Arts AlUla presents Arduna, a pioneering exhibition that explores the ancient city’s natural landscapes and 7000-year-old heritage. On show until 15 April as part of the AlUla Arts Festival, Arduna is a collaboration between the soon-to-open AlUla Contemporary Art Museum and Centre Pompidou, Paris’ leading modern art museum. “Our partnership emerged very organically, starting from the point of a shared commitment to promoting cultural heritage while advancing contemporary art as a space for global dialogue,” explains the exhibition’s co-curator Candida Pestana, Chief Curator and Head of the AlUla Contemporary Art Museum.
Arduna features over 80 regional and international works across six thematic chapters that explore an evolving and complex relationship between humanity and Mother Nature, diving into topics from climate change and displacement to urbanisation. Central to Arduna, which translates to Our Land, is AlUla. The historic site, once a sanctuary for travellers passing through the region on the Incense Route, serves as the artists’ inspiration and is interpreted – and honoured – through their unique perspectives.
“Its landscapes hold traces of ancient civilisations, ecological rhythms and stories that are invisible until you spend time listening to them,” Saudi artist Ayman Zedani, who created his piece during the AlUla Artists Residency Programme, tells MOJEH. Ayman marries archeological documentation with fiction to create an immersive video installation that simultaneously serves as a time capsule and glimpse into an imagined world. “The message is that AlUla’s landscapes, from ancient mustatils to cultivated soils, are active participants in shaping future narratives. They whisper of resilience, continuity and unseen cosmologies, inviting us to treat history not simply as something to preserve, but as something that can inspire and evolve.”
Ayman is one of three regional artists presenting new commissions at Arduna. “Amplifying the voices and works of regional artists is essential to ensure their perspectives are part of the global conversation and also to reflect the cultural richness and diversity of our region,” explains Candida. “Beyond the art itself, Arduna offers opportunities for connection, between generations, disciplines and cultures, fostering an experience that is as much about conversation and learning as it is about visual impact. AlUla’s landscapes, rich with history, heritage and ecological significance, provide the ideal ground for this kind of dialogue.”
For Dana Awartani, a Saudi artist commissioned by the AlUla Contemporary Art Museum under The Royal Commission for AlUla, creating conversation, facilitating understanding and bridging gaps between cultures is paramount. “For audiences unfamiliar with the region, I hope these works reveal a more nuanced picture, one where heritage is not static or fragile, but active, evolving and capable of shaping the future,” Dana explains. Her works preserve the memories and knowledge embedded in traditional craftsmanship, highlighting the importance of cultural continuity in regional areas that have faced devastation and displacement. “I want my work to tell a story of continuity, to reveal that even in the face of disruption, traditions can adapt, endure and remain deeply relevant. By collaborating with craftspeople whose skills have been passed down through generations, the pieces carry not only aesthetic beauty but also the lived histories and resilience of those who make them.”
Lebanese artist Tareck Atoui anchors his work in community and collaboration, and developed his commission gradually in partnership with schools, musicians and artisans to capture the vibrancy of AlUla’s landscapes and its people. “Nature here travels into the work not only through sound, wind, footsteps and the resonance of stone, but also through the tactile connection of craft,” Tareck tells MOJEH. “Working alongside musicians, artisans, and builders in Arduna, the surroundings become instruments in themselves, shaping the tempo, texture and energy of what we create together.” This project will continue for three years and will culminate in a major installation that will debut at the official opening of the AlUla Contemporary Art Museum.
Arduna is not only a celebration of international artworks and regional talent, but is a plea for co-existence and a representation of the layered relationship between the natural world and those that inhabit it. The exhibition provides an intricate narrative of AlUla as a land of opportunity: an opportunity for ancient travellers to seek refuge and nourishment from its natural resources; to amplify the richness of a region so often defined by headlines; and, through the museum’s partnership with Centre Pompidou, an opportunity to shape the future of representation.
“This collaboration will expand through shared research initiatives, artist residencies and educational programmes. Importantly, it will continue to be shaped by reciprocal exchange, generating opportunities that enrich the community here in Saudi Arabia while contributing meaningfully to the global contemporary art discourse,” concludes Candida. Learn more
Featured image: Dana Awartani, When the Dust of Conflict Settles. 2023. Arduna 2026.
