Riyadh is gearing up to welcome a new gathering of sculptors as Tuwaiq Sculpture Symposium returns for its eighth edition in early 2027, inviting artists to explore the relationship between art, place, and cultural identity.
Riyadh Art, one of the Royal Commission for Riyadh City’s projects, has opened applications for the upcoming symposium, offering artists a vital platform to translate ideas and materials into sculptural works.
Curators Set the Artistic Direction
Artists in Saudi Arabia and worldwide can apply to take part in the symposium between October 18 and November 8, 2026.
The curators will select 20 participants to introduce sculptural works in Riyadh, with applicants required to have at least three years of professional experience in sculpture, exhibitions, and public art commissions.
Remarkably, the symposium’s artistic direction will be shaped by a curatorial team whose expertise spans contemporary art, cultural strategy, and artistic research.
British art curator and producer Aldo Rinaldi, British-Italian curator, artistic director, and cultural strategist Auronda Scalera, and Saudi artist, researcher, academic, and art curator Dr. Soha Al-Zaid will jointly define the edition’s artistic vision and select the participating artists.
Their diverse professional backgrounds bring different perspectives to the interpretation of the symposium’s central themes.
What Does It Mean to Reinterpret Cultural Roots?
Through the themes of land, memory, and culture, the symposium deeply explores how the identity of a place is formed, preserved, and transformed over time.
Its concept, therefore, treats roots not as boundaries defined by the past but as foundations for creative reinterpretation.
In this sense, sculpture offers a medium through which artists can examine how inherited meanings coexist with change and contribute to new visions of place.
Saudi Stone Takes Center Stage
More vividly, the symposium’s material palette will provide another dimension to its exploration of place and cultural identity.
Granite, metals, decorative breeze blocks, mosaics, as well as cement will form part of the approved artistic and production framework, offering participants an exceptional range of textures and structural possibilities.
For artists working with stone, access to Saudi-sourced varieties in Royal Gold, Green, and Royal Pink, alongside black basalt, will create exclusive opportunities to reinterpret locally available resources through contemporary sculptural techniques.
Artists interested in participating in the 2027 edition can find application guidelines and further details on the Riyadh Art website and the symposium’s dedicated page.
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