Set against the dramatic landscapes of northwestern Saudi Arabia, Desert X AlUla 2026 returns this season with an ambitious new edition that transforms the desert into a vast open-air gallery. Running from 16 January to 28 February, the exhibition brings together leading international and regional artists whose works respond directly to AlUla’s natural, cultural, and historical environment.
Under the theme “Space Without Measure,” this year’s edition explores how art can exist beyond conventional boundaries — across land, time, memory, and perception. Sculptures, sound installations, kinetic works, and environmental interventions are placed directly into the desert landscape, encouraging visitors to experience art not as something separate from nature, but as something that emerges from it.
The 2026 artist lineup reflects a remarkable diversity of voices and practices. Participating artists include creators working across sound, sculpture, performance, architecture, and ecological art. Their works explore themes such as climate change, heritage, water, memory, spirituality, and the invisible forces that shape both land and human experience.
Several projects draw inspiration from AlUla’s geological history — ancient riverbeds, stone formations, and desert winds — while others respond to social and cultural narratives rooted in the region and beyond. Together, the artworks form a constellation of creative responses that honor AlUla’s past while engaging with its evolving present.
Alongside the commissioned works, the exhibition also pays tribute to Saudi modernism by presenting a selection of historical artworks from the 1980s by a pioneering Saudi artist, offering a bridge between generations of artistic expression.
Beyond the artworks themselves, Desert X AlUla 2026 offers an expanded public programme including guided art walks, artist-led workshops, performances, and curated tours, transforming the exhibition into a living cultural experience.
More than an exhibition, Desert X AlUla is a dialogue — between art and landscape, tradition and innovation, the local and the global — inviting visitors to slow down, explore, and rethink their relationship with space, nature, and creativity.
