RIYADH: Noor Riyadh, part of the Riyadh Art program, has become a calendar staple of the annual event schedule in Riyadh, according to Nouf Al-Moneef, the artistic force behind the festival that transforms the capital’s nights into a canvas of light and wonder.
Al-Moneef, who serves as the festival’s director, was speaking as the latest guest on the “Mayman Show” where she shed light on all the past additions.
Noor Riyadh features installations from artists and an exciting program of workshops, talks and activities in various locations in the capital.
“Riyadh Art, an initiative by the Royal Commission for Riyadh City … transforms the capital into a creative canvas and is elevating its position as a global top 10 city to match the ambition of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 goals, by turning the city into an open-air gallery,” she said.
“Riyadh Art is a project that was launched back in 2019 by His Royal Highness (Crown) Prince Mohammed (bin Salman) and King Salman … launched with the three other grand projects, which (are) King Salman Park, Sports Boulevard and Green Riyadh,” said Al-Moneef.
“Riyadh Art’s mission, and how it follows with Vision 2030, is to transform the city of Riyadh into a gallery without walls."
Al-Moneef added that the initiative aims to make the city a more liveable, vibrant, competitive, and engaging place.
“Within the Riyadh Art program, we have 10 projects and two annual festivals, of which Noor Riyadh is one of them,” she said.
“The 10 other projects are distributing artworks across the city, and they are permanent artworks, for example, artworks in metro stations, artworks on roundabouts and intersections. So, we are covering the whole city with public art. And, not only that, the entrances of the city as well.”
Al-Moneef continued: “Noor Riyadh … was launched back in 2021, and the other event that happens under Riyadh Art project is Tuwaiq Sculpture, which is the life-sculpting event.”
The first Noor Riyadh festival was held with 63 artworks across 13 locations. The second edition had 200 artworks across 40 locations, and welcomed more than 3 million visitors.
“When 2023 came, already people knew about what is Noor Riyadh, so we wanted to make it more condensed, with approximately more than 120 artworks across five hubs,” said Al-Moneef. “We wanted people to focus on the hubs to enjoy the artworks as well. The challenge is managing this. It’s a big scale festival.”
Al-Moneef added that there is never a dull moment being the director of the festival that brings artists and curators together from more than 100 countries.
“Not only that, since 2022 we started launching Noor Riyadh in London during Frieze art week,” she said.
Al-Moneef added that this time around the festival has activities in London and Paris as well.
“Sending the messages globally helps a lot with the networking. And not only that, the activities that we work on, the community engagement programs that we work on, we bring amazing speakers from all around the world to, during panel talks for example,” she said.
