After Rain
The second Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale ‘After Rain’ unfolds once again in the JAX District in the heritage city of Diriyah on the outskirts of Riyadh. Organized by Diriyah Biennale Foundation and curated by artistic director Ute Meta Bauer joined by co-curators Rose Lejeune, Wejdan Reda, Anca Rujoiu, Ana Salazar Herrera and adjunct curator Rahul Gudipudi; the Biennale takes place in 6 repurposed industrial buildings and surrounding outdoor sites. The theme of this year’s exhibition is ecological concerns, the earth’s natural resources, its inhabitants, and the environmental problems that they collectively face. In all, some one hundred multidisciplinary artists from 43 countries are taking part in the exhibition.
Each of the six galleries offers a landscape of works and light with different moods: theatrical and spectacular for the first gallery, white laboratory aesthetics for the second, hushed galleries for the modern works in the third, then a floating landscape in darkness for the fourth and fifth galleries, ending with a “white box” in the sixth gallery. The lighting is designed to give an honest and sincere rendering of the works on display, being as unobtrusive as possible to allow each work to express itself.
Monumental works alternate with installation, video, photography and research-based works. This second biennale demonstrates a heightened engagement with its surroundings and audiences, presenting works in public space and at off-sites in city. The Biennale Encounters and Public Programs encourage cultural exchange and active participation through film screenings, workshops, and talks.. This second biennale is more than ever committed to its territory, through exchange and cultural activation: works in the public space, works in other parts of the city, multiple evenings of exchange and sharing, film screenings, etc. « It’s still a new experience for the population and I really wanted to make a show that is understandable, where people can experience and don’t need to read long wall texts. You don’t need to have studied art history to understand if a work of art is impactful“, Ute Meta Bauer.
Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale
