Why Wadi AlFann is an exciting hub of art in AlUla

The surface of the sun glimmers orange and gold as it crawls up gently from the edge of the desert to peer over the flat rooftops of our chalet. A peach and crimson ombre drapes delicately across the sky and falls softly on everything. The recliners, cushions, sunshades and even the sapphire-hued water in the pool bask in a warm violet luminescence. 

And then, sharp yellow rays shoot out of the sun’s surface, piercing the cumuli that had preceded its arrival to form a crown of stripes that glisten and announce to the world that day has just broken. I’m in AlUla to discover more about its creative heritage and how it’s preserving this while fostering contemporary talent. 

The colours, shapes and sounds of the desert in AlUla in northwest Saudi Arabia have always inspired. The rock art found in the sprawling desert, the natural colours daubed on ancient pottery and bright carpets, which typically adorned clay walls, are all evocative of this majestic landscape, which has long influenced the people who lived here and moved through it.





Inspiring surroundings: the waves on the installation ‘Dark Suns, Bright Waves’ by Claudia Comte mimic the movements of sand dunes


Credit: Lance Gerber

Today, AlUla is reviving this creative legacy by attracting artists from across the globe for residencies, exhibitions, workshops and more. One of the most ambitious and epic examples of this is Wadi AlFann, or Valley of the Arts. The first five artworks will be unveiled by 2026 – by Saudi Arabian artists Manal AlDowayan and Ahmed Mater, and US-based artists Agnes Denes, Michael Heizer and James Turrell – who are creating artworks that require not only the artists’ creative minds but significant engineering, as these feats of imagination will sit permanently in the stunning desert valley – this generation’s gift to the world. 

Visitors to AlUla can get a taste of what is to come at Wadi AlFann as AlDowayan is opening an exhibition during AlUla Arts Festival in February 2024, showcasing her participatory work that captures stories from AlUla’s communities. Her era-defining commission for Wadi AlFann, due for completion in 2026, will be a labyrinthine installation, known as Oasis of Stories. She draws inspiration from the mud walls of AlUla’s Old Town and ancient spaces of Arabic settlements in the architectonic sculpture, which viewers will be invited to lose themselves in. Its passages will be inscribed with personal histories and folklore gathered by AlDowayan from people in AlUla.

2024 also sees the return of Desert X AlUla as part of the annual AlUla Arts Festival. This recurring, site-responsive, open-air art exhibition is a partnership with Desert X in Coachella, California, and this will be its third edition. In 2022, artists and sculptors included Jim Denevan, Monika Sosnowska, Zeinab AlHashemi and Serge Attukwei Clottey who explored the notions of mirage (sarab) and oasis. The Desert X AlUla exhibition was dispersed through one of AlUla’s canyons with some of the artworks now acquired permanently to be appreciated by visitors all year round.





Weekly workshops: Madrasat Addeera teaches both local women and newcomers about traditional crafting

An increased international awareness of AlUla’s art and heritage has enriched its creativity and fostered an ecosystem that supports local artisans, many of whom have honed their craft in adult learning centres such as Madrasat AdDeera. Formerly a disused girls’ school, the centre found new life when it was repurposed as a space for teaching pottery, carving, weaving and jewellery-making. These craft skills began millennia ago when early inhabitants hand-collected clay in the desert and used local plants to make the pigment for textiles and decorating. Today the area’s skilled artisans, mostly women, are frequently commissioned by local hotels and restaurants. Their work is also sold in shops and boutiques in AlUla Old Town.

The cherished natural landscape was the most important consideration when building Maraya, the world’s largest mirrored building, in the beautiful Ashar Valley. As you drive into the valley, Maraya appears and disappears into the landscape as the colossal architectural wonder reflects its surroundings and camouflages itself in the landscape.

Purpose-built as a concert venue and exhibition space, it has hosted international superstars such as Alicia Keys, Andrea Bocelli and regional artists including Majida El Roumi and Abadi al Johar. A highlight on Maraya’s calendar in 2023 was the exhibition Fame: Andy Warhol in AlUla where some of Warhol’s most important works, including Silver Clouds, were displayed. 





A sensational structure: featuring 9,740 mirrored panels, Maraya is a concert hall like no other

AlUla has become known in the region for its diverse calendar of events, drawing both Saudis and their Arabian neighbours, as well as those from further afield, for its many events designed to celebrate the ancient stories and landscapes, as well as local customs and traditions. The flagship music event is AZIMUTH, which returned to AlUla this September, over the Saudi National Day weekend. Among the line-up were The Kooks, Jorja Smith and Saint Levant, who played to the crowds in the star-spangled desert after dark. It was a spectacular setting for the thousands of revellers who congregated at this diverse celebration of music and art. 

As part of the Ancient Kingdoms Festival, AlUla’s mesmerising night skies come into sharp focus this November with Hegra After Dark, showcasing the ancient city of Hegra, once a jewel in the Nabataean civilisation and now a Unesco World Heritage Site that has been open to tourists only since 2020. Ranging from 20 minutes to one hour, these experiences will allow visitors to immerse themselves in the nomadic culture of the desert in which the stars were key. 





Immersive experience: the ancient beauty of this UNESCO World Heritage Site can be appreciated even more when it’s illuminated at night

More events will take place in and around the newly designed arts and dining precinct AlJadidah including an Incense Road activation that takes inspiration from AlUla’s geographical position as the nexus of the famous trading route in antiquity. Visitors will find curated street art and public murals, along with new cafes and shops lining the roads.

During the festival, More Than Meets the Eye, an exhibition of modern and contemporary works by Saudi artists will be presented by the contemporary art museum, AlUla.

AlUla has a great deal more coming up too. As part of the Journey Through Time masterplan, unveiled in April 2021, no fewer than 15 cultural assets have been outlined for the continued development of AlUla as it takes its place on the global stage as a culturally enriched and exciting destination to live in and visit. Two of the museums to be developed are already in the design phase, with architects appointed – the contemporary art museum, AlUla which will be designed by Beirut-born architect Lina Ghotmeh, and the Museum of the Incense Road, which is being helmed by UK-based architect Asif Khan.

AlUla: an undiscovered masterpiece

One of Arabia’s oldest cities and home to the Nabataean city of Hegra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the ancient region of AlUla is being rediscovered. Visitors to this historic crossroads, once on the incense route, its pristine desert oasis and monumental landscapes, will be among the first to discover 200,000 years of largely unexplored human history and successive ancient civilisations – a place where archaeological mysteries are still being uncovered today.

For more inspiration, visit experiencealula.com

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