Italian Architects Design New Digital Arts Center in Saudi Arabia

Diriyah Art Futures (DAF), a new museum for digital and immersive arts designed by Italian architecture firm Schiattarella, opened in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on November 26, 2024. The center is one of the first projects to launch under the government-led Vision 2030 investment program. Located on the edge of Wadi Hanifa, north of Riyadh and near the UNESCO site of At-Turaif, the 12,000-square-meter complex includes ateliers, exhibition spaces, research labs, artist residencies, an auditorium, and a training center for new media. The inaugural exhibition, running until February 25, 2025, features around thirty works from pioneers of computational art from the 1960s to contemporary AI frontiers, including Vera Molnár, Manfred Mohr, Ryoji Ikeda, and Saudi artist Muhannad Shono. Works come from a Dutch foundation collection and new commissions by the Saudi Ministry of Culture. Curated by Jérôme Neutres, former director of the Réunion des Musées Nationaux-Grand Palais in Paris, the show includes immersive, collaborative, interactive, and generative art, such as a performance by Davide Quayola with musician Seta. The center, directed by Haytham Nawar, does not have a permanent collection and will host only temporary exhibitions. The Schiattarella studio also designed the Cinema Palace for the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, opening December 5, 2024.