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Lights of Reflection from Noor Riyadh
Guest Columnist

Lights of Reflection from Noor Riyadh

Lights of Reflection from Noor Riyadh

Zarah Hussain, Numina,2022. Courtesy of the artist and the Royal Commission of Riyadh City.

By Gaida Al-Mogren
December 20th, 2022

Illumination is linked to the idea of emotional well-being. Light and art are both known for their powers in healing, elevating depression, and improving mood. Combining both in a city wide festival will have a powerful impact on the population.

Noor Riyadh, the festival of light and art, in its second edition illuminated the city with more than190 pieces of artwork by 130 artists from more than 40 countries, showcasing site-specific light installations, virtual reality experiences, projections, and drone shows across 40 locations.

Monumental installations popped up in public spaces throughout Riyadh, creating a fun festive atmosphere and enticing curiosity in the young and old. The installations in Wadi Namar, Wadi Hanifa, the different parks and desert spots became magical, with the light changing in an unpredictable manner, lighting the desert sky or being reflected on the water surface and creating surreal experiences.

By fusing light, shadow, and color, these works became portals, transporting everyone to realms of magic and wonder, imbuing kids and adults alike with a sense of heartwarming awe.

Doug Aitken, The River,2022. Courtesy of the artist and the Royal Commission of Riyadh City.

Noor Riyadh transformed the capital into a spectacular night-time open air gallery, bringing art to the people and introducing them to a whole new set of experiences and ideas. These experiences allow them to look within, and shines light on questions they never knew they had, enriching the lives of the city’s residents and visitors,

igniting sparks of creativity that will encourage self-expression. The festival encourages community engagement by offering a variety of activities for everyone, from music shows to family activities, workshops and more, and ultimately donating funds raised through ticket sales to charitable causes.

Diana Thater, A Cast of Falcons, 2008. Courtesy of the artist and the Royal Commission of Riyadh City.

This year’s festival explores the theme “We Dream of New Horizons,” which is centered around a sense of hopefulness for the future, and a positive, optimistic and a confident outlook for the country’s social, economical, and cultural transformation, in line with the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. Participating artists used light as a medium to project our hopes, aspirations, and dreams.

This collective dream ties the citywide festival and the “ From Spark to Spirit” exhibition. Where artists use illumination, luminosity and new materials and technologies to reflect hope in the form of light, to explore timely themes such climate change, technological developments, and the ways we interact with one another. Each artwork offers its own inspiration , encouraging us to find new ways of thinking about ourselves, the world we live in, and the futures we imagine.

Diana Thater, A Cast of Falcons, 2008. Courtesy of the artist and the Royal Commission of Riyadh City.

The festival’s accompanying exhibition, “From Spark to Spirit”, is taking place from November 3 to February 4, 2023 in Riyadh’s JAX District. Curated by Neville Wakefield and myself, the exhibition is a visual story that traces the role light plays in shaping our relationship to a world where light itself has become the sign of change. The exhibition is narrated as a three-part journey that explores Technologies of Light, Architectonics of Light and Consciousness of Light through immersive and interactive experiences that encourage audience participation.

Lights of Reflection from Noor Riyadh

Starting the journey with Technologies of Light examining the role of light as it shapes the perceptual and social structures that affect our past and inform our future. From earth's energy to electricity and hologram. The exhibited artworks not only reveal where the borders between mind and body, digital and analog, past and future begin and end, but also where they intersect and converge.

After that visitors will experience Architectonics of Light, where artists celebrate the order and structure present in the cosmos. These artists remodel and redefine space, combining the essence of architectural designs with light effects to create shifting visual and spatial poetry. The artworks of Architectonics of Light examine the junctions of art and science, antiquity and modernity, East and West.

Nasser Al Shemimry, Inner Light, 2022. Courtesy of the artist and the Royal Commission of Riyadh City.

We end our journey at the Consciousness of Light where it is not only the physiological basis of perception, but it is also, metaphorically, that of knowledge, exploring how we perceive and how we think.
Consciousness of Light inspires reflection on ourselves and our surroundings. Each piece invites us to uncover new ways of comprehending and contemplating ourselves, our world, and our futures..

Some artists address environmental issues, reminding us, with poetry and melancholy, of the consequences of human interference in this world. Other artists investigate the relationship between light and culture, exploring the changes brought about by technology. In these installations light is employed to consider spirituality and the unity of consciousness.

Zeinab Alhashemi, As Above, So Below, 2022. Courtesy of the artist and the Royal Commission of Riyadh City.

The exhibition is structured as a cross-cultural dialogue between artists, as it comprises 30 artists, about half of them international artists and the rest are local artists and has a balance of established and emerging artists.

These artists participate in debates over social, political, and ecological problems, analyzing the human condition and seeking answers to the difficult questions we face, while they mix tradition and modernity, integrate new technology with traditional media to create inspiring installations that transcend boundaries and nurture universal dialogue.

“It is the spirit that the spark ignites.”

Gaida Al-Mogren is the local curator for ‘From Spark to Spirit’ exhibition at Noon Riyadh.

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