AlUla, 16 Rajab 1447 AH (5 January 2026)

The AlUla Museum of Contemporary Art, in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou, has announced the "Our Land" exhibition, running from 1 February to 15 April 2026 as part of the fifth AlUla Arts Festival.

Presented by AlUla Arts and co-curated with the Centre Pompidou, with support from the French Agency for AlUla Development (AFALULA), the exhibition features more than 80 works by artists from the Kingdom, the Middle East and North Africa and the wider world, in a comprehensive artistic experience that explores the changing relationship between humanity, nature and the land.

"Our Land" offers visitors a first glimpse of the artistic vision of the AlUla Museum of Contemporary Art as a global cultural institution inspired by AlUla's setting and ancient heritage as a historic oasis at the crossroads of civilisations and ancient trade routes.

The exhibition draws on the growing collection of the Royal Commission for AlUla alongside selected works from the Musée National d'Art Moderne at the Centre Pompidou, under lead curator Candida Pestana, with curators Fatoon Al-Thaidi of the Royal Commission for AlUla and Anna Hiddleston and Noémie Villon of the Centre Pompidou.

Taking the garden as its symbolic starting point and inspired by AlUla's nature as a living oasis, the exhibition presents an artistic journey through real and imagined manifestations of nature across six chapters that stretch from gardens and orchards to deserts and their cosmic reflections.

It brings together pioneers of modern art such as Pablo Picasso, David Hockney, Joan Mitchell and Wassily Kandinsky with leading contemporary artists including Saudi artists Ayman Zedani and Manal AlDowayan, alongside artists from the Arab world such as Imran Qureshi, Samia Halaby and Etel Adnan.

The exhibition addresses contemporary global issues including the Anthropocene, climate change, displacement and urban expansion, extending an open invitation to rethink how humanity and the environment can coexist.

"Our Land" also includes new works commissioned by the AlUla Museum of Contemporary Art and developed through direct engagement with the region's natural environment and cultural contexts, among them recent works by Saudi artist Ayman Zedani and Lebanese artist Tarek Atoui, produced through the AlUla artist residency programme.

Hamad Al-Humaidan, General Manager of Arts and Creative Industries at the Royal Commission for AlUla, said: "Our Land marks a pivotal moment in the journey of the AlUla Arts Festival and embodies our ambition to sit at the heart of global conversations on art, culture and the environment, through works that engage the public and pose fundamental questions about our relationship with the land and nature."

Laurent Le Bon, President of the Centre Pompidou, said the exhibition is an important step in the strategic partnership with the Royal Commission for AlUla and gives the public a first look at the fruits of the centre's advisory role for the forthcoming museum, underlining the importance of cross-border cultural dialogue.

"Our Land" is staged in the exhibition halls within the experimental spaces of the AlUla Museum of Contemporary Art, with entry by ticket booking. It is a prominent prelude to the museum's opening and part of the AlUla Arts Festival, which each year turns AlUla into an open space for art, design and culture.