AlUla Arts Festival returns to Saudi Arabia for third time in February
Saudi artist Manal al-Dowayan opens this year’s festival
Dubai: AlUla Arts Festival returns for the third time from February 9 to February 24, featuring flagship events, exhibitions, and creative initiatives, in a bid to transform Saudi Arabia’s ancient city into an open-air living museum.
As part of the festival, Desert X AlUla will return for its third edition from February 8 to March 23, where contemporary artworks by Saudi and international artists will be held in the middle of the heritage site, AlUla Moments announced.
Aside from being the first site-responsive exhibition of its kind in Saudi Arabia that is free to all, the Medina-based event also prides itself in Wadi Al Fann, a cultural destination where large-scale, site-specific works of contemporary land art will be permanently displayed in 2026.
Saudi artist Manal al-Dowayan will open this year’s festival as part of Wadi AlFann’s pre-opening program with an exhibition that will showcase her participatory work capturing stories from AlUla’s communities.
The exhibition will preview her anticipated and historic commission for Wadi AlFann titled Oasis of Stories. As part of the festival, contemporary works by Saudi artists will be presented in an exhibition called ‘More than Meets the Eye.’
In addition to the display of artworks, live performances, photography exhibitions, street art tours, cinema screenings, hands-on workshops will be available at the festival. The workshops will be available at Madrasat Addeera, AlUla’s mixed-use creative hub that offers a range of courses from palm weaving, pottery, and jewelry to geometry, 3D strictures, and textiles.
The three-week festival will position AlUla as a leading center for contemporary art and art in the landscape with a vision to revive the ancient arts of past civilisations.