DAF is the first regional hub dedicated to new media and digital art in the Middle East and North Africa. The inaugural exhibition is Art Must Be Artificial: Perspectives of AI in the Visual Arts.
As part of its initiative to increase its diplomatic and investment credentials and foster the development of art and digital and web3 technologies, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has launched Diriyah Art Futures, a vast new digital art institute. The opening of this institute represents a milestone for the region, being the first hub dedicated to new media and digital art to be established in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The inaugural exhibition at Diriyah Art Futures, which opened this past November, is Art Must Be Artificial: Perspectives of AI in the Visual Arts.
The exhibition is curated by Jérôme Neutres, former director of the Réunion des Musées Nationaux-Grand Palais in Paris. The show is thematically centered around the evolution of computer art from the 1960s to the present day, charting a path through four topically distinct segments addressing different facets of digital and AI art: the influence of coding and programming on the creative process; the poetic interpenetration of algorithm and art; contrasting nature and artifice through representations of landscapes in digital media; and the role of AI facial recognition technologies in inspiring digital portraiture.
The exhibition presents works by internationally-renowned pioneers such as Frieder Nake, Refik Anadol, Howard Cohen and Vera Molnar, with contributions from global innovators Ryoji Ikeda, Quayola, Miguel Chevalier and many others. Aside from featuring globally recognized artists, the exhibition likewise offers a platform for emerging artists from Saudi Arabia (Lulwah Alhomoud, Muhannad Shono, Daniah Al-Saleh), Egypt (VJ Um Amel), Tunisia (Haytham Zakaria) and other MENA countries. Works by these artists explore the unseen paths that branch out from the intersection of media, culture and technology.
Diriyah Art Futures is located in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Diriyah, the ancestral base of the Al Saud family. It comprises an enormous complex spanning around 6,550 sq. meters, whose conceptual design and construction was initiated and funded by the Saudi Ministry of Culture as a space which will fuel the diversification of the Kingdom's economy and the creation of new economic ecosystems. DAF will also provide a venue for homegrown talent to exhibit their work, expanding their reach on the global art stage.
Art Must Be Artificial opened on November 25, 2024 and is on view until February 15, 2025. For more details about this exhibition and other forthcoming events, visit the Diriyah Art Futures site.