Muhannad Shono: ‘This work is fragile. It is not here forever’ 

Muhannad Shono: ‘This work is fragile. It is not here forever’ 
Muhannad Shono at his Desert X 2025 installation What Remains. (Photo courtesy RCU and Desert X)
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Updated 22 March 2025
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Muhannad Shono: ‘This work is fragile. It is not here forever’ 

Muhannad Shono: ‘This work is fragile. It is not here forever’ 
  • The Saudi artist is the sole representative from the Middle East at this year’s Desert X in California

RIYADH: Saudi contemporary artist Muhannad Shono is the sole representative of the Middle East at this year’s Desert X — the site-specific international art exhibition in California’s Coachella Valley — which runs until May 11.  

Shono’s piece, entitled “What Remains,” consists of 60 long strips of locally-sourced synthetic fabric infused with native sand. 

“The fabric strips, orientated to align with the prevailing winds, follow the contours of the ground, fibrillating just above its surface,” a description of the work on the Desert X website reads. “As the wind direction shifts, the natural process of aeolian transportation that forms dunes is interrupted, causing the fabric to tangle and form chaotic bundles. In this way, the ground itself becomes mutable — a restlessly changing relic or memory.” 




Desert X 2025 installation view of Muhannad Shono, What Remains. (Photo by Lance Gerber, courtesy Desert X)

This isn’t the first time Shono has created a large-scale installation in the desert. At Desert X AlUla in 2020, he presented “The Lost Path,” composed of 65,000 black plastic tubes snaking through the Saudi desert — a work exploring themes of transformation, memory and impermanence. And while “What Remains” is an entirely separate piece of art, it also delves into those topics, as has much of Shono’s work over the past decade. 

“I’m first-generation Saudi,” Shono tells Arab News. “A year after I was born, I was given the nationality. For half of my life, I didn’t feel Saudi. I’d say Saudi was an authentic space that had specific motifs and cultural narratives that we were very disconnected from as a family. Why? Because we’re immigrants; my father is not Saudi, and my mom is not Saudi.  

“But now I think the narrative of what is ‘Saudi’ is changing,” he continues. “And it feels like it’s part of this correction.” 




Desert X 2025 installation view of Muhannad Shono, What Remains. (Photo by Lance Gerber, courtesy Desert X)

A feeling of not belonging was apparent in Shono’s early artistic endeavors. He loved comic books and wanted to create his own because he couldn’t find a true representation of himself in them. 

“Saudis expect you to produce a figure they can relate to — with Saudi features or skin color — but I didn’t think they could relate to me,” he says. “I was more referencing myself, and what I thought ‘home’ looked like, or the ‘hero’ looked like, so there was a disconnect there.” 

That disconnect continues to manifest in his work. “You can see it in Desert X and in a lot of my other projects tapping into materiality. I realized I couldn’t really fully connect with the materiality of the narrative of being Saudi. 

“An interesting psychological thing that I haven’t really come to grips with is that I’m more comfortable doing work in Saudi because I’m responding to this natural source material,” he continues. “I’m disrupting — I’m offering divergence, narratives that can spill out from that experience of the work. I’m invested in the narrative of what’s happening (in Saudi). I think it’s the closest I’ve felt to being ‘at home.’ Something that I was missing in the beginning was being connected to the narrative of the place, because if you engage with that narrative, you can call it home. 




Desert X 2025 installation view of Muhannad Shono, What Remains. (Photo by Lance Gerber, courtesy Desert X)

“When I go to California, I miss the landscape (of Saudi) that I’m contrasting. In California, it’s not juxtaposed against the experience of growing up. I’m still figuring out how to take these feelings and be able to show work overseas, because my backdrop is missing — the backdrop of Saudi.” 

His early interest in comic books, he says, was partly down to “being able to create the world, the space, the setting for the story.” That was also a reason he decided to study architecture at university.  

“I felt like it was creative problem solving,” he says. “A lot of my projects that I did in college were in ‘world making.’ My graduation project ended up being the creation of a whole city, and how it would grow on a random landscape. I got kind of caught up in the urban planning of it — the streets, and the rivers flowing through it. I never really got to the architectural part of designing a building.” 

But that willingness to explore ideas in ways others might not has made Shono one of the Kingdom’s most compelling contemporary artists. “I’ve created my own kind of material palette, or language, or library, that I use,” he says. 

In his current work, “The land is holding the narrative on this adventure within the seemingly barren landscape,” he explains. “These land fabrics become this idea of being able to roll up, carry and unroll ideas of belonging: What is home? How do we carry home?” 




Desert X AlUla 2020 installation view of Muhannad Shono, The Lost Path. (Photo by Lance Gerber, courtesy the artist, RCU, and Desert X)

Shono and the team who helped him install “What Remains” had to “constantly adapt expectations” based on understanding the land and the environmental conditions, he says. It took them around a month, working seven or eight hours a day, to put it in place — flattening, aligning, and flipping fabric under Shono’s direction. His vision was clear, but he also allowed instinct to guide him.  

“This work is fragile,” he says. “It’s an expression that is not here forever… that will change. And my ideas will change, the way I think about stories and concepts through my work. It’s important to change.” 

With “What Remains,” he is offering that same opportunity to viewers. He wonders: “What portals will you pass through, through this unrolling of the earth in front of you?” 

And change is a vital part of the work itself. “They’re always different,” Shono says of the fabric strips. “At some points, they’re opaque and earth-like — almost like a rock. But when the wind picks up, they become lightweight — like sails — and they animate and come to life. And when the light hits as they move through the sky, they reveal their translucency and there’s this projection of the trees and bushes and nature that they’re almost wrapped around or sailing past.” 

Although the “What Remains” seen by Desert X visitors on any particular day will not be the same “What Remains” seen by visitors on any other day, or even any other hour, one part of it, at least, is constant.  

“The work is a self-portrait,” Shono says. “Always.”  


Irish band Kneecap say Palestine statements ‘aren’t aggressive, murdering children is’

Irish band Kneecap say Palestine statements ‘aren’t aggressive, murdering children is’
Updated 23 April 2025
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Irish band Kneecap say Palestine statements ‘aren’t aggressive, murdering children is’

Irish band Kneecap say Palestine statements ‘aren’t aggressive, murdering children is’
  • Kneecap concluded performance at Coachella music festival by projecting 3 screens of pro-Palestinian messages
  • Sharon Osbourne, a TV presenter, said group’s performance included ‘projections of anti-Israel messages’

LONDON: Northern Irish rap group Kneecap responded to calls for their US visas to be revoked after they displayed messages during their performance at the Coachella festival in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Kneecap, consisting of Moglai Bap and Mo Chara from Belfast, along with DJ Provai from Derry, told BBC Northern Ireland on Wednesday that their “statements aren’t aggressive, murdering 20,000 children is though,” in reference to Israeli actions in Gaza since late 2023.

The band concluded their performance at Coachella’s California desert music festival last weekend by projecting three screens of pro-Palestinian messages.

The first text said: “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” followed by: “It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes,” while the final message said: “F*** Israel. Free Palestine.”

Since October 2023, Israeli military operations in Gaza have killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, while more than 100,000 others have been injured. On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages to Gaza.

The Irish band’s performance was not streamed on the festival’s official YouTube page, the BBC reported. During the performance, Mo Chara said: “The Irish not so long ago were persecuted at the hands of the Brits, but we were never bombed from the... skies with nowhere to go. The Palestinians have nowhere to go.”

During the second weekend of the Coachella festival, from April 17-19, the trio led the audience in chants of “free, free Palestine.”

The band is scheduled to perform at several shows in the US and Canada in the coming months. It said that almost all the concerts planned for their US tour in October have sold out.

Sharon Osbourne, a former judge on TV talent shows “The X Factor” and “America’s Got Talent,” urged US authorities to revoke Kneecap’s work visas following their performance at Coachella.

She said the band’s performance included “projections of anti-Israel messages and hate speech.

“As someone of both Irish Catholic on my mother’s side and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage on her father’s side, and extensive experience in the music industry, I understand the complexities involved,” she said.

“I urge you to join me in advocating for the revocation of Kneecap’s work visa,” Osbourne added.

Commentators on Fox News condemned and accused the group of bringing “Nazi” sentiments to America.

Kneecap criticized Fox News comments, sharing fans’ supportive messages and noting that they received thousands of endorsements compared to “hundreds of violent Zionist threats.”

US authorities have not commented on the case, and no actions have been taken regarding the band’s visas.


Scene Acting Institute holds its first workshop

Scene Acting Institute holds its first workshop
Updated 23 April 2025
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Scene Acting Institute holds its first workshop

Scene Acting Institute holds its first workshop
  • Led by renowned academic adviser Emily Tambour, the workshop saw the participation of notable Saudi actors, including Mila Al-Zahrani and Sarah Taibah
  • Institute plans to hold monthly workshops covering various acting techniques, each designed to enhance the skills and creativity of aspiring artists

DHAHRAN: The newly opened Scene Acting Institute in Alkhobar hosted its first workshop on April 22, focusing on the Meisner technique. 

Led by renowned academic adviser Emily Tambour, the workshop saw the participation of notable Saudi actors, including Mila Al-Zahrani and Sarah Taibah. 

The institute plans to hold monthly workshops covering various acting techniques, each designed to enhance the skills and creativity of aspiring artists.

Scene opened on April 18 with an event hosted by the Khobar Cinema Association.

The grand inauguration took place at Cinematheque in Alkhobar, attended by a diverse audience of cinema and theater enthusiasts eager to embrace a new era of artistic expression.

The opening ceremony featured artistic performances that captivated attendees, including three moving acting demonstrations accompanied by live music. 

An exhibition highlighting the history of acting was curated and presented by renowned Saudi actor Baraa Alem.

Mujtaba Saeed, the visionary Saudi film director and one of the founders of the Scene Acting Institute, described the launch as a groundbreaking moment for the Saudi art scene. 

“This institute signifies a response to the vibrant artistic renaissance currently taking place in our country,” he told Arab News. “With cinema and theater flourishing, we are proud to establish the first institute focused specifically on the art of acting.”

The institute’s curriculum has been meticulously crafted, drawing from both well-established acting techniques and Saudi cultural nuances. 

“Our programs are designed around an academic framework that incorporates both international acting approaches, such as Meisner and Stanislavski’s actor preparation, and our local traditions,” Saeed explained. 

“We envision this institute as a nurturing home for every passionate artist,” Saeed said. “Actors are the heart of our storytelling, bridging the gap between us, our scripts, and our aspirations.”

Saeed highlighted the need to redefine the relationship between actors and their audiences, aiming to enhance both cinema and theater with authentic voices that resonate with today’s society.

“Our institute aims to graduate a generation of actors who can express their unique stories and identities, contributing to a richer, more diverse artistic content in Saudi Arabia,” he said.

This initiative promises to make Saudi cinema and theater more accessible and relatable, both locally and worldwide.

As it embarks on this groundbreaking journey, the institute is setting the stage for a flourishing era of creativity and storytelling in the Kingdom.


Abu Dhabi gears up for 7th Culture Summit 

Abu Dhabi gears up for 7th Culture Summit 
Updated 23 April 2025
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Abu Dhabi gears up for 7th Culture Summit 

Abu Dhabi gears up for 7th Culture Summit 
  • 3-day program will feature keynote speeches, panel discussions, artist talks, and workshops
  • Impact of AI on the creative industries among wide range of topics to be discussed

DUBAI: The UAE capital is preparing to host the seventh edition of Culture Summit Abu Dhabi, a global forum for cultural exchange and dialogue, from April 27-29 at Manarat Al-Saadiyat. 

Organized by the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism, the three-day event will bring together policymakers, artists, scholars, and innovators to explore the theme “Culture for Humanity and Beyond,” focusing on the intersection of culture, technology and global governance.

The program will feature keynote speeches, panel discussions, artist talks, and workshops. 

Confirmed speakers include Mo Gawdat, former chief business officer at Google X; philosopher Susan Buck-Morss; Prof. Iyad Rahwan from the Max Planck Institute; and Glenn D. Lowry, director of MoMA.

Other prominent voices set to appear include Sir William Sargent of Framestore, and Koyo Kouoh, executive director and chief curator of Zeitz MOCAA.

The panels will explore a wide range of topics, including the impact of artificial intelligence on the creative industries.

Sessions such as “AI Revolution: Redefining Creativity in the Age of Machines,” “Should Governments Regulate AI to Compensate the Creative Industries?” and “The Double-Edged Sword of AI in Cinema” will address the growing role of generative technologies in reshaping artistic expression, intellectual property and creative labor.

The summit will also revisit cultural policy discussions, hosting the second edition of the Mondiacult Ministerial Dialogue. The two-part session will bring together more than 10 ministers of culture to explore the influence of AI on culture and the role of the arts in peacebuilding and sustainability. 

Another key session will examine the implementation of the UNESCO Framework for Culture and Arts Education, building on outcomes from a related global conference held in Abu Dhabi in early 2024.

Highlighting culture as a public good, the summit will include sessions on environmental sustainability, heritage preservation, and cultural governance. Sessions will include “Turning Green: What Happens When Cultural Leaders Take Action for the Planet” and “From Ruins to Resilience: A New Era of Heritage Rehabilitation.”

Creative voices such as Thomas Heatherwick, Colleen Atwood, Refik Anadol, and Herbie Hancock will participate in artist talks and panels. The program will also feature conversations between prominent figures, including philanthropist Maja Hoffmann, architect Hashim Sarkis, and director Sir John Akomfrah, as well as a session on jazz and humanity led by Hancock and journalist John Ridding.

Attendees will also be able to engage with the work of regional talents, including poet and artist Alia Al-Shamsi, designer Omar Al-Gurg, and architect Abdalla Almulla, offering insights into the UAE’s growing creative sector.

The event’s global partners include UNESCO, The Economist Impact, Design Museum, Google, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, and the Recording Academy. Additional collaborators range from regional institutions such as Louvre Abu Dhabi and Cultural Foundation to international cultural bodies such as Institut du Monde Arabe, TeamLab and the Herbie Hancock Jazz Institute.


REVIEW: ‘Andor’ proves yet again why it is best ‘Star Wars’ series

REVIEW: ‘Andor’ proves yet again why it is best ‘Star Wars’ series
Updated 23 April 2025
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REVIEW: ‘Andor’ proves yet again why it is best ‘Star Wars’ series

REVIEW: ‘Andor’ proves yet again why it is best ‘Star Wars’ series
  • Rather than big-picture heroics, ‘Andor’ looks at the minutiae
  • Tony Gilroy’s script could be ripped from real headlines today

DUBAI: In an era of recycled nostalgia and cookie-cutter franchise television, “Andor” has stood apart — an unflinching, cerebral, slow-burn rebellion against everything formulaic in “Star Wars.”

Its final season — the first three episodes are now available to stream on Disney+ — does not only stick the landing, it embeds itself in the emotional marrow of the galaxy far, far away, delivering arguably the most powerful conclusion to any “Star Wars” story to date.

Moving away from the big-picture heroics of the Jedi versus the evil Sith, “Andor” instead looks at the minutiae, immersing itself in the details of both sides of war: the cold machinery of oppression and the sacrificial cost of resistance.

Even as the rebellion reaches boiling point, audiences are treated to smaller, more personal moments.

There are the intricacies of a political wedding on Chandrila, a lunch scene involving an overbearing mother and her son’s new beau, and flashbacks to an adoptive father and his new daughter/mentee coming into their own.

The season especially spends time on the long-anticipated Ghorman Massacre, rendered in chilling, harrowing detail.

Fans have known about it in bits and pieces — a footnote in the birth of the Rebellion — but creator Tony Gilroy manages to turn it into a gut-punch, a brutal turning point that clarifies the stakes for the characters, and audience.

Written years before current political events, “Andor” feels eerily prescient. Its exploration of surveillance, radicalization, immigration, propaganda, and the erosion of civilian rights could be ripped from today’s headlines.

That is not accidental — Gilroy’s scripts are steeped in the rhythms of real revolutions, from the French Resistance and student revolts to modern authoritarian regimes.

The cast, once again, does a stellar job of bringing to life such a weighty script, involving significant time jumps and mounting stakes.

On the side of the resistance, we have Diego Luna (playing the titular Cassian Andor), Genevieve O’Reilly (Mon Mothma), Adria Arjona (Bix Caleen), Stellan Skarsgard (Luthen Rael) and Kleya (Elizabeth Dulau).

The imperial forces are represented by the excellent Denise Gough (playing imperial supervisor Dedra Meero) and Kyle Soller (Syril Karn), as well as Ben Mendelsohn, returning as Director Orson Krennic, a powerful Imperial official who reports directly to Emperor Palpatine.

With “Andor,” Gilroy and Luna have truly set the gold standard for what future “Star Wars” can be. Not just a space opera, but real stories of transformation and beauty.
 


Review: Watching ‘Hobal’ at the Saudi Film Festival was an immersive experience

Review: Watching ‘Hobal’ at the Saudi Film Festival was an immersive experience
Updated 23 April 2025
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Review: Watching ‘Hobal’ at the Saudi Film Festival was an immersive experience

Review: Watching ‘Hobal’ at the Saudi Film Festival was an immersive experience

DHAHRAN: Watching “Hobal” at the 11th Saudi Film Festival, hosted at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, or Ithra, was cathartic.

The setting in which the film was screened was significant. The cinema is close to Ithra’s Energy Exhibit, which allows visitors to explore the journey behind oil extraction and energy resources in the Kingdom on the very land where black gold was first discovered in 1938.

Attentive faces, bathed in the glowing light of the screen sat with popcorn-scented hands. Together, we embarked on a journey — both collective and deeply personal — without moving an inch.

“Hobal” tells the story of a Bedouin family, set in the early 1990s, living in extreme isolation, led by a paranoid patriarch (Ibrahim Al-Hasawi) who believes the end of times is near, and strongly forbids anyone from his family to venture into town.

The title, “Hobal,” is apt. It references a pre-Islamic figure whose word became gospel, offering deeper layers to the film’s exploration of power and belief.

The family’s situation intensifies when Rifa (Amal Sami), the teen girl, falls gravely ill with a highly contagious case of measles and is forced to isolate even further in a tent alone. Her anguished mother (Mila Al-Zahrani) is consumed with worry, but the men, under the strict guidance of the patriarch, refuse to leave the desert to seek medical help. The women — and young teen boy, Assaf — are confronted with a dilemma: Survival or obedience.

With the hissing desert winds, surrounded by stubborn tents and the suffocating grip of impending grief and unearthed betrayal, the question arises: Will they stay or will they go?

The film’s cinematography is a standout. One particularly stunning shot lingers — a mirror leaning into the sand, reflecting Rifa and Assaf in deep conversation seemingly side-by-side but while apart. The desert engulfs them but they seem grounded. It is shatteringly beautiful. The wisest figures seem to be the youngest.

Set against the backdrop of the Gulf War, the real battles feel internal.

What made watching “Hobal” even more powerful was experiencing it in a Saudi cinema — not too far, geographically, from where the Gulf War broke out, knowing this was a story entirely brought to life by local talent.

There is also a strong Ithra connection. The film was written by Mufarrij Almajfel, who also wrote the award-winning 2023 Ithra film “Hajjan” (about camels), which also starred Al-Hasawi — honored at this year’s festival for his remarkable career. Camels, the symbolic “ships of the desert,” make several meaningful appearances here too, helping to move the story along.

Directed by Abdulaziz Alshlahei and produced by Sharif Almajali (along with Alshlahei and Mohammed Al-Turki as executive producers), “Hobal” is a collaborative effort between Shaf Studios, Film Clinic and Peninsula Pictures Group.

The film had its world premiere at the 2024 Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah and was released in cinemas across the Kingdom in early 2025.

Since then, “Hobal” has grossed an impressive SR21.6 million (about $5.8 million) in its first month, quickly becoming the fastest-growing box office hit in Saudi cinematic history.

It is a film that will stay with you long after the credits roll.