The eighth edition ofTuwaiq Sculpture takes place in Riyadh during January and February 2027.
Twenty Saudi and international artists will create sculptures in public over three weeks.
The theme, Where Roots Run Deep, explores place, memory, identity and transformation.
The public art event returns with 20 artists, a new theme and creative workshops.
Riyadh’s art scene is taking shape for 2027, and Tuwaiq Sculpture is putting the creative process in the spotlight. Returning for its eighth edition, the annual symposium will give residents and visitors the chance to watch 20 artists from Saudi Arabia and around the world create sculptures over three weeks.
The programme is scheduled for January and February 2027, with an exhibition following the live sculpting. Once the event concludes, the finished pieces will become permanent additions to public spaces across the capital, meaning the artworks will remain part of Riyadh’s cultural scene long after the symposium ends.
The 2027 edition explores the theme Where Roots Run Deep, with Dr Soha AlZaid, Aldo Rinaldi and Auronda Scalera overseeing the artistic direction. The starting point is the relationship between a place and the histories, memories and communities that shape it, a particularly fitting subject for a city undergoing such rapid change.
Artists are invited to consider how Riyadh’s surroundings can influence their work, from the ground beneath a sculpture to the light, shadows and movement around it. For visitors, that opens up fresh ways to engage with familiar places and consider the capital’s changing identity.
For sculptors keen to take part, applications are open until 11.59pm Saudi time on Sunday, 8 November 2026. Applicants need at least three years of professional sculpting and exhibition experience, alongside examples of three completed sculptures. Artists can apply individually or as a duo, submitting up to three original proposals for consideration.
The materials available include metal, mosaic, breeze blocks, cement and cast stone, alongside Saudi granite in Royal Gold, Royal Rose and Green. Selected participants will receive an artist fee, with travel and accommodation also covered, giving them the support to develop their ideas on site.
What makes Tuwaiq Sculpture unique is that visitors can get a behind-the-scenes look at artists in action. The artists will produce large-scale sculptures out of raw blocks of granite, which will become permanent artworks across the city, turning the capital into a gallery without walls.
Since its inception, Tuwaiq Sculpture has connected over 145 artists from 56 countries with thousands of visitors. With 62 works already permanently installed across Riyadh, the symposium is steadily giving the capital’s public spaces an artistic identity of their own.
Get your art on.
Where: Tuwaiq District Riyadh
When: January and February 2027
Contact: https://riyadhart.sa