Afra Al Dhaheri
The Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2026, led by Artistic Directors Nora Razian and Sabih Ahmed, presents its curatorial framework and title, In Interludes and Transitions. This is the third edition of the Biennale, which takes place at JAX, a creative district with industrial heritage in the historic town of Diriyah, and will open to the public on January 30, 2026.
The title of the Biennale draws from a colloquial phrase invoking the cycles of encampments and journeys in nomadic communities in the Arabian Peninsula, taking as a point of departure the movements, migrations, and transformations that continue to connect the Gulf region with the world—bringing together practices committed to vibrant imaginations of world-making, forged through the social and ecological upheavals that mark the first two decades of this century. The Biennale proposes to rethink the world in intense motion, through processions that entangle humans with planetary, multi-species, spiritual, and technological currents.