The Diriyah Biennale Foundation has announced the first details for the 2026 Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale.
Under the title of In Interludes and Transitions, the third edition will bring together over 70 artists and more than 20 new commissions to the creative district of JAX in Riyadh.
Artistic directors Nora Razian and Sabih Ahmed’s curatorial framework references a phrase that captures the journeys of nomadic communities in the Arabian Peninsula, highlighting the ongoing movements and transformations that connect the Gulf and the world.
In a joint statement, Razian and Ahmed commented: “Processions have produced relations and forms in this region. The movement of winds and the flow of trade, migration, and exile are carriers of stories, songs, and languages, producing rhythms and poetic meters such as the rajaz (رَجَز). Thinking of the world in procession — a braiding of movements that commemorate and celebrate — allows an understanding of cultural forms through exchange and transmissions; itineraries of travel, intersections, and mutations; and retelling of fragments of exiled stories that have persisted through bodies, materials, rhythms and cadences.”
The preliminary lists of artists include:Pio Abad
Rand Abdul Jabbar
Yussef Agbo-Ola (Olaniyi Studio)
Ahaad Alamoudi
Afra Al Dhaheri
Mohammed Alhamdan (7amdan)
Ruba Al-Sweel
Taysir Batniji
Raven Chacon
Rohini Devasher
Merve Ertufan
Ivana Franke
Rahima Gambo
Petrit Halilaj
Aziz Hazara
Alana Hunt
Yazan Khalili
George Mahashe
Théo Mercier
Nour Mobarak
Nancy Mounir
Hussein Nassereddine
Daniel Otero Torres
Thảo Nguyên Phan
Gala Porras-Kim
Sarker Protick
Raqs Media Collective
Oscar Santillán
Trương Công Tùng
Wolff Architects
Agustina Woodgate
Yu Ji
Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2026 runs from 30 January until 23 April 2026
