Open to visual artists from the Arab world
Application deadline: October 16, 2025
The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) announces the open call for the seventh edition of the biennial Ithra Art Prize, an art grant supporting contemporary art across the Arab world. Founded in 2017, the Prize offers a valuable platform for artists from the region. With a grand prize of USD 100,000, the winning artwork will find a lasting home within Ithra’s permanent art collection.
In a significant expansion from previous years, the Ithra Art Prize, through its appointed jury, will recognize five finalists with production grants to showcase their work in an exhibition at Ithra in the spring of 2026. The exhibition will be a new highlight of the prize, returning the award to its home in the Eastern Province, contributing to the artists’ evolving legacies, and aiming to amplify discourse on contemporary art in the region. The final winner will be selected during the exhibition.
Submissions are now officially open and will be accepted until 16th October 2025. As part of its evolving approach, both new commissions and recontextualized existing works are eligible to apply. The Prize recognizes artists whose practices are intellectually engaged, contextually grounded, and developed through sustained inquiry over time. Submitted works must reflect artists’ ongoing practice and research.
The Prize is open to individual artists and collectives aged 18 and older, of Arab heritage or currently residing in one of the 22 Arab countries.
Farah Abushullaih, Head of Ithra’s Museum, said: “The Ithra Art Prize supports artists who engage creatively and critically with conditions and ideas that speak to the diverse contexts of our region. The seventh edition of the Ithra Art Prize marks a homecoming that expands the Prize’s scope through an exhibition at Ithra featuring multiple works in dialogue with one another.”
The Ithra Art Prize is a premier platform for contemporary artists, celebrating a wide range of practices and perspectives. Past winners have exhibited at leading institutions within the Kingdom and internationally. These include Ayman Zedani (2018) for Mem, unveiled at Art Dubai; Daniah Al Saleh (2019), who won the second edition with Sawtam, an audiovisual installation based on Arabic phonemes, unveiled at Art Dubai and exhibited later at the State Hermitage Museum, Russia; and Fahad bin Naif (2020), awarded for Rakhm, an installation exploring themes of environmental preservation and urban ecosystems.
In 2021, Nadia Kaabi-Linke won with E Pluribus Unum, presented at the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale. The following year, Adel Abidin (2023), an Iraqi-Finnish artist, received the fifth edition prize for his large-scale installation ON. Most recently, in 2024, Obaid Alsafi won the sixth edition for his evocative installation Palms in Eternal Embrace, which debuted at the AlUla Arts Festival.
Through its seventh edition, the Prize continues its founding mission of supporting artistic excellence, connecting Arab creatives to global audiences, and nurturing a thriving cultural ecosystem across the region and beyond.
