{"id":649017,"date":"2026-08-21T12:20:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T12:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/649017\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T12:20:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T12:20:20","slug":"riyadhs-jax-cultural-district-expands-with-lift-gallery-arrival-the-art-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/649017\/","title":{"rendered":"Riyadh&#8217;s JAX cultural district expands with Lift gallery arrival &#8211; The Art Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"pt-dp-p font-text-light font-light text-lg leading-normal tracking-wide mb-base last:mb-0\" itemprop=\"text\">Lift, a hybrid exhibition, co-working and concept shop space, has opened in JAX, the pedestrianised cultural district on the outskirts of Riyadh.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pt-dp-p font-text-light font-light text-lg leading-normal tracking-wide mb-base last:mb-0\" itemprop=\"text\">\u201cI wanted Lift to be more than a traditional gallery,\u201d its founder, Princess Nouf bint Abdulaziz Al Saud, tells The Art Newspaper. \u201cJAX is already a growing creative community, and Lift is the space where people can not only see art but also meet, create, and exchange ideas.\u201d The gallery sells artwork but does not have a stable of represented artists.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pt-dp-p font-text-light font-light text-lg leading-normal tracking-wide mb-base last:mb-0\" itemprop=\"text\">Lift was first launched in 2020 with a space in central Riyadh but began moving to the JAX district in late 2024. The space is now fully open to the public. The Saudi architecture firm Quartz designed the 6,500 sq. ft space with an eye towards flexibility, including moveable walls and multi-use spaces that fit its varied programme. The hub hosts workshops, studios and exhibitions, and supports artists across disciplines, including the visual arts, design, film, photography and fashion, the latter of which is Nouf\u2019s background. <\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"644\" height=\"429.364\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;height:auto;width:100%;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url(&quot;data:image\/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg' viewBox='0 0 644 429.364'%3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'\/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'\/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'\/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'\/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3C\/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image\/jpeg;base64,\/9j\/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj\/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj\/wAARCAANABQDASIAAhEBAxEB\/8QAFwABAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABwAFBv\/EACEQAAEEAgICAwAAAAAAAAAAAAECAwQFABESIRUxQVFh\/8QAFgEBAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgED\/8QAFxEBAAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAECEv\/aAAwDAQACEQMRAD8Ad37Jt9YZCOYcJQfzOCuo9JXy5EPxzzi0nZWpek94jx245k6THbSd72PeaT9NBknk8wlRPskY7wlZFKLGkYSG48FtCB8ayxUNBVnswmSfvjlmWD0\/\/9k='\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E&quot;)\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/78ed838804ea073afe99ab9312d67f6f5397f08e-7000x4667.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Lift gallery includes a cafe open daily in addition to the rotating programme of exhibitions, pop-up shops, and workshops<\/p>\n<p>Photo by Shoayb Khattab<\/p>\n<p class=\"pt-dp-p font-text-light font-light text-lg leading-normal tracking-wide mb-base last:mb-0\" itemprop=\"text\">\u201cA big focus for us is supporting emerging Saudi and regional talent alongside more established creatives,\u201d says Nouf. \u201cWe love bringing new artists to the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"pt-dp-p font-text-light font-light text-lg leading-normal tracking-wide mb-base last:mb-0\" itemprop=\"text\">Lift has so far collaborated with a number of Saudi and international artists, including the French-Tunisian artist eL Seed, Bradley Theodore from Turks &amp; Caicos and the Dutch-Chinese artist Zhuang Hong Yi. <\/p>\n<p class=\"pt-dp-p font-text-light font-light text-lg leading-normal tracking-wide mb-base last:mb-0\" itemprop=\"text\">JAX has been growing since its official opening in 2021. The redevelopment of the former industrial area is part of the larger Diriyah project, in which the Saudi state is transforming the historically significant area into a major cultural and touristic destination. The JAX district, which covers approximately 120,000 sq. m, now houses venues such as the Diriyah Biennale Foundation and SAMoCA (the Saudi Museum of Contemporary Art), as well as numerous artists\u2019 and designers\u2019 studios, cafes and galleries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lift, a hybrid exhibition, co-working and concept shop space, has opened in JAX, the pedestrianised cultural district on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[267],"tags":[365,362,363,364,366,18,117,19,17,274372,5262,15112],"class_list":["post-649017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-new-galleries","tag-riyadh","tag-saudi-arabia"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117133471089044752","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}