Open Call for Diriyah Art Futures’ Residency

Apr. 24, 2026

Diriyah Art Futures (DAF) is a center for interdisciplinary creative practice at the intersection of art, science and technology. Set in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Diriyah, it is the region’s first institution dedicated to new media art, bringing practitioners from across the globe to focus on research, documentation and the production of new work.

DAF’s Emerging New Media Artists Program, developed in collaboration with Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporains in France, begins its third cycle in October 2026. This one-year creative production training provides emerging artists with access to cutting-edge professional equipment and a production budget, as well as a wide range of multidisciplinary learning opportunities. The program includes theoretical, conceptual and technical learning seminars, along with personal mentorship from prominent international digital and new media artists. Successful applicants can also expect access to exhibition spaces, screenings and dedicated technical labs for professional creation and innovative digital development. Throughout the year, the center hosts prestigious artists and international institutions engaged in new media and technology arts.

Diriyah Art Futures // © Schiattarella Associati; Photo credits: Hassan Ali Al-Shatti

During the first three months, the first phase of the program focuses on thematic and conceptual explorations offered by artists and theorists through seminars, lectures, screenings and workshops. Themes span wide-reaching effects and phenomena surrounding digital technology and art in relation to socio-cultural dynamics, the environment, more-than-human life, memory and cultural heritage, among others. Over the following six-month phase, participants receive personalized mentorship from prominent practitioners while developing their work using the technologies available at the DAF labs, including advanced audio-visual techniques, immersive reality, coding, sensing, machine learning and spatial audio-visual environments.

Artists are invited to explore a range of fields in new media art, including reality and artificial reality, expansion of cinematic and spatial sound experience through digital means and the role of artists in human-machine interaction. The program culminates in a final curated and juried exhibition at DAF in October 2027.

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.