At Saudi Arabia’s Diriyah Biennale, Art Moves in Procession

The opening weekend of the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale began not in a gallery but in a dry riverbed. Four-wheel-drive vehicles—known locally as “Chasse”—rumbled through Wadi Hanifah alongside camels, old and new modes of desert transport moving in tandem. Drummers emerged, clicking wooden blocks as they led a growing crowd through the JAX District’s industrial streets, transforming what might have been a standard (and often somewhat stuffy) art opening into something closer to a homecoming parade.