Hayy Jameel’s opening season: December 6, 2021 – April 30, 2022

The opening season culminates 75 years of Jameel family global philanthropy, with each month celebrating Hayy Jameel’s varied elements: December 2021 inaugurates Hayy Arts and a roster of new exhibitions, commissions, projects and installations revealed across the creative complex, accompanied by Hayy Learning and Hayy Studios programmes; January – February 2022 is marked by Jeddah’s cultural entrepreneurship with the launch of the first Hayy Residents’ spaces; and March – April 2022 sees the opening of Hayy Cinema, and a celebration of Hayy Community through a series of programmes, workshops, screenings and a special Ramadan calendar.

Hayy Jameel’s opening season from December 6, 2021, begins with a focus on visual arts. The highly collaborative, innovative inaugural programme is steeped in long-term research and marked by participatory, material interventions that range from installations made of chocolate through to immersive light works and audiovisual structures, rooted in the context of Jeddah yet speaking to urgent themes of global relevance. The programme includes more than 45 artists and researchers from around 20 countries and features existing and newly commissioned works by 19 Saudi artists. 

Hayy Jameel’s Opening Season Programming

Hayy Arts

‘Staple: What’s on your plate?’

December 6, 2021 – April 25, 2022

Hayy Arts opens with an exhibition co-curated by Art Jameel’s Rahul Gudipudi and Delfina Foundation’s Dani Burrows. ‘Staple: What’s on your plate?’ features 21 artworks, including seven new research-based commissions, developed in a “food lab” that has run for the past year. The exhibition draws upon the two institutions’ long-standing interest in food futures and the eco-social entanglements of what we eat. 

‘Illuminate: A Noor Riyadh Capsule’ 

December 6, 2021 – March 31, 2022 

This series of large-scale, immersive light installations is on tour  from the inaugural 2021 Noor Riyadh festival organised by Riyadh Art. ‘Illuminate: A Noor Riyadh Capsule’ brings together works by 11 major Saudi artists. In their new guise at Hayy Jameel, the works respond to the role of the arts in the city, in the context of Jeddah’s new community hub. Participating artists include Ahmed Angawi, Dana Awartani, Ayman Daydban, Manal Al Dowayan, Sultan bin Fahad, Ahmed Mater, Maha Malluh, Marwah Al Mugait, Nasser Al Salem, Rashed Al Shashai and Saeed Gamhawi.

‘Paused Mirror: The Saudi Artists’ by Osama Esid 

December 2021 – December 2022

Hayy Jameel’s first year is marked by a new commission entitled ‘Paused Mirrors: The Saudi Artists‘ by artist Osama Esid that takes as a starting point his background in portraiture and explorations of historical photography methods. ‘Paused Mirror’ draws on Osama Esid’s “wet plate collodion” portraits and landscapes, and is developed via a collaborative journey through the Kingdom, setting up field studios in and around Riyadh, the Eastern Province and Jeddah, and working with host artists and organisations to capture portraits of Saudi artists.

The Hayy Jameel Façade Commission 

December 6, 2021 – August 1, 2022

The Hayy Jameel Façade Commission is a new annual programme that gives one artist the opportunity to develop a major public work for the 25-metre “canvas” on the front of the building — a feature integral to the architectural intent. The 2021-22 commission was selected by a nomination and rigorous jury process, and — announced here for the first time — has been awarded to Riyadh-based painter and sculptor Nasser Almulhim, whose practice is influenced by De Stijl, the New York school of abstract expressionism and his direct environment. For the first edition of Hayy Jameel’s Façade Commission, Almulhim is adorning the pedestrian facing Façade with an intricate design titled The Dove, The Partridge and The Crow, inspired by a regional folktale of the same name and developed in partnership with artist and architect Tamara Kalo. From 2022 onwards, the Façade Commission will be selected by Open Call. The Commission is kindly supported by Lexus. 

The opening season offers highly collaborative and innovative workshops and public programmes steeped in long-term research, drawing on Hayy Learning’s strategy of in-person and virtual learning, research and apprenticeships. The three programmes noted below will occupy Hayy Studios — the production spaces on the top floor of the complex:

‘The Hospitable Ear’ with Julia Tieke and Zainab Ali Reza

December 6 – 20, 2021

‘A Menu and its Leftovers: Finding the Voices in Jeddah’s Food Histories’ with Salma Serry, December 8 – 20, 2021

‘This is an Edible Gold’ designed and facilitated by Hayy Learning and Beeways, December 11, 14, 18, 2021

For the full press release, click here