light festival noor riyadh illuminates city with interactive installations 'in the blink of an eye'

noor riyadh returns from 20 November to 6 December

In Riyadh, creativity is reshaping the very fabric of the city as Noor Riyadh, the world’s largest festival of light and art and part of the Riyadh Art program, is transforming the Saudi capital from 20 November to 6 December. Curated under the theme ‘In the Blink of an Eye,’ the fifth edition of the festival captures Riyadh’s rapid urban transformation through over 60 large-scale, light-based installations by both local and international artists. 

Before the main lights of Riyadh come alive, Noor Riyadh joins forces with the Fondazione Querini Stampalia to present a capsule exhibition in Venice from October 19 to November 23, 2025. Installed within the iconic Carlo Scarpa-designed spaces, the show offers international audiences an early glimpse of Noor Riyadh 2025, underscoring the enduring dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Italy.

globally recognized as the largest light art festival in the world, Noor Riyadh 2025 returns from November 20 to December 6 (PALACE OF LIGHT by Robert Wilson, created for Noor Riyadh 2021 at the At-Turaif World Heritage Site | all images courtesy of Riyadh Art

the light festival spreads across riyadh

Since its launch in 2021, Noor Riyadh has attracted over nine million visitors and evolved into one of the world’s most ambitious public art platforms. Each year, the festival invites artists from across the globe to craft site-specific installations and immersive experiences that reimagine Riyadh’s public spaces, from parks and plazas to bridges and transit corridors.

The 2025 edition is curated by Mami Kataoka (Curatorial Advisory Lead), Sara Almutlaq (Curator), and Li Zhenhua (Curator). Their curatorial approach embraces kinetic sculpture, interactive environments, and technology-driven works to reflect the movement and energy of the city. During these days, walkways glow underfoot, while towering kinetic sculptures rotate and shimmer, mirroring the rhythms of daily life and the city’s swift evolution.

under the theme ‘In the Blink of an Eye,’ this edition celebrates Riyadh’s pace of transformation (Earth by SpY, Noor Riyadh 2022)

from the metro to the center in the blink of an eye

The theme, ‘In the Blink of an Eye,’ reflects Riyadh’s astonishing pace of growth and transformation – at light speed. The festival’s artworks bridge the past and present, connecting history to a futuristic infrastructure. In the historic core, installations illuminate centuries-old landmarks, inviting reflection on memory and place. Meanwhile, Riyadh Metro stations act as cultural nodes, hosting large-scale works that visualize the rhythm of daily life in the city. Through these experiences, light becomes a vehicle for storytelling, tracing movement, connection, and the dynamic evolution of a modern metropolis.

With each edition of Noor Riyadh, we witness how light becomes more than a medium – it becomes a mirror of the city’s transformation. “In the Blink of an Eye” captures the pace at which Riyadh is evolving, not just physically, but culturally. This festival is about more than illuminating spaces; it’s about connecting people, stories, and ideas across time and place. It reflects our ambition to make creativity a lived experience for all,’ says Nouf Almoneef, Director, Noor Riyadh.

the festival offers a visual journey that links the city’s historical past with its bold, technological future (Submergence by Squidsoup, Noor Riyadh 2021)

As a preview to the main program, Noor Riyadh extends its reach to Europe with a capsule exhibition at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice, running October 19–November 23, 2025. Set within the iconic spaces designed by Carlo Scarpa, the presentation introduces international audiences to the festival’s forthcoming theme and curatorial vision featuring four artists also participating in Noor Riyadh 2025.

Ayoung Kim highlights the Riyadh Metro as both infrastructure and cultural platform; Wang Yuyang explores Riyadh’s illuminated technological development; Abdelrahman Elshahed bridges Venice and Riyadh through calligraphy; and a tribute to the late Safeya Binzagr (1940–2024) introduces Italian audiences to one of Saudi Arabia’s pioneering modernists.

Noor Riyadh extends its reach to Europe at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice set within the iconic spaces designed by Carlo Scarpa

The festival is part of the broader Riyadh Art program, one of the city’s four mega projects launched under the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which aims to embed creativity into the everyday life of the capital. To date, Riyadh Art has brought together more than 500 artists and delivered over 6,500 community engagement activities, contributing to a growing collection of public artworks across the city.

Notably, the Riyadh Art Collection includes major works by artists like Alexander Calder, Jeff Koons, and Robert Indiana, whose sculptures are now iconic landmarks at metro stations and city squares. Additionally, new commissions like ‘Echoes of Land’ by Davide Rivalta invite urban communities to re-engage with nature through public bronze forms in Riyadh’s parks. These installations form part of a long-term vision: to make art accessible, participatory, and integrated into everyday life.

the festival unfolds across two distinct yet interconnected narratives (Earthtime 1.26 Riyadh by Janet Echelman, Noor Riyadh 2023. )

In 2026, the narrative shifts from light to material in Tuwaiq Sculpture, returning under the theme ‘Traces of What Will Be.’ Set within Riyadh’s Tahlia District, once home to the city’s first desalination plant, the symposium transforms an industrial landscape into a creative workshop. The program allows visitors to observe sculptors working live, chiseling, welding, and shaping works from local stone and reclaimed metal.

These materials, chosen for their embedded histories, link geological time with industrial memory. The resulting sculptures are being permanently installed across key districts, including Qasr Al-Hukm, forming a dispersed museum that maps Riyadh’s evolution in stone and steel. 

through the festival, light becomes both medium and metaphor (Future Herbarium by Laurent Grasso, Noor Riyadh 2023)

kinetic sculptures and interactive environments trace the movement of people, visualize connectivity, and reflect Riyadh’s dynamic evolution (Infinity Mirror Room—Brilliance of the Souls by Yayoi Kusama, Noor Riyadh 2021)

walkways glow underfoot, while towering installations rotate and shimmer (Submergence by Squidsoup, Noor Riyadh 2021.)

Noor Riyadh invites residents and visitors to experience the capital in a new, illuminated dimension (Ghosts of Today and Tomorrow by Ahaad Alamoudi, Noor Riyadh 2022)

project info:

name: Noor Riyadh 2025 | @noorriyadhfestival

organization: Riyadh Art

curation: Mami Kataoka, Li Zhenhua, and Sara Almutlaq

dates: 20 November – 6 December, 2025

location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia