4th Ithra Art Prize winner to be announced Monday

The King Abdul Aziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) announced the fourth Ithra Art Prize winner will be announced Monday as the top prize will be $100,000.

The Ithra Art Prize is presented in partnership with the Ad-Diriyah Biennale Foundation as the winning submission will be unveiled at the inaugural Ad-Diriyah Biennale, the Kingdom’s first biennale.

Entries were open to all Saudi and Saudi-based contemporary artists, as well as artists from or based in the 22 Arab League countries. A jury of local and international leaders in the art world will evaluate the proposals and decide the winner.

Since its inception, the Ad-Diriyah Biennale Foundation has contributed with Ithra in bringing the program — first launched in 2017 — back to the Kingdom after being held abroad for three years. The Ithra Art Prize aims to develop the art industry in Saudi Arabia and beyond through interaction between different cultures.

The foundation will hold the Ad-Diriyah Biennale of Contemporary Art 2021 and the Islamic Arts Biennale 2022 annually to promote diversity. It aims to create more space for Saudi artists from

different creative directions while allowing them to showcase their work and interact with international artists.

The biennale is a creative platform that allows international audiences access to diverse worldclass Saudi art and culture. It will be held between Dec. 7 and March 7, 2022 under the curatorship of writer and critic Philip Tinari.

UAE-based Saudi artist Ayman Zeidani’s project “Meem,” won the inaugural edition of the Ithra Art Prize in 2018. The second winner, in 2019, was Dania Al-Saleh’s “Sawtam,” which breaks down language into phonemes using multimedia visual and auditory displays. Most recently, Fahad Bin Naif won the 2020 prize for his artwork “Rakhm,” which evokes agricultural nurseries in the Kingdom and incubates indigenous vegetation instead of traditional house plants.

All winning artworks were displayed at Art Dubai.