Saudi Arabia will present the Good Water exhibition at the London Design Biennale 2025, featuring multidisciplinary works that critique water access systems. The pavilion centres around a sabeel, exploring the costs of supposedly free water. Curators emphasise the exhibition’s aim to reveal hidden economies and provoke thought on water’s shared consequences. The Commission supports Saudi Arabia’s commitment to international design discourse.
Saudi Arabia returns to the London Design Biennale 2025 with the exhibition Good Water, running from June 5 to 29 at Somerset House. This pavilion is curated by a design collective featuring Alaa Tarabzouni, Aziz Jamal, Dur Kattan, and Fahad bin Naif, who challenge the systems governing water access and our relationship with it.
The exhibition’s concept ties into the Biennale’s theme, ‘Surface Reflections’, examining how personal experiences and external influences shape ideas. Central to the Saudi Pavilion is a sabeel, a traditional free water fountain symbolising hospitality and communal generosity. This representation probes the cost behind ‘free’ water, questioning its economic implications and who bears the burden.
Despite the sabeel’s offered generosity, true costs arise from complex systems supporting water provision, including labour and infrastructure. Even those not paying for water directly experience the repercussions of water extraction and distribution through resources and environmental consequences. Thus, the sabeel serves as a powerful symbol of interconnectedness, revealing tensions between accessibility and underlying costs.
Curatorial members Tarabzouni, Jamal, Kattan, and Bin Naif emphasised that the pavilion aims to make the hidden economies of water visible. They encourage visitors to realise that the cost of seemingly free water impacts everyone, and relocating the sabeel to London invites scrutiny on its implications in water-scarce contexts.
Dr. Sumaya Al-Sulaiman, CEO of the Architecture and Design Commission, highlighted Saudi Arabia’s dedication to international dialogue in design and creativity. Artists featured in the pavilion include Tarabzouni, whose architectural context informs her work; Jamal, known for blending materials with humour; Kattan, who focuses on interactive public art; and Bin Naif, whose installations explore urban landscapes.
The Architecture and Design Commission aims to foster a robust creative ecosystem through its 11 sector-specific commissions under the Ministry of Culture, contributing to the nation’s cultural transformation in areas like architecture, design, and planning.
Saudi Arabia’s participation in the London Design Biennale with the Good Water exhibition showcases the complexity of water distribution and the hidden costs behind something often perceived as free. The pavilion not only honours traditional hospitality symbols but also encourages a critical examination of systemic issues related to water access. Ultimately, it aims to engage global audiences in dialogue about sustainable practices and cultural exchange in design.
Original Source: www.gulftoday.ae