Diriyah Art Futures (DAF), the first hub for New Media Arts in the Middle East and North Africa, has launched its new exhibition CONTINUUM ’25, presenting works by its inaugural cohort of emerging artists alongside their mentors.
The exhibition showcases pieces developed over the course of DAF’s year-long Emerging New Media Artists programme. Spanning immersive installations, sound and screen-based works, virtual reality and AI-generated art, the presentation highlights the breadth of experimentation taking place in the field.
Curated by Irini Papadimitriou, CONTINUUM ’25 explores subjects including memory, identity, displacement, climate ecologies, ethics and algorithmic power. The works were produced under the guidance of internationally recognised artists Anna Ridler, Karen Palmer and Madeline Gannon, with an emphasis on blurring the boundaries between real and artificial, human and machine, organic and synthetic.
The opening was marked by a panel discussion featuring Papadimitriou, Tegan Bristow, Director of Education at DAF, and participating artists Khaled Makhshoush, Dhia Dhibi and Samia Dzair. Moderated by Wejdan Reda, the conversation addressed how New Media Artists are incorporating technology into their practice and underscored the role of multidisciplinary collaboration between artists, researchers and technologists.
The exhibition brings together works by 11 emerging artists: Turki AlQahtani (Saudi Arabia), Khaled Makhshoush (Saudi Arabia), Salma Aly (Egypt), Samia Dzaïr (Algeria), Aya Abu Ghazaleh (Jordan), Dhia Dhibi (Tunisia), William Brooks (Wales), Junsoo Kim (South Korea), Youssef El Idrissi (Morocco), Kyle Donald Marais (South Africa) and Mohamed Al Mubarak (Bahrain). Mentors Palmer and Ridler are also represented.
CONTINUUM ’25 is the first in a planned series of exhibitions at DAF that aim to highlight diverse voices shaping the future of New Media Art in the region and internationally. The exhibition title reflects the ongoing process of creative inquiry central to DAF’s mission.
Developed in partnership with Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporains in France, the Emerging New Media Artists programme provides participants with access to equipment, production budgets and multidisciplinary learning opportunities.
Running until the 15th of November, the exhibition is supported by a programme of workshops, talks and activities covering areas such as AI, VR and digital photography. Highlights include Stories of Home: Digital & Hand Embroidery on the 19th of September, a bilingual workshop combining regional embroidery traditions with New Media Art.
