Saudi Arabia marks its debut at the 24th Triennale Milano International Exhibition with Maghras, A Farm for Experimentation, open from 13 May to 9 November 2025. Presented under the theme of Inequalities, this year’s Triennale explores how disparities shape contemporary life across economic, environmental, and social spheres.
Curated by Lulu Almana and Sara Al Omran, with Alejandro Stein as Creative Director, the Saudi Pavilion focuses on the evolving landscape of Al Ahsa—a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the world’s largest oases. The project centres on land, labour, and memory, engaging with questions of environmental transformation in the context of global and local change.
The exhibition draws on a year-long working programme in Al Ahsa involving architects, artists, researchers, and local communities. The pavilion presents new commissions developed through this collaboration. Leen Ajlan, an architectural designer from Jeddah, contributes a sculptural installation made entirely from farming waste, addressing monoculture and the effects of artificial fertilisers. Mohammed Alfaraj, a visual artist from Al Ahsa, presents a multimedia film installation that reimagines a local folk tale, linking storytelling to environmental shifts. Sawtasura, a Gulf-based research platform, contributes a sound essay built from women’s oral histories, exploring sonic memory as environmental knowledge.
Maghras highlights how Al Ahsa’s identity resists easy classification, shaped by a mix of urban and rural life. Once envisioned as the nation’s breadbasket, the region has experienced ecological changes linked to modern agricultural practices, groundwater depletion, and urban expansion. The pavilion brings these issues into conversation with broader global themes, showing how inherited practices intersect with the pressures of modernisation.