Diriyah: Diriyah Art Futures (DAF), the MENA region's first hub dedicated to New Media Arts, has unveiled a program packed with diverse art activities throughout May. Its objective is to deepen visitors' understanding of new media art worlds and enhance their interaction with them. Visitors can enjoy specialized professional courses presented in Arabic alongside interactive dialogue seminars. According to Saudi Press Agency, as part of the program, visitors will have an opportunity to explore the exhibition Maknana: An Archaeology of New Media Art in the Arab World, which runs until July 19, and delve deeper into the history of new media art. Co-curated by Haytham Nawar and Ala Younis, the Maknana exhibition explores the rich history of new media arts in the Arab world through a collection of over 70 artworks by over 40 Arab artists. The Arabic term "Maknana," which means 'mechanization,' reflects the exhibition's focus on how Arab artists have navigated, repurposed, and challenged technologies to shape thei r own creative vocabularies. On Friday and Saturday, May 9-10, the program includes a two-day masterclass, titled: "Object Narratives in VR Environments," presented by artist Ahmed El Shaer. The workshop provides a space to experience extended reality (XR) environments working with "Oculus" and "Unity," combining actual reality and digital worlds, as spaces for interaction and reinterpretation. It explores how things can acquire new meanings within virtual worlds. On Friday and Saturday, May 23-24, the program offers a two-day masterclass on "The Sound of Place: Exploring the City Through Sound." Visitors will engage in field listening sessions using recordings captured around Diriyah's historic districts, besides exploratory exercises to understand the connotations of sound, memory, and cultural identity. "Maknana: An Archaeology of New Media Art in the Arab World," where the Founder and Executive Director of afikra - a pioneering global media and educational platform reframing the narrative about the Ara b World-Mikey Muhanna hosts curators Dr. Haytham Nawar and Ala Younis. On an afikra podcast in English, they will discuss the backgrounds and themes of the exhibition, address new media art practices in the Arab world, and the role of artists in critical and creative interaction with technology within changing social and cultural contexts. On that Saturday, join artist Magdi Mostafa in a talk titled "Sonic Encounters" to explore works that orbit around the theme of sound as inspiration, as material, and as outcome. Drawing from his two key series, "Surface of Spectral Scattering and Transmission Loss," besides "Sound Cells," he shares how sound becomes a conceptual and spatial tool in his practice. Whether working with light, moving images, or sculptural forms, Mostafa investigates how sonic ideas can shape perception, structure space, and dialogue with other mediums. Through this program, DAF continues to affirm its pioneering position as the first Arab center specializing in this field from the heart of h istorical Diriyah, embracing an environment conducive to dialogue for artists, technologies, and the public. It presents a living model of new media arts as tools for reflection, criticism, and building future perceptions, thereby enhancing the position of Riyadh as a global center for artistic creativity, exploration, and cultural exchange, in line with Saudi Vision 2030.
