Saudi Arabia Announces Venice Biennale Pavilion

Riyadh-based multimedia artist Muhannad Shono will represent the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the 59th Venice Biennale in April, in a pavilion curated by art historian and curator Reem Fadda with assistant curator Rotana Shaker. No title or theme for the exhibition was announced, though Fadda described it as an “ambitious project” that will “captivate audiences.”

Trained in architecture, Shono has garnered attention in recent years for his large-scale installations that tackle philosophical subjects with references to Saudi Arabia’s political history and culture. At the open studios of the AlUla Art Residency program in 2022, for instance, his installation in a palm grove On This Sacred Day (2022) comprises a black structure resembling a catafalque in which palm materials were burned, referencing agricultural practices and suggesting a process of mourning for the natural environment. Several of his recently large-scale projects have incorporated long strands of PVC pipe including Streams, dreams and flow states (2019), which the artist described as “a sculptural freehand sketch of a post-oil future” and was installed in the Khuzam Palace in Jeddah, where Saudi Arabia and the United States signed the first oil exploration agreement in 1933.

Working collaboratively on many of his large-scale projects Shono teamed up with technicians from the Factum Arte studio and robotics specialists for the project On Losing Meaning (2021), which features a branch-like animatronic figure that marks a large white surface as it moves autonomously, creating a kind of mechanical drawing on the floor. The artist also frequently collaborates with musicians. Made from wire and shredded car tires, the undulating landscape-like installation The Mind Ship Exodus (2021) is accompanied by a 12-minute musical composition by Mary Rapp, Broken up cello (2021). More than 30 meters in length and five-meter-high at place, the work references ancient epic poems and texts like the Old Testament.

The Saudi Arabia Pavilion at the Venice Biennale is a project of the Visual Arts Commission (VAC), which is overseen by the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Culture. The kingdom has pushed cultural initiatives as part of its Vision 2030 campaign of social and economic transformation.