- This is the second edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale, and it explores how faith is experienced, expressed, and celebrated through feeling, thinking, and making
- Over 30 major international institutions are taking part in the Biennale, from Denmark, Egypt, France, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kuwait, Mali, Oman, Palestine, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Tunisia, Türkiye, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, and Vatican City
- Over 30 artists from Saudi Arabia and around the world are participating, with 29 new commissions, some of which are in dialogue with the historical objects on view
- The Biennale gives visitors a unique chance to see objects that come from the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah
The Diriyah Biennale Foundation announces the opening of the second edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale, titled And All That Is In Between. The Islamic Arts Biennale takes place in Jeddah, a city that has been a meeting point of cultures for centuries. The site is the Western Hajj Terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport, which echoes with memory and emotion for millions of Muslim pilgrims embarking on their sacred journeys for Hajj and Umrah every year. By juxtaposing historical objects from Islamic cultures with contemporary art, the Biennale explores how faith is experienced, expressed, and celebrated through feeling, thinking, and making. The exhibition will be on view until May 25, 2025.
Led by Artistic Directors Julian Raby, Amin Jaffer, and Abdul Rahman Azzam, alongside Saudi artist Muhannad Shono as Curator of Contemporary Art, the Biennale offers insights into the ways cultures from around the world interact and endure. The exhibition unfolds in the context of the transformations taking place today in Saudi Arabia and adopts a global frame of reference.
And All That Is In Between is part of a verse that appears several times in the Quran: “And God created the Heavens and the Earth and all that is in between.” It describes the absolute and all-encompassing majesty of God’s creation as perceived and experienced by humankind. Across five exhibition halls and outdoor spaces, and with more than 500 objects and contemporary artworks on view, the 2025 Islamic Arts Biennale explores how we endeavor to comprehend the wonder of what the divine has brought into being.
In its second edition, the Biennale presents significantly more works and welcomes a larger number of participating institutions. With this expansion, the Biennale affirms its position as the world's central platform for Islamic arts. The exhibition brings together loans from the world’s leading institutions of Islamic arts, from Tunis to Tashkent, and from Timbuktu to Yogyakarta. The participation of this global network of institutions offers a broad perspective on Islamic arts, past and present, and opens new channels for dialogue and collaboration. Treasured historical artifacts, religious objects, and works of art have been loaned from major institutions including the Musée du Louvre (Paris) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), as well as collections devoted specifically to Islamic arts and cultures, such as the Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Learning and Islamic Research (Timbuktu), the Museum of Islamic Art (Doha), and the Manuscripts Institute of Türkiye (Istanbul). The Biennale brings together institutions from across Saudi Arabia, including the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) (Dhahran), the King Abdulaziz Waqf Libraries Assembly (Madinah), and the King Fahad National Library (Riyadh), and also offers visitors a chance to see objects and works of art that come from the holy sites of Makkah and Madinah. The Biennale witnesses the first-ever display of the entire Kiswah—the cloth that covers the Holy Kaaba—outside of Makkah. A new Kiswah is created every year, and the Kiswah displayed at the Biennale is the one that adorned the Holy Kaaba last year.
The Biennale features the participation of over 30 artists from Saudi Arabia, the wider Gulf region, and around the world. This participation includes 29 new commissions, demonstrating the Diriyah Biennale Foundation’s work to offer a global stage for Saudi artists, and to bring artists from around the world to Saudi Arabia so that local audiences can encounter compelling practices and diverse perspectives in contemporary art.
The Islamic Arts Biennale consists of seven unique components: AlBidayah (“The Beginning”), AlMadar (“The Orbit”), AlMuqtani (“Homage”), AlMidhallah (“The Canopy”), AlMukarramah (“The Honored”), AlMunawwarah (“The Illuminated”), and AlMusalla. It is spread through indoor galleries and outdoor areas, across 100,000 square meters of dedicated exhibition space. The exhibition scenography is designed by the international architecture firm OMA.
This year, the Biennale features the realization of the winning design of the inaugural AlMusalla Prize. Created by EAST Architecture Studio in collaboration with engineers AKT II and artist Rayyane Tabet, the prize-winning design features a structure inspired by regional weaving traditions and relies on waste materials derived from local date palm trees.
The Biennale features a series of public programs that take place throughout the exhibition period, including talks, workshops, community initiatives, and symposia. Inaugural programs this year include Biennale After School and Biennale After Work, which invite children and adults alike to explore art through hands-on workshops on weekdays, fostering creativity and reflection. The Research Room returns in 2025 with a symposium titled “Turuq: The Many Ways of Food,” a four-day exploration of the diverse culinary practices of the Arab world. Weekly programs include Culinary Thursdays, Cinema Nights, Sketching Saturdays, and curated children’s tours to further immerse participants in the world of art. Taking place at the iconic Western Hajj Terminal in Jeddah, these programs create an inclusive and dynamic space for learning, dialogue, and cultural exchange.
– NOTES TO EDITORS –
AlBidayah
Within the galleries and beneath the canopy of the Western Hajj Terminal, the Islamic Arts Biennale can be experienced as several separate but complementary zones of exploration. The first, called AlBidayah (“The Beginning”), invites us to contemplate the sacred—how it can be approached through the material objects associated with it while nevertheless remaining beyond our understanding. In keeping with Jeddah’s role as a gateway to Islam’s holy cities, the opening galleries will display artifacts from Makkah al-Mukarramah and Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah. As visitors progress through the exhibition, they will encounter contemporary works of art that create a serene space aiming to invite awareness of the greater spiritual truth beyond the physical realm.
AlMadar
AlMadar (“The Orbit”) promotes collaboration and dialogue between institutions with significant collections of Islamic art around the world. Institutions from over 20 countries present selected objects at the Islamic Arts Biennale. Objects that represent celestial navigation, the mapping of oceans and rivers, and mathematical calculations demonstrate how Muslim cultures have used numbers to comprehend God’s creation and to bring order, symmetry, and beauty into daily life. The historical objects in AlMadar are complemented by contemporary artistic commissions that emphasize the universal, timeless nature of numbers and how they continue to play an important role in Islamic arts and cultures.
AlMuqtani
AlMuqtani (“Homage”) recenters the visitor’s experience on the material world, recognizing the outstanding contribution that individual collectors have made to the appreciation and understanding of Islamic visual and material culture. It displays works of Islamic art from two collections, those assembled by His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani and Rifaat Sheikh El Ard. The Al Thani Collection is characterized by a taste for precious materials and virtuosic artistry, with a particular focus on jeweled objects. The Furusiyya Art Foundation’s collection of Rifaat Sheikh El Ard is renowned for metalwork, especially works associated with chivalric culture across Islamic civilizations. With an emphasis on tangible beauty, AlMuqtani will present high points of creativity and craft from Islamic cultures around the world.
AlMidhallah
The outdoor spaces of AlMidhallah (“The Canopy”) present 20 new commissions, beneath the iconic canopy of the Western Hajj Terminal. The invited artists respond to the theme of the Biennale, And All That Is In Between, bringing together notions of the celestial, rooted in the social and environmental issues of our time, and of our earth. Together, these artworks form a garden of concepts, expressing a diversity of perspectives, stories, identities, and values from different communities, unified by the concept of the Islamic garden as a site of expanded imagination. Inspired by the charbagh, a traditional Islamic garden layout in which four quadrants are divided by water channels, the artworks fall under four thematic quadrants. Following a journey from the individual to the collective, these quadrants inspire reflection, learning, contemplation, and social encounters.
AlMukarramah and AlMunawwarah
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s role as guardian of the holy cities is recognized in the two permanent pavilions dedicated to these cities. The human stories told here center on the contrasting characters and energies of Makkah al-Mukarramah (“The Honored”) and Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (“The Illuminated”). AlMukarramah reflects on the powerful dynamic between the centrality and universality of Makkah al-Mukarramah, bringing together historical items associated with the Holy Kaaba, rare early photographs and film, and a contemporary art installation. AlMunawwarah explores the radiant legacy of Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah, featuring a group of gold-embroidered textiles, and the pavilion’s design reflects the celebrated warmth of Madinah’s atmosphere.
The AlMusalla Prize
The Diriyah Biennale Foundation launched a new international architecture competition at the iconic Western Hajj Terminal that celebrates the architectural legacy of Muslim societies. The AlMusalla Prize reimagines future spaces of worship as modular, empowering, and transient. It not only pushes the paradigms on sustainable design and cutting-edge technology, but also emphasizes opportunities for dialogue and community building—reclaiming the true essence of a musalla space. The winning proposal by EAST Architecture Studio in collaboration with artist Rayyane Tabet and engineers AKT II features a structure inspired by regional weaving traditions and relies on waste materials derived from local date palm trees. The design consists of an open central courtyard and prayer spaces that form a structure that resembles a loom, addressing togetherness and proximity, which are core dimensions of prayer in Islam. This adaptable structure will be accessible to all visitors throughout the Biennale’s run.
List of Participating Institutions
The David Collection (Copenhagen, Denmark); the Museum of Islamic Art (Cairo, Egypt); The Al Thani Collection (Paris, France); Musée du Louvre (Paris, France); the Benaki Museum (Athens, Greece); the Jagdish and Kamla Mittal Museum of Indian Art (Hyderabad, India); the National Library of Indonesia (Jakarta, Indonesia); the West Nusa Tenggara State Museum (Mataram, Indonesia); the Sonobudoyo State Museum (Yogyakarta, Indonesia); the Bruschettini Foundation for Islamic and Asian Art (Genoa, Italy); Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, al-Sabah Collection (Kuwait City, Kuwait); the Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Learning and Islamic Research (Timbuktu, Mali); the National Museum - Sultanate of Oman (Muscat, Oman); the Khalidi Library (Jerusalem, Palestine); Calouste Gulbenkian Museum (Lisbon, Portugal); Museu de Marinha (Lisbon, Portugal); the Museum of Islamic Art (Doha, Qatar); the Qatar National Library (Doha, Qatar); the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture - Ithra (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia); the King Abdulaziz Waqf Libraries Assembly (Madinah, Saudi Arabia); King Fahad National Library (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia); Museo de la Alhambra, Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife (Granada, Spain); Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan (Madrid, Spain); Museo Arqueológico Nacional (Madrid, Spain); the National Heritage Institute (Tunis, Tunisia); the Manuscript Institution of Türkiye (Istanbul, Türkiye); the King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts (London, United Kingdom); the Victoria and Albert Museum (London, United Kingdom); the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford (Oxford, United Kingdom); the History of Science Museum, University of Oxford (Oxford, United Kingdom); the Hispanic Society Museum and Library (New York, United States); the Abu Rayhan Beruni Institute of Oriental Studies, Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences, and the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan, of the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (Tashkent, Uzbekistan); and the Vatican Apostolic Library (Vatican City).
List of Participating Artists
Fatma Abdulhadi, Bilal Allaf, Nasser Alzayani, Ahmad Angawi, Abdelkader Benchamma, Gabriel Chaile, Saeed Gebaan, Louis Guillaume, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Bashaer Hawsawi, Hylozoic/Desires (Himali Singh Soin and David Soin Tappeser), Essam Jameel, Nour Jaouda, Tamara Kalo, Raya Kassisieh, Asif Khan, Lúcia Koch, Takashi Kuribayashi, Ahmed Mater, Mehdi Moutashar, Timo Nasseri, Hayat Osamah, Nohemí Pérez, Imran Qureshi, Anhar Salem, Arcangelo Sassolino, Slavs and Tatars, Iqra Tanveer and Ehsan Ul Haq, Charwei Tsai, Asim Waqif, Ala Younis, and Osman Yousefzada.
The Curatorial Team
The curatorial team of the 2025 Islamic Arts Biennale is led by Julian Raby, a distinguished scholar, former lecturer in Islamic art and architecture at the University of Oxford, and former director of the National Museum of Asian Art at the Smithsonian Institution who also served on the curatorial team of the first edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale; Amin Jaffer, in his ongoing role as Director of The Al Thani Collection, whose academic and curatorial work is focused on the meeting of European and Asian cultures; and Abdul Rahman Azzam, an acclaimed author and historian who served as Senior Expert Advisor for AlMadar in 2023. Saudi artist Muhannad Shono, whose work deals with questions of spirituality and the role of imagination in shaping reality, and who represented Saudi Arabia at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in 2022 and was a participating artist in the first edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale, serves as Contemporary Art Curator.
The curatorial team includes Masa Al-Kutoubi (AlMadar Lead), Rizwan Ahmad (Curator), Heather Ecker (Curator), William Robinson (Curator), Marika Sardar (Curator), Joanna Chevalier (Associate Curator), Amina Diab (Associate Curator), Sarah Al Abdali (Assistant Curator), Bilal Badat (Assistant Curator), Faye Behbehani (Assistant Curator), Bill Greenwood (Assistant Curator), and Wen Wen (Assistant Curator).
ABOUT THE ISLAMIC ARTS BIENNALE
The Diriyah Biennale Foundation’s Islamic Arts Biennale provides a holistic platform for new discourse about Islamic arts, offering an unparalleled space for learning, research, and insight. The exhibition takes place every two years at the Aga Khan Award–winning Western Hajj Terminal at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, a city that for centuries has represented a junction point for cultural exchange and a venue that acts as a port of entry for millions of pilgrims on their journey to Makkah and Madinah. The first edition of the Biennale welcomed more than 600,000 visitors, and the second edition builds on this success in an expanded form.
ABOUT THE DIRIYAH BIENNALE FOUNDATION
Inspired by the changes taking place in Saudi Arabia and the heritage site of Diriyah, and Chaired by H.H. Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al Saud, the Diriyah Biennale Foundation (DBF) assumes a critical role in nurturing creative expression and instilling an appreciation for culture and the arts and their transformative potential. The Foundation aspires to be a catalyst for lifelong learning and serves Saudi Arabia’s communities by offering opportunities to engage with the burgeoning local art scene. Central to the Foundation’s mandate is to stage two recurring world-class Biennales of contemporary and Islamic arts, year-round interactive educational programs, and overseeing the activation of JAX, a creative district with industrial heritage in Diriyah. At this historical moment of evolution and growth in Saudi Arabia, DBF’s Biennales showcase some of the world’s leading artists, drive cultural exchange between the Kingdom and international communities, promote dialogue and understanding, and further establish Saudi Arabia as an important cultural center.
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