May 23, 2025
Diriyah Art Futures (DAF), the MENA region’s first new media and digital arts hub, is now accepting applications for the second cycle of its Emerging New Media Artists program, set to launch in October 2025. The program debuted in November 2024 in conjunction with the opening of DAF—a 6,550-square-meter hub located in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Diriyah, which serves as a school, laboratory and exhibition space dedicated to creative practices at the intersection of art, science and technology.
Developed in partnership with Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporains in France, the Emerging New Media Artists program provides participants with access to cutting-edge professional equipment and facilities, a production budget and personal mentorship from prominent international digital and new media artists.
Diriyah Art Futures // © Schiattarella Associati, Photo credits Hassan Ali Al-Shatti
The program begins with a three-month phase of thematic and conceptual explorations of cutting-edge topics, presented by artists and theorists through seminars, lectures, screenings and workshops. Over the following six months, participants work under the mentorship of leading artists and scholars to produce new artworks using DAF’s facilities, including advanced audio-visual techniques, immersive reality, coding, sensing, machine learning and spatial audio-visual environments.
The program is open to emerging creative practitioners from all over the world, with a focus on those from the Middle East and North Africa. Applicants should be 35 years or younger, at graduate or postgraduate completion stage and have experience in developing and creating new media and digital art. Over the course of the year, participants will explore themes such as AI, virtual and augmented reality, sound, cinema and digital archives, culminating in a final curated exhibition at DAF.
Application Info
daf.moc.gov.sa
Deadline: June 16, 2025
