Diriyah Art Futures has launched CONTINUUM ’26, an exhibition presenting new media artworks created by 16 emerging artists and two mentors as part of its year-long Emerging New Media Artists Programme.
Running at DAF in Riyadh until the 7th of November, the exhibition brings together works spanning immersive multimedia installations, light, sound, moving image, virtual reality, mixed reality and AI-generated art.
Curated by Irini Papadimitriou and Assistant Curator Bushra Alghamdi, CONTINUUM ’26 explores themes including memory, identity, place, belonging, repetition and interspecies relationships. The participating artists developed their works under the mentorship of internationally acclaimed artists Louis-Philippe Demers and Rick Treweek.
The exhibition examines the relationship between the real and artificial, and the human and machine, through a range of technological and multidisciplinary approaches.
Speaking at the launch, Eng. Abdullah Al-Hammad, CEO of the Museums Commission, said: “Programmes like the Emerging New Media Artists Programme represent the long-term, deliberate investment needed to shape the future of the Kingdom’s museum sector. By providing our artists with world-class facilities, mentorship, and the dedicated time to refine their craft, we are fueling innovation and sparking vital cultural conversations. CONTINUUM 26 brings a full year of that dedication into the public eye.”
The launch also featured a panel discussion with exhibition artists Noel Apitta, Njood Albwardi, Badriya Alsalem and Harpreet Sareen, in conversation with Alghamdi. The discussion addressed the exhibition’s central themes of systems of power, memory and time, and embodied perception.
CONTINUUM ’26 is the second exhibition in a series at DAF highlighting emerging voices in new media art. The Emerging New Media Artists Programme was developed in collaboration with Le Fresnoy, Studio National des Arts Contemporains in France.
DAF is also hosting a programme of workshops, talks and other activities covering subjects including AI, VR and digital photography.
