Diriyah Art Futures Launches Of Earth: Earthly Technologies to Computational Biologies
Diriyah Art Futures (DAF), the MENA region’s first centre dedicated to new media arts, has opened its fourth major exhibition, Of the Earth: Earthly Technologies to Computational Biologies, at its Diriyah venue in Riyadh. The opening evening brought together cultural leaders, artists, media representatives, and members of the creative community for a programme of art, performance, and discussion, DAF said in a press release issued today.
Curated by DAF Director of Exhibitions Irini Papadimitriou and running until 16 May 2026, the exhibition features works by more than 30 local, regional, and international artists. Together, they explore how digital technologies are reshaping humanity’s relationship with the natural world.
Diriyah Art Futures
The evening began with a private media tour, followed by welcoming remarks and conversations between visitors, artists, and the curatorial team. Guests also experienced 1 DROP 1000 YEARS, a performance that uses water particles to create an immersive visual and sonic meditation on ecological fragility and material interconnectedness.
One of the highlights was the panel discussion Assembled Ecologies, which brought together participating artists and Papadimitriou to reflect on technological innovation, ecological responsibility, and the role of art in responding to urgent environmental challenges while imagining shared planetary futures.
Commenting on the exhibition, Acting CEO of the Museums Commission Ibrahim Alsanousi said: “Through Diriyah Art Futures and exhibitions such as Of the Earth, the Museums Commission continues to develop cultural institutions that engage with the most pressing questions of our time. As we position Saudi Arabia as a global hub for arts and culture, we are committed to creating spaces where artists, scholars, and audiences come together to shape new forms of cultural expression rooted in our heritage and responsive to future challenges.”
Of the Earth
Organised around four thematic sections—Computational Chimeras, Earthly Circuits, Codes of Extraction, and Foraging Networks—the exhibition examines how technology is often framed as a means of controlling nature, while also highlighting the environmental costs of digital systems on a planet with finite resources. Additionally, the works underscore that digital technologies are themselves grounded in the earth, dependent on physical infrastructure, rare minerals, energy, and global networks.
By bringing together art, technology, and science, Of the Earth proposes new ways of addressing urgent ecological issues and questioning existing technological power structures, offering visions of care-centred ecosystems and technologies shaped by interspecies, collective, and planetary intelligence.
Finally, the exhibition is accompanied by an extensive public programme of panel discussions, hands-on workshops, and masterclasses, running through May 2026.
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