Arts AlUla announced in a statement that the Arduna exhibition opened to the public on February 1 2026 as part of the fifth edition of the AlUla Arts Festival and will run through April 15. The show which translates to ‘our land’ in Arabic brings together more than 80 works from the Royal Commission for AlUla collection and loans from the Musée National d’Art Moderne at Centre Pompidou with support from the French Agency for AlUla Development. It offers an early look at the curatorial direction of AlUla’s forthcoming contemporary art museum rooted in the region’s heritage and landscape.
The exhibition draws inspiration from AlUla’s history as an oasis for traders and a place of tranquility reimagining it as a verdant garden in the desert according to the press release on experiencealula.com. Curators Ftoon AlThaedi and Candida Pestana from the Royal Commission for AlUla worked with Anna Hiddleston and Noémie Fillon from Centre Pompidou to organise the display into six thematic chapters. These sections examine humanity’s relationship with nature addressing real and imagined manifestations across gardens forests deserts and cosmic reflections.
Masterpieces by Pablo Picasso David Hockney Wassily Kandinsky and Joan Mitchell appear alongside contemporary pieces by Saudi artists Manal AlDowayan and Ayman Zedani as well as regional figures including Imran Qureshi Samia Halaby and Etel Adnan the statement said. New commissions created during the AlUla Artists Residency Program include works by Ayman Zedani and Tarek Atoui while additional commissions come from Dana Awartani Tavares Strachan and Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil. The display incorporates pieces on loan from international collections to complement locally held works.
The AlUla Arts Festival ran from January 16 to February 14 2026 incorporating the Arduna exhibition alongside Desert X AlUla and Design Space AlUla programming. Festival visitor numbers have increased from 19,000 in the 2022 edition to more than 70,000 in 2025 according to the Royal Commission for AlUla. A later report placed participation in the 2026 festival above 45,000 with more than 120 artworks by over 70 artists from 35 countries presented across multiple sites.
AlUla welcomed more than 318,000 visitors throughout 2025 exceeding its target of 290,000 the commission’s data showed. The arts programming forms one element of efforts to position the destination as a year-round cultural hub blending heritage with contemporary offerings. The exhibition remained open to visitors Wednesday through Sunday with extended hours on weekends and adjusted timings during Ramadan.
The Royal Commission for AlUla has developed multiple cultural assets including the AlJadidah Arts District and Wadi AlFann as part of its long-term vision. Arduna serves as a foundational exhibition that highlights both modern and contemporary responses to the themes of land memory and environment. Details on opening hours and booking are available through the Experience AlUla platform.
