Masaha Residency Cycle 5

A three-month visual arts residency in the heart of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, focusing on the role of cultural tradition in the arts.

Misk Art Residencies aims to support artistic development and practice by promoting the possibilities of meaningful exchange between the local community and the global cultural landscape. The Masaha Residency is designed to cultivate the art sector by facilitating discourse, research, and experimentation around themes that concern the local community.

This year, the Masaha Residency will focus on bringing together emerging artists and Arabic writers to deliberate the topic of tradition. Tradition is an element that defines a society; it is coveted and practiced. It reflects cultural identity, collective values, and historical aesthetics. It is uniquely specific to a place yet simultaneously connected with surrounding geographies. And so, with so much change in the air, how do we preserve, conserve, and deploy it in our current moment?

In collaboration with guest curator Lulwah Al Homoud and three expert mentors, the fifth cycle of Misk Art Institute’s biannual Masaha Residency invites ten emerging visual artists and two Saudi Arabic writers to interrogate the means and methods of implementing their cultural traditions within the arts.

With a mix of local and international artists and experts, this residency asks if the discourse surrounding the history of traditional art requires interrogation; whether art can be utilized to safeguard cultural tradition; what artistic inspiration occurs through different cultural exchanges; and how to bridge the outdated narrative gap between tradition and innovation.

Program Structure

• Weekly mentorship

• Three sessions with a guest curator

• Up to four masterclasses

• Up to four workshops and lectures

• Weekly lunches/meetings

• Development of project and budget proposals

• Up to four trips to cultural/historical sites in Riyadh

• Public engagement through open studios and resident-led educational programing

• Networking sessions via studio visits by veteran artists and art practitioners

• Up to four crit sessions with external and internal collaborators 

• Final group exhibition showcase, funded by Misk Art Institute

Who’s It For?
The Masaha Residency is open to 

Ten full-time emerging Saudi and international visual artists who meet one or more of the following criteria:

• 3+ years of fine arts experience

• 3+ years of exhibiting history

• Actively practicing and engaging in the arts

Two full-time Saudi Arabic art writers, preferably with professional writing experience—not creative writers.

Residents Will Gain

• Time and space to focus on researching a new theme-related project

• External and internal experts to advise, provide feedback, and critique your research and project

• Long-lasting contacts within the Saudi and international arts network

• Exposure to and from important members of the art community (such as artists, press, curators, etc.)

• Group showcase exhibiting your new body of work

• Professional development as an artist/writer 

Additional Programing For Writers 

• Professional art writing development exercises

• Writing one article about each of their fellow residents

• An art writing project that engages critically with the theme "tradition"