Alāan Artspace—alāan means “now” in Arabic—has opened in Riyadh. The Saudi capital’s first curated space for contemporary art and design is the project of director Neama A. Alsudairy, an artist and collector, and her brother, Mohammed, who oversees the center’s entrepreneurial side. Citing the region’s paucity of cultural institutions that support contemporary creativity, Alsudairy envisions a gathering place “for Saudi nationals, locally based expatriates, and art lovers across the region and internationally.” Alāan Artspace offers a gallery, reference library, bookshop, restaurant, café, and facilities for an ambitious education program, with space for workshops, panels, and seminars—all aimed at forging an enlightened art community. The shop will sell pieces commissioned from the region’s designers.
The inaugural exhibition, “SoftPower” (through December 10), organized by Sara Raza, a curator and critic based in London, features emerging artists Sarah Mohanna Al-Abdali and Sarah Abu Abdallah and the widely exhibited Manal Al Dowayan. Though the three participants are women, Alsudairy deflects a feminist reading of the show, saying that the intent is “to showcase Saudi artists and to explore interactions between daily life and identity.” Subsequent exhibitions at the center will examine art from the rest of the Middle East and North Africa.
A version of this article appeared in the October 2012 issue of Art + Auction.