Open Call Diriyah Art Futures Residency

Oct. 22, 2024

Diriyah Art Futures (DAF) has announced a call for applications to its inaugural Mazra’ah Media Art Residency for experienced artists and scholars working in New Media and Digital Arts. From February to April 2025, the three-month residency offers participants access to studios and production labs, as well as a production budget. Work developed during the residency will be showcased in exhibitions or academic publications. DAF provides accommodation and networking opportunities with peers and professionals from across Saudi Arabia and the world.

DAF is dedicated to interdisciplinary creative practices at the intersection of art, science and technology. Located in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Diriyah, the 6,550-square-meter hub, designed by Schiattarella Associati, serves as a school, laboratory and exhibition space. During their creative and scholarly retreat at DAF’s location, which overlooks the farms and archaeological sites of Diriyah, residents are encouraged to explore new ideas on how the relationship between humans, nature and technology can sustain and enrich life.

Diriyah Art Futures

Proposals for the 2025 residency should respond to the program’s theme, ‘High-Resolution Dreams of Sand,’ and reflect on the bridge between history and the future, human beings’ relationship with nature and technology, and the context of DAF’s location near Diriyah’s farms. Of particular interest are projects that relate to contemporary issues, regional interests and global narratives, especially those emerging from the MENA region and the Global Majority.

DAF welcomes applications from across the world and encourages participation from the MENA region. Applicants for the artist track should be established, practicing New Media and Digital artists working across sound and visual media, utilizing computational, biological, scientific or technology-related methodologies. For the scholar track, DAF invites applications from established writers, scholars and theorists specializing in New Media and Digital Art or in the intersection of technology and culture.

Artists and scholars should submit a detailed proposal indicating their intentions for the residency by January 20th, 2025.