diriyah art futures launches emerging new media artists programme

DAF opens call for 2025/26 emerging new media artists programme

The Saudi institution invites emerging digital talents to experiment, collaborate and innovate. In the historic heart of Diriyah, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the edge of Riyadh, a quiet revolution in art and technology is taking place. Diriyah Art Futures (DAF), the first institution in the MENA region dedicated to New Media and Digital Arts, has announced its second international open call for the Emerging New Media Artists Programme. The initiative, launching in October 2025, invites participation from digital artists and scholars through upcoming public activities, educational programming, artistic and research residencies and grant opportunities.

Diriyah Art Futures (DAF) announces its second international open call for the Emerging New Media Artists Programme | all images courtesy of Diriyah Art Futures

the one-year programme includes personal mentorship

Founded by the Saudi Ministry of Culture, Diriyah Art Futures exists at the nexus of interdisciplinary exploration, where art, science, and technology collide to form new cultural perspectives. As Saudi Arabia invests in cultural innovation, DAF represents a pivotal move toward establishing the region as a custodian of heritage as well as a leading force in future-facing creative practices. Through the platform, local roots meet international reach, and young artists are given the opportunity to grow both conceptually and materially.

The Emerging New Media Artists Programme is meticulously designed to foster radical artistic development. It targets artists under the age of 35 who have a foundation in digital or new media practices and who are poised to evolve their work within a conceptual and technical framework. Over the course of twelve months, selected participants receive full institutional support, including a production budget, access to a suite of advanced technology labs, and personal mentorship from a global network of leading artists and theorists. The programme, developed in collaboration with Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporains in France, builds on a pedagogical model that balances theoretical immersion with hands-on making, allowing participants to research, prototype, and produce significant new work.

the initiative launches in October 2025

exploring the role of art with lectures, seminars and screenings

Set in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Diriyah, DAF reflects the Ministry of Culture’s commitment to preserving the country’s unique heritage while playing a pioneering role in developing and leading new art practices that will shape the future of art and humanity. From the outset, the programme immerses artists in three months of intensive conceptual inquiry. This phase—offered through lectures, seminars, screenings, and group critique—asks fundamental questions about the role of art in the face of ecological collapse, technological acceleration, and social transformation.

Participants are invited to interrogate systems and narratives, explore personal and political histories, and speculate on alternate futures. The topics under consideration are broad but deeply relevant, including the blurred lines between reality and artificial systems, the Anthropocene and human-nonhuman entanglements, the dissolution of identity in the post-internet era, and the rise of AI-generated creativity. These sessions are not treated as didactic modules, but rather as open fields of exploration, where artists are encouraged to cross disciplinary boundaries and formulate unique lines of inquiry.

the programme immerses artists in three months of intensive conceptual inquiry

As the year progresses, the programme transitions into its production phase, in which each artist begins to develop and fabricate their own major project. Here, the conceptual threads of earlier sessions are brought into dialogue with cutting-edge technologies housed within DAF’s purpose-built facilities. Artists work across platforms, from immersive virtual environments to generative audio, sensor-based installations to machine learning interfaces. They are supported throughout by a tailored mentorship model that pairs them with established figures in their chosen field. This close mentorship relationship is central to the programme’s ethos: the idea that bold creative leaps happen most fruitfully in environments of rigorous conversation and critical trust.

DAF’s infrastructure is purposefully designed to accommodate diverse artistic practices. The facilities include high-spec laboratories for spatial audiovisual experimentation, immersive simulation spaces, coding and interaction design environments, and advanced digital fabrication tools. Artists have the opportunity to test the limits of these systems, but also to question them—probing how tools shape aesthetics, politics, and meaning. The aim is not to teach technology as an end in itself, but to use it as a lens for thinking through urgent cultural, social, and ecological conditions.

as the year progresses, the programme transitions into its production phase, in which each artist begins to develop and fabricate their own major project

The final months of the programme are devoted to scenography, refinement, and public presentation. Each artist’s project is curated into a public exhibition held at DAF, which serves as both a culmination of the year and a point of departure for wider visibility. The exhibition is juried, offering professional feedback and positioning participants within an international critical context. But perhaps more importantly, it functions as a meeting point—between artist and audience, form and theory, idea and impact.

What sets this programme apart is its intellectual ambition and its emphasis on creating conditions for deep artistic inquiry. It resists fast-paced production models in favor of depth, dialogue and process. It prioritizes local engagement while remaining unapologetically global in its perspective. Throughout the year, visiting artists, curators and scholars will contribute to an evolving ecosystem of exchange—ensuring that participants are not only receiving but also shaping the conversations around contemporary digital art.

the final months of the programme are devoted to scenography, refinement, and public presentation

what sets this programme apart is its intellectual ambition and its emphasis on creating conditions for deep artistic inquiry

the aim is not to teach technology as an end in itself, but to use it as a lens for thinking through urgent cultural, social, and ecological conditions