Saudi-American artist Sarah Brahim and French artist Ugo Schiavi present NEUMA: The Forgotten Ceremony, a twofold installation and performance developed during a yearlong residency at Villa Hegra. Unveiled at the inauguration of the AlUla Arts Festival 2025, this collaborative project is deeply rooted in the ritualistic practices of pre-Islamic tribes, bridging art, archaeology, and local heritage to offer an immersive exploration of AlUla’s past and its enduring resonance.
Curated by Wejdan Reda and Arnaud Morand, this project invites audiences to traverse AlUla’s ancient landscapes and modern spaces, reimagining the crossroads of history and the human spirit. NEUMA is an immersive rite of passage, bridging the seen and the unseen, and reconnecting the timeless cycles of life, nature, and community.
The project unfolds across two interconnected sites. In Wadi Al Naam, an outdoor canyon setting, a fifteen-panel glass installation rises as an ethereal temple-like structure. Crafted to echo the weathered ridges of the canyon, the glass panels intertwine clarity and opacity, creating a transformative play of light and shadow. Visitors are invited to breathe deeply, connecting with the space’s sacred energy. This ceremonial setting is activated through a live performance, where local participants engage in breath-based rituals that animate the glass vessels, releasing tones that resonate with the desert’s vastness.
At Dar Tantora, within AlUla’s Old Town, the journey continues indoors with an exhibition of hand-blown glass sculptures. These meticulously crafted pieces mimic the contours of AlUla’s landscape and transform into ceremonial objects when enlivened by the performers’ breath. The exhibition is complemented by a film that captures the interplay of the desert’s expansive beauty and intimate human rituals. Created in collaboration with local artist Muruj Alemam and her children, the film embodies the choreography of breath, seamlessly binding past and present.
The title, NEUMA, derives from the Greek term for “vital breath,” embodying the essence of existence. For Brahim and Schiavi, breath serves as a unifying force, merging the corporeal and the spiritual. Their use of glass as a medium—transmuted desert sand shaped by fire and breath—symbolises transformation and continuity.
About Sarah Brahim
Sarah Brahim is a multidisciplinary visual and performance artist exploring the body as a site of experience and expression. Trained at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, she earned a BFA (Hons) from the London Contemporary Dance School and a BS from Oregon Health and Science University, focusing on medical anthropology and public health. Her work examines how bodily gestures articulate grief, transformation, and our connection to nature. In 2024, she debuted a solo exhibition at the Bally Foundation, joined the 77th Locarno Film Festival Filmmakers Academy, and was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
About Ugo Schiavi
Born in 1987 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, Ugo Schiavi lives and works in Marseille. His work merges contemporary and ancient forms, creating uncanny narratives that blend fiction and history. Drawing on universal heritage, Schiavi erases temporality through mutating artworks inspired by public monuments and live models. His physically demanding casting process adds expressive spontaneity, preserving layers of meaning to uncover contemporary echoes in ancient works. Schiavi’s solo exhibitions include Centre d’Art Bastille, Grenoble (2022), Musée Réattu, Arles (2021), and Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans (2019). Group exhibitions feature Noor Riyadh, BIENALSUR (2023), Lyon Biennale (2022), and Nuit Blanche (2018).
Location: AlUla, KSA Northwestern Desert
Dates: January 11 – February 22, 2025