AlUla Arts Festival 2026: Art, Events & What Awaits

From DUBAI, I’ve followed many global art fairs, but AlUla Arts Festival 2026 feels different as a fifth anniversary edition rooted in Saudi Arabia. Running from Jan. 16 to Feb. 14, 2026, this month-long program transforms AlUla, an oasis city, into a space for contemporary art, design, performance, and immersive experiences.

Desert X AlUla: Art in the Open

Desert X AlUla, now in its fourth edition, runs Jan. 16 to Feb. 28 as an open-air exhibition across the desert. I’ve seen previews of all 10 newly commissioned works, including site-specific works by Saudi artists and international artists, shaped by the vast silence of AlUla.

Space Without Measure: Meaning and Scale

The theme Space Without Measure draws from poetry by Kahlil Gibran, blending artworks with the AlUla landscape. Curated through ideas of imagination, scale, humanity, and our relationship with place, voices like Zoé Whitley and Wejdan Reda give the vision real depth.

Museums, Design, and Creative Exchange

A pre-opening program at the AlUla contemporary art museum highlights collaboration with Centre Pompidou, AFALULA, and Arduna under Our Land on Feb. 1. With more than 80 artworks from the Royal Commission for AlUla collection and Musee National d’Art Moderne, names like Kandinsky and Picasso sit beside design at center stage, including the largest program, AlUla Design Exhibition, Design Space AlUla, AlUla Artists Residency Program, AlUla Design Award, retail collections, and local artisans.

Music, Film, and the City After Dark

The AlUla Music Hub runs Nov. 1 to Jan. 31 with concerts, Arabic music, fusion, vocal performances, and jazz performances at ATHR Gallery, featuring Saudi contemporary artist Sara Abdu. Nights continue at Cinema Al-Jadidah, an open-air cinema for art-themed documentaries, shorts, and feature films, plus live music, immersive performances, film screenings, workshops, and public art installations across Al-Jadidah Arts District, Villa Hegra, and Wadi Al-Fann.