ground Festival

The Saudi Ministry of Culture announced the third edition of the Common Ground Festival, which will be a celebration of Saudi and Chinese cultures.

The 2025 edition will be held at the Malfa Hall in Misk City, Riyadh from December 24, 2025, to January 6, 2026, and will highlight shared artistic traditions and creative expressions between the two countries.

The Common Ground Festival is a multi-sensory cultural event that explores the universal languages of art, cuisine, performance, and design, said the Ministry in a statement on Tuesday.

This year’s edition will celebrate the depth of Saudi and Chinese heritage through art exhibitions, live performances, and collaborative showcases that invite visitors to experience culture through sight, sound, and emotion.

The program will feature activities inspired by historical exchange routes, where artisans and cultural vendors present traditional crafts, handmade goods, tea and coffee offerings, and cultural souvenirs from both countries.

The festival will also include culinary activities that explore shared hospitality traditions, allowing visitors to experience the symbolic role of hospitality in both cultures and more.

Through this event, the Kingdom underlines its commitment to creating platforms that foster artistic dialogue, strengthen cultural understanding, and celebrate creativity as a bridge between people and nations.

Culture

In Japan's Ancient Capital, TeamLab Aims to Redefine Art with New Immersive Exhibition

Visitors watch digital artwork at teamLab Biovortex in Kyoto, Japan, November 9, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Visitors watch digital artwork at teamLab Biovortex in Kyoto, Japan, November 9, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
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In Japan's Ancient Capital, TeamLab Aims to Redefine Art with New Immersive Exhibition

Visitors watch digital artwork at teamLab Biovortex in Kyoto, Japan, November 9, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Visitors watch digital artwork at teamLab Biovortex in Kyoto, Japan, November 9, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

An immersive art space in the ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto is offering a novel experience to visitors from around the world, aiming to dissolve the boundary between observer and art.

Titled “Biovortex”, the exhibition is the latest and largest permanent installation in Japan created by teamLab, an art collective that has risen to global fame for its pioneering approach blending art, technology and nature, said Reuters.

Biovortex, which opened on October 7, presents more than 50 immersive digital artworks spanning 10,000 square meters (107,639 square feet) and is attracting a broad spectrum of visitors from toddlers to the elderly.

In one of the installations, called "Morphing Continuum”, countless glowing spheres float in space as a monumental sculpture emerges from the ground and drifts in midair, constantly shifting and reshaping in response to visitors' movements.

"Viewers become one with the sculpture, while the boundaries between themselves and artwork grow indistinct and float in air," said teamLab founder Toshiyuki Inoko. "It creates an experience unlike anything humanity has ever made in terms of material objects - something that defies ordinary expectations. I think the artworks offer an experience which expands human perceptions."

Visitors expressed surprise at the intensity of emotion and physical immersion that the experience offered.

"Just wonderful," said Dimitri VanCorstanje, a 25-year-old tourist from the Netherlands. “It immersed me more than just with my eyes.”

Founded in 2001 by a group of artists, engineers, and architects, teamLab has expanded its collections beyond Japan, from New York to Singapore and Jeddah, attracting millions of visitors each year. One of its permanent exhibitions, teamLab Planets in Tokyo, set the Guinness World Record for the world’s most visited museum dedicated to a single art group with 2,504,264 visitors in the fiscal year of 2023.