As the Middle East and North Africa's cultural scene continues to grow at a rapid pace, one particular medium is having an unexpected moment in the spotlight: light. The past few years have seen a rise in art festivals and exhibitions dedicated to creations using light, offering dazzling displays across both desert landscapes and urban cityscapes. 

Often part of public art programmes, the organisers seek to drive engagement with the arts in ways that anyone can relate to—even people less interested in traditional art showcases seem to find joy in spending an evening taking in sparkling installations.

In November, Abu Dhabi launched the inaugural edition of a new city-wide light art exhibition. Manar Abu Dhabi takes place from November 19, 2023-January 30, 2024, with a second series of artworks being unveiled on Al Samaliyah Island on December 20. An initiative of the recently created Public Art Abu Dhabi programme, the light exhibition will be a biennial affair, activating the Emirates' natural vistas and unused islands with site-specific light sculpture pieces, projections and immersive installations. 

Curated by Reem Fadda and Alia Zaal Lootah, more than 20 local and international artists—including the likes of Ayman Zedani, Carsten Höller, Samia Halaby and teamLab—are participating at locations including Corniche Road and Beach, the Eastern Mangroves, Fahid Island, Jubail Mangrove Park, Lulu Island, Saadiyat Island and Al Samaliyah Island.

“I think the medium of light art has an ability to speak to wider audiences and is a natural phenomenon that can translate quite well for communities,” Fadda tells STIR. “We're not really a festival as much as we are an exhibition, based on the natural capital and biodiversity that is quite unique to Abu Dhabi.”

“Light art has become a little bit more pervasive as a medium because of advanced technology and the ability of artists to now work with things like solar energy or LED screens, that could be seen as different pivots in time for the increased use of light in art,” she adds. “The topology of many of the light art pieces that we see in Manar Abu Dhabi is participatory. They require people to be immersed in and interacting with the art, so it’s an excellent equation for public art and societal engagement.”

Some artworks, like Emirati artist Nujoom Al Ghanem’s Flying Ships (2023) on Lulu Island—a large scale installation of dhow boats made from woven lighting strips, celebrating Abu Dhabi’s seafaring heritage—are brightly-lit attractions, intended to be seen from afar, giving them the illusion of floating over the waterline. In December, teamLab will be taking over the entirety of Al Samaliyah Island, with a series of colourful, interactive art installation works in their signature whimsical, yet thought-provoking style. 

Others have chosen to interpret the use of light in more subtle ways, also thinking about how the artwork will be viewed during daylight, if possible. British-Pakistani artist Shezad Dawood is one such installation artist. His four-metre-high iridescent Coral Alchemy (Acropora Grove) (2023) sculpture on Corniche Beach promotes environmental awareness, highlighting the endangered acropora coral species.

“I discussed with Reem Fadda the idea of rupturing the expectations of light art exhibitions, by presenting a work that, while affected by light (and heat), operates just as well in the daytime,” Dawood tells STIR. “The piece is a continuation of my Coral Alchemy series, which brings coral species that are under stress in specific geographical locales, above the waterline, as sculptures that change colour according to ambient light and heat.” 

"Early in the morning the sculpture is a bright reddish-orange, mimicking the appearance of a healthy acropora species,” he explains. “As the temperature increases over the course of the day, the coral form slowly bleaches, mimicking the appearance of a coral under stress due to warming waters, before regaining its colour after sunset. The way light and heat affect the piece throughout a 24-hour cycle, makes us viscerally aware of the impacts we as humans have on coral reef ecosystems.”

Dawood, who has worked with light for many years, believes the COVID-19 pandemic has also contributed to the increased use of the medium, as these works are often displayed outside in the open air. Noor Riyadh, an annual light art festival in the Saudi Arabian capital, held its first edition in 2021 when the world was still mired in lockdowns and social distancing. 

Also running in November, when the Gulf’s weather is cooler and more hospitable, the Noor Riyadh festival reportedly attracted more than 300,000 visitors for its first run, jumping to a startling three million during the second 2022 edition. The massive scale of the festival drew crowds from across the globe and is now the largest annual light art festival to date.

Currently showing their third edition (November 30-December 16, 2023) under the theme The Bright Side of the Desert Moon—which explores light as a unifying force—the art event displays more than 120 artworks by over 100 artists from 35 countries. It is curated by Jérôme Sans, Pedro Alonzo, Fahad Bin Naif and Alaa Tarabzouni, and takes places across five “hubs” in the city. These include the natural vistas in Salam Park, Wadi Hanifa, Wadi Namar and the urban sprawls in the King Abdullah Financial District and JAX District. 

“I think light art has been around for many years, since the 1960s, but it was all international. We used to go to museums and exhibitions all around the world to look at these amazing art pieces,” Noor Riyadh’s director Nouf Al Moneef tells STIR. “It's becoming really popular nowadays with the artists. There are some Saudi artists that have been doing it for a long time, but it wasn't well-known.” 

“With the past two editions of Noor Riyadh, we saw how people were engaged [with the art] and that's what's exciting,” she adds. “We say Riyadh or Saudi Arabia ‘switched on our lights’ since 2017, with the development of the country, the new push in the cultural scene, the tourism and all the changes happening, so this light art is almost like a representation of this new way of thinking—the light is on.”

The generous budgets behind programmes like Manar and Noor Riyadh have opened up the medium to artists who are new to light art or want to experiment with it. Young Saudi artist Hana Almilli, whose art centres on traditional textiles, created Journey Through the Ripples of the Sand (2023) at Wadi Namar, marking her first foray into illuminated work. Still using her practice of textiles, the piece is a large circular structure made from mesh-like fabric with fibre optic lights over frames, creating a softly-glowing cocoon in the middle of the valley that people can wander through. 

“It was a challenge, but it was pushing myself as an artist to explore another medium. With the new lighting and new technologies that are getting integrated, there are more ways now to get a story across,” Almilli says. “Interaction has always been part of my work and Noor Riyadh gave me that push to start thinking about light as a new element; to explore different ways in which people can interact with my work.”

“In the areas like Wadi Namar or Wadi Hanifa, where some of the installations are, you see no lights usually—you are walking, it's dark and then suddenly different lights are popping up from different places, so you wonder what it is and want to go look,” she notes. “People will always be attracted to light and things that light up, even historically, with the moon and the stars, there's that sense of wonder and curiosity, which light art evokes.”

Next year, Noor Riyadh is looking to mature further, concentrating on condensing the excitement of the first few editions into a festival with developed themes. For Manar, this first edition is still testing the waters. The next edition will reflect what the organisers have learned in terms of scale, presentation of the works and theming. Fadda says she looks forward to helping the exhibition grow and working with new artists and topics of interest: “That's what is going to afford us the room for exploration, allowing the opportunity for people to develop and really create something unique.”