• With the title And all that is in between, the second edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale will explore how faith is experienced, expressed, and celebrated through feeling, thinking, and making.
• Over 30 major international institutions will take part in the Biennale, from Denmark, Egypt, France, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Kuwait, Mali, Oman, Palestine, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Tunisia, Türkiye, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, and Vatican City (as of September 25)
• Over 20 new commissions by artists from Saudi Arabia and around the world complement the historical objects on view.
• The Biennale gives audiences a unique chance to see objects that come from the holy sites of Makkah and Madinah.

The Diriyah Biennale Foundation announces And all that is in between as the title for the second edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale, set to open from January 25 until May 25, 2025 in Jeddah, a city that has represented a meeting point of cultures for centuries, at the Western Hajj Terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport, a site that echoes with memory and emotion for millions of Muslim pilgrims embarking on their sacred journeys for Hajj and Umrah every year; by juxtaposing historical objects from Islamic cultures with contemporary art, the Biennale will explore how faith is experienced, expressed, and celebrated through feeling, thinking, and making.

Led by Artistic Directors Julian Raby, Amin Jaffer in his ongoing role as Director of The Al Thani Collection, and Abdul Rahman Azzam alongside Saudi artist Muhannad Shono as Curator of Contemporary Art, the Biennale will offer unique insights into the ways cultures endure in the context of the transformations taking place today in Saudi Arabia with a global frame of reference; the exhibition presents a dialogue between historic and contemporary works within the galleries and in outdoor spaces, while the Biennale’s location at the Western Hajj Terminal strengthens its connection to Islamic heritage and faith.

And all that is in between is part of a verse that appears several times in the Noble Quran: “And God created the Heavens and the Earth and all that is in between,” describing the absolute and all-encompassing majesty of God’s creation as perceived and experienced by humankind; across five exhibition halls and outdoor spaces, with more than 500 objects and contemporary artworks on view, the 2025 Islamic Arts Biennale will explore how we endeavor to comprehend the wonder of what the divine has brought into being.

H. H. Prince Badr Bin Abdullah Bin Farhan Al Saud, Minister of Culture, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, highlighted the transformative power of the arts in building a vibrant, thriving society, adding that through its impactful initiatives, the Diriyah Biennale Foundation remains dedicated to nurturing creative expression, arts and culture, and enriching the global artistic landscape.

Prince Badr added: “Building on the remarkable success of the inaugural edition, the second edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale comes with greater ambition, expanded partnerships, and a diverse selection of artistic and cultural institutions, patrons, as well as artists from Saudi Arabia and countries that have rich Islamic culture and traditions.”

Prince Badr expressed his hopes that the Islamic Arts Biennale will lead to a deeper understanding of the significant influence that the Islamic arts have had globally since the rise of Islam until the present day, adding that it will continue to be a trusted platform for the arts of Islamic civilization, both past and present, paving the way for future practices and fresh discourse for generations to come.

Aya Al-Bakree, CEO of the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, stated: “The arts of Islamic civilization, both contemporary and historic, and those made in or inspired by Islamic communities around the world, have influenced cultural discourse for centuries until today; with an unwavering purpose to craft perspectives, we are proud to announce the growth of the Islamic Arts Biennale in its second edition, evident through its expert curatorial leadership and the participation of world-leading institutions and artists coming together as part of an outstanding program that will cement the Biennale as a global platform for cultural exchange and a reference point for new research into the field.”

In its second edition, the Biennale presents significantly more works and welcomes a larger number of participating institutions, affirming its position as the world's central platform for Islamic arts; the exhibition will bring together loans from the world’s leading institutions of Islamic arts, from Tunis to Tashkent and from Timbuktu to Yogyakarta, offering a broad perspective on Islamic arts, past and present, and opening new channels for dialogue and collaboration. Treasured historical artifacts, religious objects, and works of art have been loaned from major institutions including the Louvre Museum (Paris) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), as well as collections devoted specifically to Islamic arts and cultures, such as the Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Learning and Islamic Research (Timbuktu), the Museum of Islamic Art (Doha), and the Manuscript Institution of Türkiye (Istanbul). The Biennale brings together leading institutions from across Saudi Arabia, including the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) (Dhahran), the King Abdulaziz Complex for Endowment Libraries (Madinah), and the King Fahad National Library (Riyadh), while also offering visitors a chance to see objects and works of art from the holy sites of Makkah and Madinah.

The Biennale presents new commissions from over 20 artists from Saudi Arabia, the wider Gulf region, and beyond, including Nour Jaouda, Charwei Tsai, and Fatmah Abdulhadi; these commissions demonstrate the Diriyah Biennale Foundation’s commitment to offering a global stage for Saudi artists and bringing artists from around the world to Saudi Arabia, allowing local audiences to encounter compelling practices and diverse perspectives in contemporary art.

The Islamic Arts Biennale will consist of seven unique components (AlBidaya, AlMadar, AlMuqtani, AlMathala, Makkah al-Mukarramah, Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah, and AlMusalla) spread out through different galleries and outdoor spaces, across 100,000 square meters of dedicated exhibition space.

AlBidaya

Within the galleries and beneath the canopy of the Western Hajj Terminal, the Islamic Arts Biennale can be experienced as several separate but complementary zones of exploration; the first, called AlBidaya (“The Beginning”), invites us to contemplate the sacred—how it can be approached through the material objects associated with it while remaining beyond our understanding. In keeping with Jeddah’s role as a gateway to Islam’s holy cities, the opening galleries will display artifacts from Makkah al-Mukarramah and Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah. As visitors progress through the exhibition, they will encounter contemporary works of art that create a serene space aiming to invite awareness of the greater spiritual truth beyond the physical realm.

AlMadar

AlMadar (“The Orbit”) promotes collaboration and dialogue between institutions with significant collections of Islamic art around the world, with institutions from over 20 countries presenting selected objects at the Islamic Arts Biennale. Objects representing celestial navigation, the mapping of oceans and rivers, and mathematical calculations demonstrate how Muslim cultures have used numbers to comprehend God’s creation and to bring order, symmetry, and beauty into daily life. The historical objects in AlMadar are complemented by contemporary artistic commissions that emphasize the universal, timeless nature of numbers and their continued importance in Islamic arts and cultures.

AlMuqtani

AlMuqtani (“Homage”) recenters the visitor’s experience on the material world, recognizing the outstanding contribution that individual collectors have made to the appreciation and understanding of Islamic visual and material culture; it displays works of Islamic art from two collections, those assembled by Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani and Rifaat Sheikh El Ard. The Al Thani Collection is characterized by a taste for precious materials and virtuosic artistry, with a particular focus on jeweled objects, while the Furusiyyah Collection of Rifaat Sheikh El Ard is renowned for metalwork, especially works associated with chivalric culture across Islamic civilizations. With an emphasis on tangible beauty, AlMuqtani will present high points of creativity and craft from Islamic cultures around the world.

AlMathala

The outdoor spaces of AlMathala (“The Canopy”) will present a range of new commissions that respond to the theme of the garden in Islamic civilization; from ancient times until today, gardens have been places for repair, refreshment, and wonder. In Islamic cultures, the garden has been a way of expressing the position of humankind in relation to the earth and heavens, with the notion of the garden linked to concepts of paradise, deriving from the old Persian word for garden—pardis—which translates to “walled enclosure.” The artworks in this section concern the natural world and respond to the culture of gardens while addressing contemporary social and environmental realities, allowing visitors to follow a route through four quadrants designed to inspire reflection, learning, meditation, and social encounters.

AlMukarramah and AlMunawwarah

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s role as guardian of the holy cities will be recognized in the two permanent pavilions dedicated to these cities, where the human stories told will center on the contrasting characters and energies of Makkah al-Mukarramah (“The Honored”) and Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (“The Illuminated”).

AlMusalla

Under the canopy of the Hajj Terminal, reflecting the significance of its iconic architecture, a new structure will be built by the winner of the AlMusalla Prize; celebrating innovative architecture of Muslim societies, the AlMusalla Prize is a new international architecture competition launched by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation. The winner will design a functioning prayer space (a musalla) to be built on the Biennale site, with a design that is versatile, modular, and sustainable in its method of construction, and it will be open to all visitors throughout the Biennale’s run.

The shortlisted firms for the AlMusalla Prize are AAU Anastas (Palestine), Sahel AlHiyari (Jordan), EAST Architecture Studio (Lebanon/United Arab Emirates), Dabbagh Architects (Saudi Arabia/United Arab Emirates), and Asif Khan (United Kingdom). The jury members for the AlMusalla Prize include Prince Nawaf Bin Ayyaf (Jury Chair), Azra Aksamija, Farrokh Derakhshani, Lina Ghotmeh, and Ali Malkawi, with the inauguration of the musalla coinciding with the opening of the Islamic Arts Biennale on January 25, 2025.

LIST OF PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS (AS OF SEPTEMBER 25, SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

The David Collection (Copenhagen, Denmark); the Museum of Islamic Art (Cairo, Egypt); The Al Thani Collection (Paris, France); the Louvre Museum (Paris, France); the Benaki Museum (Athens, Greece); National Library of Indonesia (Jakarta, Indonesia); the State Museum of West Nusa Tenggara (Mataram, Indonesia); Sonobudoyo Museum (Yogyakarta, Indonesia); the Bruschettini Foundation for Islamic and Asian Art (Genoa, Italy); Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, al-Sabah Collection (Kuwait City, Kuwait); the Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Learning and Islamic Research (Timbuktu, Mali); the National Museum - Sultanate of Oman (Muscat, Oman); the Khalidi Library (Jerusalem, Palestine); Calouste Gulbenkian Museum (Lisbon, Portugal); the Maritime Museum (Lisbon, Portugal); the Museum of Islamic Art (Doha, Qatar); the Qatar National Library (Doha, Qatar); the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia); the King Abdulaziz Complex for Endowment Libraries (Madinah, Saudi Arabia); King Fahad National Library (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia); the Trust for the Alhambra and Generalife, Alhambra Museum (Granada, Spain); Institute of Valencia de Don Juan (Madrid, Spain); the National Archaeological Museum (Madrid, Spain); National Heritage Institute (Tunis, Tunisia); the Manuscript Institution of Türkiye (Istanbul, Türkiye); the King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts (London, United Kingdom); the Victoria and Albert Museum (London, United Kingdom); the Bodleian Libraries (Oxford, United Kingdom); the History of Science Museum, University of Oxford (Oxford, United Kingdom); the Hispanic Society Museum and Library (New York, United States); the Abu Rayhan Biruni Institute of Oriental Studies and the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan, of the Art and Culture Development Foundation Uzbekistan (Tashkent, Uzbekistan); and the Vatican Apostolic Library (Vatican City).

LIST OF PARTICIPATING ARTISTS (AS OF SEPTEMBER 25, SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

Fatma Abdulhadi, Ahmad Angawi, Saeed Gebaan, Louis Guillaume, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Hylozoic/Desires (Himali Singh Soin & David Soin Tappeser), Nour Jaouda, Tamara Kalo, Asif Khan, Takashi Kuribayashi, Ahmed Mater, Mehdi Moutashar, Timo Nasseri, Hayat Osama, Nohemi Pérez, Imran Qureshi, Arcangelo Sassolino, and Charwei Tsai.

THE CURATORIAL TEAM

The 2025 Islamic Arts Biennale is led by Julian Raby, a distinguished scholar, former lecturer in Islamic art and architecture at the University of Oxford, and former director of the National Museum of Asian Art at the Smithsonian Institution, who also served on the curatorial team of the first edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale; Amin Jaffer, in his ongoing role as Director of The Al Thani Collection, whose academic and curatorial work focuses on the meeting of European and Asian cultures; and Abdul Rahman Azzam, an acclaimed author and historian who served as Senior Expert Advisor for AlMadar in 2023. Saudi artist Muhannad Shono, whose work deals with questions of spirituality and the role of imagination in shaping reality, and who represented Saudi Arabia at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in 2022 while also participating as an artist in the first edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale, serves as Contemporary Art Curator.

The curatorial team includes Masa Al-Kutoubi (AlMadar Lead), Rizwan Ahmad (Curator), Heather Ecker (Curator), William Robinson (Curator), Marika Sardar (Curator), Joanna Chevalier (Associate Curator), Amina Diab (Associate Curator), Sarah Al Abdali (Assistant Curator), Bilal Badat (Assistant Curator), Faye Behbehani (Assistant Curator), and Wen Wen (Assistant Curator).