Saudi Arabia’s Diriyah Art Futures (DAF), the first hub for New Media Arts in the Middle East and North Africa, has launched its latest exhibition CONTINUUM ’25, showcasing works by the first cohort of emerging artists in new media arts at its headquarters in Diriyah, in the presence of several cultural leaders, intellectuals, and art enthusiasts.
Curated by Irini Papadimitriou, the exhibition features 13 diverse artworks, including immersive installations, audiovisual pieces, virtual reality works, and AI-generated art, created by 11 emerging artists and developed under the supervision of a select group of international artists, including Anna Ridler and Karen Palmer (who also contributed their own works), as well as Madeline Gannon.
The themes of the creative works range from memory, identity, and displacement to environmental and ethical concerns and even the power of algorithms.
These contemporary approaches blend the real and the virtual, human and machine, reflecting the essence of the exhibition’s title, “CONTINUUM ’25”, and the spirit of ongoing exploration and creativity underpinning the Emerging New Media Artists Program.
The exhibition kicked off with a panel conversation between curator Irini Papadimitriou, Director of Education at DAF Tegan Bristow, and emerging new media artists Khaled Makhshoush, Dhia Dhibi, and Samia Dzair.
Wejdan Reda moderated the discussion, focused on the fascinating and ever-evolving ways in which new media artists use technology to expand their creative practices, while also highlighting the power of multidisciplinary collaboration between artists, researchers, and technologists.
Developed in collaboration with Le Fresnoy - Studio National des Arts Contemporains in France, the Emerging New Media Artists Program gives emerging artists access to cutting-edge professional equipment, a production budget, and a wide range of multidisciplinary learning opportunities.
It featured artists from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Bahrain, Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, and South Africa.
The exhibition marked the inaugural event in a series organized by DAF, aiming to highlight the diverse voices shaping the future of new media arts in the region and globally.
CONTINUUM ’25 is open to the public at Diriyah Art Futures and runs from September 13 to November 15. The exhibition is accompanied by a rich public program of workshops, talks and other activities spanning AI, VR, and digital photography.
DAF will host a workshop on September 19, titled “Stories of Home: Digital & Hand Embroidery,” in both Arabic and English. Participants will explore the concept of homeland through regional embroidery traditions and media arts, using digital techniques to design personal symbols that are then translated into hand-embroidered works.
