Riyadh, a city experiencing one of the most dynamic periods of urban development in the world, is currently being recast under a breathtaking new light. The fifth and most spectacular edition of the Noor Riyadh 2025 festival, themed In the Blink of an Eye, is far more than a mere display of art; it is a profound, kinetic meditation on the city’s astonishingly rapid transformation, its cultural heritage, and its bold, technological future.
The festival’s opening on November 20th immediately captured the essence of its theme: speed and change. The launch featured an unforgettable aerial ballet involving a massive fleet of 3,500 drones. This spectacular show, choreographed by the renowned international light artists Christophe Berthonneau and László Zsolt Bordos, served as a powerful kinetic overture. As Chief Guest Curator Mami Kataoka explained, the title In the Blink of an Eye directly links this show’s dynamism to the acceleration of time, urging visitors to look toward Time, with a capital T, and reflect on Riyadh’s rapid journey into modernity.
Steering this ambitious project is Festival Director Nouf AlMoneef. An architect and designer, AlMoneef emphasises that the festival’s core mission is to integrate light-based art into the public realm, creating an accessible “gallery without walls.” She noted that the artworks, by 59 artists (including 13 Saudi talents), aim to transmit “this flash of transformation, while aiming to integrate the art into daily life,” fostering a strong connection between the international arts community and local Saudi creativity.
The 60 selected works are distributed across six strategic sites, creating an intellectual and visual journey that deliberately bridges the past and the future: In the historic centre, Artworks engage in a luminous dialogue with ancient architecture, honouring cultural heritage. And in modern hubs, installations animate the sleek stations of the new Riyadh Metro system, reflecting the urban pulse and pace of the city’s modernisation.
This year’s edition is defined by pieces that use cutting-edge technology to spark reflection on perception and change. Several spectacular commissioned works stand out for their ambition and immersive qualities: Shinji Ohmaki’s Liminal Air Space-Time expands his celebrated Liminal Air series in Riyadh with an installation that immerses a vast hall in light. The work utilizes thousands of fine threads that hang suspended, capturing light like morning mist. Stirred by air currents, the threads drift in ethereal waves, rendering empty space as a tangible volume. Liminal Air Space-Time invites visitors to wander slowly, where time transforms into tangible texture and silence materialises into form, embodying transience and the impermanence of beauty. Delicate colour transitions trace the passage of day from dawn to twilight, making the invisible forces that shape our perception beautifully visible.
The Italian art and architecture collective fuse* transforms detailed lunar data into a multi-sensory cosmic experience with Luna Somnium. Housed within a towering square metal structure, the work is aligned with orbital rhythms, displaying ethereal visuals that oscillate between scientific abstraction and celestial cosmology. This towering, large-scale piece turns complex scientific observation into a meditative dream of celestial yearning, drawing the audience out of the city’s momentum and into the contemplation of cosmic cycles and time beyond human speed.
Saudi artist Muhannad Shono, known for contemplative works that chart new narratives, presents a powerful illusion. In Amidst the Thirsty Wilderness, mirrored film drapes between palm trunks, turning pathways into shimmering corridors of reflection. As visitors move, their bodies fracture into echoes; light and heat ripple across the surfaces until the grove resembles a body of water. Shono invites the viewer to step inside an illusion that questions the solidity of memory and belief, creating a gentle disorientation with a faint soundscape that rises and falls like breath, folding time so that yesterday feels present again.
The festival features works that embody the synergy of light and movement, including the expected kinetic pieces by these globally recognised artists, such as Rejane Cantoni (Brazil), whose work often involves large-scale, interactive installations – exemplified by Flying Carpet at Noor Riyadh – that directly engage the audience, transforming physical interaction into a luminous experience and Shun Ito (Tokyo, Japan), recognised for his mesmerising installations where movement and light converge to create structures that appear suspended or perpetually in motion, embodying the theme of kinetic energy and flow with Cosmic Birds.
Running until 6 December 2025, the festival is also an incubator for long-term artistic development. Curator Sara Almutlaq highlights the festival’s deep impact as she notes: “In ten years, we will witness the emergence of many artists.” This strategic investment is formalised by the Diriyah Art Futures museum, which offers 11-month residencies to nurture young, multidisciplinary artists. Through these comprehensive initiatives, Noor Riyadh is not merely a transient event, but a luminous manifesto for a city that is simultaneously honouring its past and fearlessly racing toward a vibrant, creative future.