Latest news with #ManalAlDowayan
Arab News
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab News
Manal AlDowayan discusses taking her project ‘Thikra' on tour
BEIRUT: The contemporary dance performance 'Thikra,' designed by Saudi contemporary artist Manal AlDowayan and English dancer and choreographer Akram Khan, was orginally staged as a site-specific piece for the AlUla Arts Festival earlier this year. It has now been adapted and is currently touring Europe, with upcoming shows in Spain, Luxembourg, France, England, Italy and Germany. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @ AlDowayan admits that, through 'Thikra,' she's 'been bitten by the theater bug,' thanks to its collaborative process and live audience interaction. It has become an exciting new space for her creative expression. 'I don't (normally) have an audience experience,' Al Dowayan tells Arab News. 'In the theater world… you bow and they clap and there's a standing ovation… the curtain goes down and the clapping doesn't stop.' At the heart of 'Thikra' — and AlDowayan's broader creative mission — is the act of storytelling, especially as a tool for cultural preservation. 'My work is a narrative biography of who I am and the experiences I've faced moving through this world,' AlDowayan tells Arab News. 'We were sitting around a lone bush in the desert and I thought: 'This is it. This is the location (in which to set 'Thikra'),'' she recalls. '(The show is set in) a circle, inspired by how we sit around fires and tell oral histories.' For AlDowayan, storytelling holds particular weight for women, whose voices have historically been marginalized. She strives to resurrect narratives that have been silenced or erased. 'It started from feminist thinking — women's presence in public spaces and the idea of erasure: your name, your identity,' she says. AlDowayan says she is eager to further explore theater as a medium for her work. 'Using the human body as a conduit of expressing a creative idea… that's deeply inspiring for me,' she says. And her interest in performance as an artform is not just about creative growth; it's also about redefining cultural narratives. 'I don't think Saudi Arabia — or artists and creatives from Saudi Arabia — should be excluded from the global language of creativity,' AlDowayan concludes.
Gulf Insider
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf Insider
‘Art of the Kingdom' Exhibition Opens in Beijing July 30
The Museums Commission announced that the traveling exhibition 'Art of the Kingdom: Poetic Visions' will open at the National Museum of China in Beijing on July 30, marking a cultural milestone in celebration of Saudi Arabia and China's diplomatic ties under the 'Saudi-Chinese Cultural Year 2025' initiative. This exhibition is the first of its scale to showcase contemporary Saudi artists abroad and features more than 30 artists of diverse backgrounds and styles. It offers a platform to explore bold themes such as identity, memory, tradition, and transformation — through painting, installation, video art, and multimedia works — presenting a powerful portrait of Saudi Arabia's evolving creative landscape. The show follows previous stops in Rio de Janeiro (November 2024) at the historic Imperial Palace and Riyadh (early 2025) at the Saudi Museum of Contemporary Art in JAX. Its arrival in Beijing marks the third leg of its international tour. Among the featured artists are renowned names such as Manal AlDowayan, Muhannad Shono, Lina Qazzaz, Ahmed Mater, Ayman Yossri Daydban, Dana Awartani, and Shadia Alem, offering visitors an in-depth journey through Saudi Arabia's visual culture and artistic narratives. The Beijing edition also includes a new section honoring Saudi modern art pioneers from the 1960s to 1980s, alongside curated selections from the Saudi Ministry of Culture's collection. Focusing on the desert and cultural heritage as its twin themes, the exhibition invites audiences to engage with the region's evolving visual identity while sparking dialogue on contemporary Saudi life. The exhibition exemplifies how cultural diplomacy can strengthen mutual understanding between nations. It also reflects Saudi Arabia's ongoing cultural transformation and international outreach as Saudi artists increasingly gain visibility on the global stage. Also read: Commerce Ministry Names Violator for Selling Non-compliant Electrical Products in Khamis Mushait
Saudi Gazette
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Saudi Gazette
‘Art of the Kingdom' exhibition to open in Beijing's National Museum on July 30
Saudi Gazette report RIYADH — The Museums Commission announced that the traveling exhibition 'Art of the Kingdom: Poetic Visions' will open at the National Museum of China in Beijing on July 30, marking a cultural milestone in celebration of Saudi Arabia and China's diplomatic ties under the "Saudi-Chinese Cultural Year 2025" initiative. This exhibition is the first of its scale to showcase contemporary Saudi artists abroad and features more than 30 artists of diverse backgrounds and styles. It offers a platform to explore bold themes such as identity, memory, tradition, and transformation — through painting, installation, video art, and multimedia works — presenting a powerful portrait of Saudi Arabia's evolving creative landscape. The show follows previous stops in Rio de Janeiro (November 2024) at the historic Imperial Palace and Riyadh (early 2025) at the Saudi Museum of Contemporary Art in JAX. Its arrival in Beijing marks the third leg of its international tour. Among the featured artists are renowned names such as Manal AlDowayan, Muhannad Shono, Lina Qazzaz, Ahmed Mater, Ayman Yossri Daydban, Dana Awartani, and Shadia Alem, offering visitors an in-depth journey through Saudi Arabia's visual culture and artistic narratives. The Beijing edition also includes a new section honoring Saudi modern art pioneers from the 1960s to 1980s, alongside curated selections from the Saudi Ministry of Culture's collection. Focusing on the desert and cultural heritage as its twin themes, the exhibition invites audiences to engage with the region's evolving visual identity while sparking dialogue on contemporary Saudi life. The exhibition exemplifies how cultural diplomacy can strengthen mutual understanding between nations. It also reflects Saudi Arabia's ongoing cultural transformation and international outreach as Saudi artists increasingly gain visibility on the global stage.
Arab News
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab News
Saudi contemporary artist Manal AlDowayan discusses collaborative performance piece
RIYADH: Saudi contemporary artist Manal AlDowayan unveiled her latest work, 'Thikra: Night of Remembering' at the AlUla Arts Festival in late January. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @ The site-specific dance piece, designed by AlDowayan in collaboration with renowned English dancer and choreographer Akram Khan — who is of Bangladeshi descent — and residents and artisans from AlUla, was one of the festival's main highlights. It will now go on to be adapted for various theaters around the world. AlDowayan told Arab News: 'The fact that it's a fictional story, not tied to a specific time or civilization — it could be none or all at once — makes it something people can easily connect with. There's a mix of cultures, stories, symbols, and rhythms. Of course, the AlUla landscape had a big influence, along with the collaboration with local musicians, dance elements, crafts, and symbols, but there are also essential elements from other cultures around the world, especially traditional Indian dance reimagined through Akram's performance, and sound elements from various cultures and even from nature.' Over the past few years, AlDowayan has gravitated towards exploring the idea of 'othering' in her practice. As she has become more well-known internationally, she says, she's looking to open up conversations to bridge cultures. And she is no stranger to responding to AlUla's landscape in her work: she's showcased in the historic city as part of Desert X with her artwork 'Now You See Me, Now You Don't,' and staged a show titled 'Their Love is Like All Loves, Their Death is Like All Deaths,' and a participatory exhibition titled 'Oasis of Stories: Manal AlDowayan and the People of AlUla' with over 1,000 community participants for Wadi AlFann. 'Thikra' was inspired by, among other things, AlDowayan's memories of gathering around a campfire under the starlit sky to tell stories. The performance took place on a circular stage between cliffs. 'The audience sits around on traditional Sadu weaving carpets, occupying one half of the circle, while the community occupies the other. In the center, the dancers perform a story about ancestral knowledge,' AlDowayan said. The dance pays homage to the long line of civilizations that have inhabited the land around AlUla over centuries, as evidenced by the symbols engraved on rock formations and its varied architecture. 'I incorporated some of these symbols into the costumes and props to represent the overlapping of different timeframes and the coexistence of rituals and traditions,' AlDowayan explained. She based the color pallet of the fabric on the tones of the surrounding landscape and culture; the sandy beige, the red-brown of henna, the pink rocks, night black, and the green of small plants that 'emerge between the sand, almost as an act of resistance,' she said. AlDowayan worked with the Madrasat Addeera School of Arts and Crafts to produce local, natural pigments for the fabric, adding to her longstanding tradition of collaborating with local artisans. The collaboration with Madrasat Addeera had two main aspects: design and fabrication. In a participatory workshop with the students, she presented her vision for the visual direction, portrayals of different characters, and her incorporation of local symbology and storytelling in the project. She was also keen to represent the community directly on stage through their designs. She said: 'I encouraged them to work with these symbols — ones deeply present in their daily lives and crafts — and together we brainstormed the designs. Their input and self-representation was an essential aspect to me. 'They created more than 50 flag designs, incorporating traditional techniques such as palm weaving, Sadu, embroidery, and clay. The results were incredibly creative and beautiful. I selected a set of designs and slightly reworked them to fit the overall vision.' Her studio then commissioned the school to make the flags. 'Many of the school's studios and senior crafters worked together to bring them to life,' AlDowayan said. 'I am honored to bring to the global stage not only local stories, but also their own traditional crafts.' Members of the community then paraded these flags as part of the performance. AlDowayan described working with Khan as a 'gift,' saying: 'I have followed and admired his work for a long time. So when I received the invitation to collaborate with him, I was thrilled — but I also wondered how open the creative process would be. 'From our first research visit to AlUla, the creative connection between us was instant. We immediately understood each other's vision and actively collaborated on all aspects of the performance with openness and trust, I think because we both admire each other's work.' Forty local participants of all ages volunteered via open call to work with Khan's legacy team Jumana Al-Refai and Bilal Allaf, who led community movement workshops. They eventually became part of the performance. The narrative of the show is 'based on the idea that without a past, there is no future. It's a call for remembrance, told through the story of a community of women and how they preserve and pass down ancestral knowledge,' AlDowayan said. 'This is something I first realized during my early visits to AlUla. My education ignored the ancient civilizations of this region, and when these historical sites were finally opened to the public, I was suddenly exposed to all this knowledge through the architecture and rock inscriptions. It was incredibly inspiring to learn that we have deep roots and to discover the traditions, symbols, and way of life of those who came before us.'
