In AlUla, it all started in 2019, when Maraya opened its doors: it is the most fascinating reflective building in the world, as the mirror-covered facades have turned this UFO/mirage, in the middle of the Arabian desert, into an icon.

A theatre and concert hall, Maraya has hosted international singers such as Alicia Keys, Andrea Bocelli, Cheb Khaled and Russell Peters. Until May 17, it welcomes the first Andy Warhol exhibition in Saudi Arabia, coordinated by the Andy Warhol Museum of Pittsburgh alongside ArtsAlUla: a memorable initiative, as just a few years ago it would have been impossible to display the king of Pop Art and the cult of images in this part of the world.

Nora Aldabal (Arts and Creative Planning Director of the Royal Commission of AlUla) explains: «AlUla wants to become the global destination for contemporary art» and this aspiration does not seem unreachable, as it is a virgin area with great development potential, the envy of other countries without the same ability to invest.

To achieve this result, it is advisable to keep in mind who is making art history in the Western world, especially in the United States and France: the presence of the French Agency for AlUla Development (Afalula) as the promoter of a residency programme in the Mabiti oasis, whose second edition welcomed six artists from various Middle Eastern and North African countries, is not fortuitous. M’hammed Kilito (1981, who lives and works in Casablanca) stood out for his photographic project Untold Tales, which portrays AlUla differently: not only as a place of transformation, in the best sense of the term, but also as a region subject to exploitation.

Still on the subject of cultural development integrated into the environment, after two editions of Desert X – the Californian desert biennale that took place in AlUla in 2020 and 2022 – the opening of the Wadi AlFann Valley is planned within the next three years. Manal AlDowayan, Agnes Denes, Michael Heizer, Ahmed Mater, and James Turrell will be the first artists to respond to the challenge of creating ‘timeless’ works in an incredible, pristine landscape. A monumental and sustainable project – as far as possible – curated by Iwona Blazwick, the new Chair of the Royal Commission for AlUla’s Public Art and director of London’s Whitechapel Gallery for the past twenty-one years. “The new public art commission in Wadi AlFann is a far-reaching project: the Royal Commission for AlUla’s Public Art is investing in permanent works, which will reside on that site for the next tens or hundreds of years, to tell the future what the world was like today,” Blazwick told the press during the tour presenting this new Arab challenge, which could perhaps nurture a new idea of Land Art.

This is also an opportunity to raise awareness about desert life: a place brimming with life and fragile ecosystems, this immense territory could become the model for a new way of conceiving culture-related tourism.

Besides contemporary art, the preservation and restoration initiative of the old town of AlUla, which was recently awarded the title of Best Tourist Village by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, is worth taking into account. It was a decisive step on the pilgrims’ journey between Damascus and Mecca from the twelfth to the twentieth centuries, and it still has an archaeological archive with about 900 houses, 400 shops, 5 squares, and traces of some of the original stone and brick buildings.

On our return to Europe, we cannot forget a visit to the first edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah: a stunning exhibition in a brand new complex designed by Rem Koolhaas’ architecture studio OMA, built next to the airport in less than a year.

The theme of the event follows Islamic moments of prayer and spiritual life. As well as the remarkable collection by Kuwaiti collector Sheikh Nasser Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, bringing together pieces spanning centuries of Muslim cultural history, visitors can get a modern perspective on Islamic religion and culture, with environmental installations by artists such as Muhannad Shono and Ighsaan Adams, M’barek Bouchchichi and Basmah Felembam.

It is yet another opportunity to further our knowledge of the Arab world, both through the promotion of its culture and the ability to develop business in that area. All this even though we cannot overlook the criticism of a future world at full speed, ignoring the current need to brake slightly.