RIYADH: Jacques District in Diriyah has opened its doors to the Saudi public in an immersive experience of art and virtual reality under the theme “a window into your senses”.
The Jacques Arts Festival encourages audiences to engage in the five senses through a display of works by artists from around the world. The area is home to a collection of artist studios and frequent public engagement events.
In its first art festival, the experience inspires Saudis and tourists alike to “awaken curiosity,” allowing visitors to touch, create or be a part of the artwork.
As you pass through the entrance to the Jacques Arts Festival, you are shrouded in a fog that slowly reveals the first pieces. Clear Vision – Beginning of the Journey, artwork by UAE-based Jordanian artist Alisar Mazek, is the first work visitors will see.
“I am proud to see our work at such beautiful festivals and to see that Saudi Arabia is opening up and embracing the arts in such innovative ways,” Mazek told Arab News.
Featuring a collection of suspended rocks carrying plants native to Saudi Arabia, this piece embodies the kingdom’s upward-moving vision.
In the adjoining hall, crowds of people hand in art pieces and exhibits: an interactive art painting where visitors can create a painting using the pendulum technique, a giant black LED cube that reacts to every movement, a Live Music Experience and much more.
In a way, the festival aims to highlight an art scene that is accessible to the public. Ultimately, the festival creates a space where art is a channel for entertainment, removing the layers of elitism that can make art intimidating to a public audience.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is currently experiencing a golden age through the clear orientation of cultural and artistic institutions in the Kingdom, headed by the Ministry of Culture … The cultural scene within 2030,” featuring artist Abdelrahman Elshahad told Arab News.
His creation was inspired by the words of the Minister of Culture, Prince Badr bin Farhan, who said: “The story of Arabic calligraphy is the story of civilization, heritage, culture and life.”
Interdisciplinary artist Elham Dawsari told Arab News: “I hope that the Jacques festival and similar festivals are going to open more doors for people to accept art and not be afraid to go to the gallery. It will open up those barriers.” Breaking what art people have and what art that speaks more to them.”
Dawsari framed her work in the context of Saudi women and the limits of urban development. As the kingdom looks to the future, some worry that its past might be forgotten. The four sculpted pieces of women working in daily activities pay tribute to often-forgotten members of the Saudi public who sacrificed their dreams and ambitions to set aside a generation unlike any before it.
Elham Dawsari frames her work in the context of Saudi women and urban development frontiers, focusing on the generation of women who raised her. (Saleh Ghanem/AN)
“They are the seeds of this beautiful change,” she told Arab News. “He felt unheard for too long, and now it’s happening again. While we all appreciate his effort, we’re not really making an effort to show him in public.”
French artist Julien Gardier takes an abstract approach towards visualizing Saudi culture, carving various depictions of Saudi people and heritage on medium-density fiberboard. All designs cut into wooden boards are carved along a line, creating positive and negative contrast, then placed separately and used to make their pillars.
“You make me see your culture and country through a different light,” one woman told Gardere.
He obtained his imagery – which has touched many local festivals – from a previous trip to the Kingdom before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“One was moved to tears. Another was telling me how beautiful it was to be portrayed like this by a foreigner. It made me realize that the image that has been spread about him outside the country must have hurt people.” ,” he told Arab News.
Guatemalan artist Maria Ines Henri (Milah) sits in her color-block chair, watching the reactions to her artwork, Colors of Life.
“A grandmother, she starts crying because she feels so excited… you can feel the power,” she told Arab News. “When I see people interacting with my art, I go to bed… you have this idea inside of you, and then you pour it into the physical world.”
Another piece by Henri, “Gifts to the Saudis”, is an abstract figure recreating the Jacques logo. It is a product of seven years of work and research into the psychology of colors, and how individuals interact with them.
She puts the tones together in an explosion of colors on eight different pillars. Viewers can interact with the work by sitting in a complementary chair to take photographs in different colors.
The local artifacts displayed at the festival follow the way of life within the state. Saudi artist Um Kaltoum al-Alawi’s work is inspired by the mashrabiyat, the exterior of the building in historic Jeddah, where, historically, the women of the city spent most of their time. Although it may seem complicated from afar, the work is based on geometric shapes formed by three main strokes: straight, oblique and curved lines.
The repeated shapes are created to create a broader imagery, all of which are meant to reflect the prominence of sociality, community and family within the area.
“What they find complicated is their mingling and intertwining,” al-Alawi told Arab News.
“All geometric figures result from a circle, and a circle arises from a point. The whole universe arises from a point, and everything comes from nothing.”
With long lines of visitors to enter, the XR Experience immerses attendees in the historical sites of Saudi Arabia, most notably AlUla and historic Jeddah.
Another attraction, a “Renaissance 3D” experience, is designed to adapt to Saudi culture through augmented and virtual reality technologies.
The Jacques Arts Festival is free and open to the public in Riyadh from 24 July.