Pics: © Riyadh Art
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Under One Sky With installations from more than 60 renowned light artists, Saudi Arabia’s Noor Riyadh was a four-month celebration of light and art, which saw two pieces claim Guinness World Records.
H
eld from March to June, Noor Riyadh brought a
fiesta of light and art to Saudi Arabia in one of the world’s largest light festivals.
The festival comprised of artworks from more
than 60 artists spanning over 20 countries under the theme of
Under One Sky, welcoming more than 300,000 visitors
throughout its four-month running.
The event also included a landmark exhibition – Light Upon
Light: Light Art since the 1960s, curated by Susan Davidson,
former Senior Curator of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, and Raneem Zaki Farsi, Curator, Art Advisor and an expert in Saudi Arabia’s contemporary art scene. The exhibition, held at the King Abdullah Financial District
Conference Centre, was divided into four sectional “rays” that surveyed light as an artistic medium: “Perceiving Light”,
“Experiencing Light”, “Projecting Light”, and “Environmental Light”.
These sectional rays serve as a point of reference to the types of illumination in each sector. Taken as a whole, the exhibition offers a variety of stimulating experiences in contemporary light-art. ‘Perceiving Light’ unites eight of the most
recognised mid-twentieth century light-art practitioners, including Lucio Fontana’s Ambiente spaziale a luce rossa
(1967); James Turrell’s Afrum (Pale Pink) (1967); Dan Flavin’s
Untitled (To Sabine and Holger) (1966 – 1971); and Nancy Holt’s Holes of Light (1973).
In ‘Experiencing Light’, nine contemporary artworks explore
light through advanced technologies and human interaction.
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