Saudi Arabia stands stern with its decision to hoist the country’s flag in the emerging world of art and culture, and through Islamic Arts Biennale 2025, we see a figure of authority, if nothing less, and a benchmark for bringing together Islamic objects together at a museum level in Jeddah. Reviving the interest in Islamic art, the four-month exhibition, from 25 January 2025 to 25 May 2025, “encapsulates the vast and awe-inspiring scope of God’s creation as experienced by humankind.”
The exhibition is spread across 100,000 square meters of dedicated exhibition space in a disused airport terminal, primarily used for receiving the pilgrims of Mecca and Madina. Finding itself on the moto of,
“Exploring Faith Through Feeling, Thinking, and Making.”
The grandness of this exhibition should not be taken for granted, as it explores its objective rather intimately. This is made possible by bringing together over 500 Islamic objects from different timelines and juxtapositioning them in order to find the relevancy and connection between contemporary, present, and historical times. Speaking of the convening of these works, several recognized institutions worldwide, including the Louvre Museum (Paris), Victoria and Albert Museum (London), and Museum of Islamic Art (Doha), collaborated to celebrate this occasion. But to crown this exhibition with royalty, something anyone would expect from an affluent monarchy, is the staging – from creating a monochromatic environment with polished surfaces and exquisite lighting to displaying the panels called Kiswah that cover Ka’aba, each in black damask embroidered in gold. The latter holds importance as the Kiswah has never before exited Mecca or seen in total to the people belonging to other religions. A new Kiswah replaces the old one every year, and the latter is cut up and given as diplomatic gifts. Though not mentioned anywhere on the exhibition website, it is remarkable to see how the exhibition’s interior resembles Kiswah’s accents – Black and Gold.
The Biennale 2025 is split into seven unique components – AlBidayah, AlMadar, AlMuqtani, AlMidhallah, AlMukarramah, AlMunawwarah, and AlMusalla, each housing in different galleries and outdoor spaces across the same area. More information about these components can be found on the official website.
Other than all these rarities, the exhibition is also an opportunity to experience the art of more than 30 artists from the Arab world and beyond and understand the techniques and perspectives of contemporary art. It is only a matter of a couple of months before we now record how many visitors this serene display of art attracts – speaking of which, the authorities expect about 1 million visitors, up from 600,000 last time the event was held.
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