Saudi Arabia returns to London Design Biennale with Good Water exhibition
- 01 Apr 2025
Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer
Saudi Arabia returns to London Design Biennale 2025 with an exhibition titled Good Water (June 5 – 29) at Somerset House, London. Commissioned by Saudi Arabia’s Architecture and Design Commission, the pavilion is curated by design collective including Alaa Tarabzouni, Aziz Jamal, Dur Kattan and Fahad bin Naif. They bring together their multidisciplinary backgrounds in architecture, design and the arts, for the exhibition that questions, disrupts, and reimagines systems of access and distribution of water, and people’s relationship with it.
The curatorial concept of Good Water responds to the theme of the Biennale, ‘Surface Reflections’, which explores how ideas are fuelled by internal experiences, external influences and personal histories. The Saudi Pavilion is centered by a sabeel – a free water fountain, and a symbol of hospitality, deeply rooted in the Saudi Arabian tradition. Historically, the fountains are scattered across the country, providing water to passersby, signifying a communal ethos of generosity. Yet, within the context of the exhibition, the sabeel is no longer only a gesture of goodwill. It asks the question: Who pays for ‘free’ water? What does it truly cost? And, crucially, if the burden falls on someone else, does it not, in some form, radiate outwards to cost everyone?
According to the show, the sabeel, as a concept, carries a deep contradiction: while it offers water freely, the reality is that the water is not free at all. Every sip is made possible by a complex system of labour, energy, and economics. Potable water is extracted through costly processes, placed in plastic bottles, or transported through networks that demand tireless maintenance and oversight, since the water is meant for consumption.
The cost is distributed across various actors, including governments, corporations and workers, among others, but ultimately, it is a cost that some, if not all, must bear. Even those who do not pay for water directly, still share the long-term consequences of extraction/desalination, branded plastic bottles and containers, transport and distribution. The sabeel in the pavilion, therefore, is more than a functional object; it is a symbol of interdependence and highlights the tension between generosity and cost, accessibility and consequence.
Alaa Tarabzouni, Aziz Jamal, Dur Kattan and Fahad bin Naif said that “the pavilion uses familiar elements to draw attention to water’s hidden economies, encouraging the visitors to drink with awareness, to acknowledge the price, and to understand that while the cost of free (good) water is borne by someone else, it truly costs everyone. In cities where sabeel are commonplace, their presence is often taken for granted, their function seen as a simple act of public service. But by relocating this familiar structure to the London Design Biennale, where water scarcity is not an everyday concern, we reframe it as an object of scrutiny. We aim to force a shift in perception, making the invisible visible, the passive active.”
The Saudi National Pavilion is a flagship initiative of the Architecture and Design Commission, supported by the Ministry of Culture; it reflects Saudi Arabia’s commitment to contributing to international design discourse and promoting sustainable, innovative solutions. Dr. Sumaya Al-Sulaiman, CEO of Architecture and Design Commission, said: “Saudi Arabia’s return to the London Design Biennale is a new exciting chapter in our commitment to design as a powerful tool for dialogue and cultural exchange and we look forward to engaging in conversations on creativity, innovation, and systems thinking during our second participation in the London Design Biennale.”
All the artists hail from Saudi Arabia. Alaa Tarabzouni has a career that spans over ten years in the arts and culture sector. While her background in architecture informs her approach, her main focus is context, which she regards as her primary medium and muse. Her work explores the relationship between art, its environment, and the viewer’s experience. Aziz Jamal is a multidisciplinary artist known for an incongruous and experimental approach, blending humour, material and context, to create works that merge the individual with the collective. His practice spans sculpture, video, drawing, ceramics, audio, digital prints and installation, often using found and unconventional materials to encourage new narratives. Jamal’s work explores themes of domesticity, time and consumerism, creating a dialogue between the familiar and unfamiliar.
Dur Kattan is a conceptual artist whose passion for non-traditional and interdisciplinary programmes has led her on a journey where she crafts artwork that establishes strong connections with viewers. She is particularly drawn to public art and art forms that embrace interactivity, enabling individuals to engage actively with artistic experience. Fahad bin Naif is an emerging artist, whose subject matter derives from examining the urban fabric of his home city, Riyadh. Employing multiple mediums in his interdisciplinary practice, Bin Naif creates large-scale installations and interventions, video works, photography and design, driven by his research of the urban landscape. His innovative design approach earned him the Bartlett’s Gold Prize (2017) and in 2020, he won the third cycle of the prestigious Ithra Art Prize.
The Architecture and Design Commission, established in 2020, is one of eleven commissions under the Ministry of Culture, Saudi Arabia, representing disciplines including architecture, urban design and planning, landscape architecture, interior design, graphic design, and industrial design. The Ministry of Culture oversees eleven sector-specific commissions; it is leading a cultural transformation to develop a deep and sustainable creative ecosystem in Saudi Arabia.