Baha exhibition highlights Saudi maritime legacy

RIYADH: Diriyah Art Futures has announced a new exhibition featuring artists who use technology as their medium for creative expression, bringing together works by more than 40 artists from the MENA region.

“Maknana: An Archaeology of New Media Art,” co-curated by artists Haytham Nawar and Ala Younis, will run from April 21 to July 19, 2025, at DAF in Diriyah, Riyadh.

The exhibition will feature Saudi artists Ahmed Mater, known for his multidisciplinary artworks reflecting Arab culture, contemporary artist Muhannad Shono, and independent artist ARC (Abdullah Rashed), whose practices reflect the Kingdom’s dynamic and evolving relationship with new media.

Also on display will be work from Egyptian digital artists VJ Um Amel (Laila Shereen Sakr), Abdel Hadi El Gazzar, Palestinian artists Emily Jacir, Mona Hatoum and Walid Raad, Lebanese artist Akram Zaatari, visionary artist Hassan Meer, Moroccan-French artist Hicham Berrada, and Emirati photographer Farah Al-Qasimi.

The exhibition will be structured across four themes, Automation, Autonomy, Ripples, and Glitch, that trace recurring artistic concerns and gestures across different generations, geographies, and technological paradigms.

Highlighting a dynamic constellation of artistic practices, Maknana includes rare archival works, recent digital experiments, and new commissions from artists working in the region as well as the Arab diaspora.

Their works engage with urgent sociopolitical contexts, from networked resistance and machine logic to memory preservation, speculative ecologies, and glitch aesthetics.

The Arabic term “maknana,” translated as automation, inspires the exhibition’s central inquiry: how Arab artists have navigated, repurposed, and challenged technologies to shape their own creative vocabularies.

In tandem with the exhibition, DAF will present a public program of talks, performances, screenings and workshops, expanding on the themes of maknana and offering visitors direct engagement with artists and thought leaders in the field of new media art.

Developed by the Saudi Museums Commission in partnership with Diriyah Co., DAF contributes to the global new media and digital art landscape by integrating regional voices and pioneering practices in art, technology and innovation.

Riyadh: On the International Day of Human Space Flight, the Kingdom reaffirmed its commitment to harnessing the benefits of outer space, recognizing its vital role in advancing humanity.

This includes developing and implementing national space policies, promoting research and industry, building local expertise, and enhancing cooperation with domestic and international partners, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Celebrated annually on April 12, this day marks the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 and Yuri Gagarin’s historic spaceflight in 1961, which ushered in the space age.

The Saudi Space Agency supports Vision 2030 by striving to position the Kingdom as a global hub in the space sector, driving scientific and economic progress through innovation.

The agency’s priorities include strengthening global partnerships, building national capabilities, fostering innovation, and supporting investment in space sciences, the SPA reported.

It promotes growth through innovation, represents the Kingdom in international forums, and boosts research and development to inspire future generations and elevate Saudi Arabia’s role in global space exploration.

The agency is dedicated to advancing the civil space sector and promoting the peaceful use of space, aiming to establish the Kingdom as a leading regional and global force in space science and technology.