Ayman Zedani’s diverse and research-based artistic practice explores the future of the Arabian Peninsula through the lens of the human-nature relationship. Blending spiritual ecology, science fiction, and new materialist philosophies, his immersive installations seek to rehabilitate the human-earth relationship. Rooted in the region's rich heritage, his projects aim to create new stories and recover memory by weaving together fact and fiction to reimagine the future, while also addressing pressing ecological issues.
Zedani has exhibited his works locally and internationally, including at the upcoming 16th Sharjah Biennial (2025), The Institut du monde arabe, Paris (2024), The Gulf Quinquennial, NYUAD Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi (2024), and Manar Abu Dhabi, Samaliyah Island (2023). He has also participated in the inaugural edition of The Islamic Arts Biennale, Jeddah (2023), The Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden (2022), Desert X AlUla (2022), the inaugural edition of The Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale(2021), Expo 2020, Dubai (2020), The Lahore Biennial (2020), and the Bienalsur International Biennial, Buenos Aires (2019).
Beyond his artistic practice, Zedani has actively engaged in curatorial projects. These include Between the Tides: A Gulf Quinquennial, NYUAD Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi (2024), Leaving the Echo Chamber, Sharjah Biennial 14 (2019), the inaugural and second editions of the Sharjah Film Platform (2018-2019), Act II: Upon a Shifting Plate, Beirut (2017), and Tamawuj, Sharjah Biennial 13 (2017).
Zedani won the inaugural Ithra Art Prize (2018) and presented his debut solo show, titled "bahar-bashar-shajar-hajar" (sea-human-tree-stone), at Athr Gallery, Jeddah (2019).
Awards
Ithra Art Prize, 2018
Misk Art Grant, 2020
Louvre Abu Dhabi and Richard Mille Art Prize finalists, 2022
Cultural Award, Visual Arts Nomination, 2023
Curatorial projects
Between the Tides: A Gulf Quinquennial, NYUAD Art Gallery, 2024, curatorial interlocutor
Sharjah Film Platform, UAE, 2019 - senior program coordinator
Sharjah Biennial 14, UAE, 2019 - curatorial coordinator
Sharjah Film Platform, inaugural edition, UAE, 2018 - senior program coordinator
Act II: Upon a Shifting Plate, Lebanon, 2017 - curatorial coordinator
Sharjah Biennial 13, UAE, 2017 - curatorial coordinator
artRiyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 2015 - program coordinator
Bahrain International Design Week, Bahrain, 2013 - program coordinator
Residencies
NEOM Artist in Residence Program, NEOM, Saudi Arabia, 2024
AlUla Artist Residency Program, AlUla, Saudi Arabia, 2023
Delfina Foundation Residency, London, United Kingdom, 2021
Goethe-Institut, Frankfurt, Berlin and Leipzig, Germany, 2016
British Council and Royal College of Art, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 2014
Exhibitions
2024
Art of the Kingdom, MoC, Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Orbis Tertius, RCU and Afalula, Paris, France
Arabofuturs, Institut du monde arabe, Paris, France
Between the Tides: A Gulf Quinquennial, NYUAD Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2023
Palimpsest of Time Exhibition, AlUla Artist Residency Program, Saudi Arabia.
Awwal Bait, Islamic Arts Biennale, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Biography of a Passage, 421, Dubai, UAE
2022
art-here-2022 - Louvre Abu Dhabi, UAE
Nature and State, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden, Germany
Desert X AlUla, AlUla, Saudi Arabia
Košice Seed Library: Seeds That Move, Šopa Gallery, Slovakia
Portrait of a Nation II: Beyond Narratives at ADMAF, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2021
Diriyah Biennale, Diriyah, Saudi Arabia
Noor Al Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Dubai Expo 2020, Dubai, UAE
Riyadh Noor Festival, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2020
Misk Art Week, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Between the Sun and the Moon, Lahore Biennale, Lahore, Pakistan
I Love You, Urgently, 21,39 Jeddah Arts, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2019
From Within, MOC, Ad Diriyah, Saudi Arabia
Speculative Landscapes, NYUAD, Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Bienalsur, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Zamkan, Ithra, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
bahar-bashar-shajar-hajar, solo show, Athr Gallery, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2018
March Project, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
Mēm, Art Dubai, Ithra, Dubai, UAE
Refusing to Be Still, 21'39, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2017
Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival, Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah, UAE
TCA Abu Dhabi, Al Qattara Arts Centre, Al Ain, UAE
Four, Maraya Art Center, Sharjah, UAE
Letters, Athr, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Shara Art Fair, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE
Mind the Gap, Tashkeel, Dubai, UAE
Tadafug, art Jameel, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2016
Vantage Point, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
Wujood, private show, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2015
Flatland, Naila Art Gallery, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Albareh art gallery, Manama, Bahrain.
2014
(e)merge art fair, October, Washington, USA.
Qualia, Naila Art Gallery, Riyadh.
21,39 Jeddah Arts, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
2013
[Un]Stitched Exhibition, Naila Art Gallery, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Loud Art Exhibition, Khobar, Saudi Arabia.
YSA, Athr Gallery, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.