Desert X AlUla returns this January with a theme inspired by Kahlil Gibran

From 16 January to 28 February 2026, Desert X AlUla returns with a new cycle of large-scale commissions set directly into AlUla’s valleys and canyons, guided by a poetic premise drawn from Kahlil Gibran and titled Space Without Measure.

Desert X AlUla matters because it treats landscape as the primary curator. The exhibition is open-air and site-responsive, produced in partnership with the Royal Commission for AlUla, and framed as a highlight of the AlUla Arts Festival. The result is art encountered at full scale – under shifting light, across distance, and in direct conversation with geology and history.

For 2026, the curatorial team is clearly positioned. Wejdan Reda and Zoe Whitley serve as curators, with Neville Wakefield and Raneem Farsi returning as artistic directors. The program centers on newly commissioned, site-specific installations – Desert X’s own materials indicate 11 new works across the landscape.

The theme, Space Without Measure, takes cues from Gibran’s meditations on perception, possibility, and the inner life, using poetry as a structural device rather than a decorative reference. In practical terms, that translates into artworks conceived as “points on a new map” – a sequence of encounters that shifts how visitors read scale, silence, and distance in the desert environment.

AlUla itself supplies the deeper backdrop. The region holds Hegra – Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage property – with Nabataean monumental tombs carved into sandstone outcrops, dated mainly from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD. That density of place is part of the exhibition’s charge: contemporary works sit within a landscape already shaped by ancient engineering, trade routes, and carved stone memory.

For planning, the official AlUla listing places the exhibition daily within the 16 Jan–28 Feb window, with ticket pricing starting from SAR 50 and an advance-booking preference. Expect desert conditions and uneven terrain – the listing flags limited accessibility for wheelchairs and strollers, which is relevant if you plan to move through multiple sites in one day.