Sara Al-Mutlaq is a curator, writer and interdisciplinary artist living and working in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. With a background in architecture and critical theory, she approaches her curatorial practice through a speculative, research based and deconstructive methodology that aims to unravel to audiences a conscious reflection of the contemporary milieu. Through this lens, and during her time at Saudi’s Ministry of Culture, Sara has developed residency programs, artwork commissions and long-term cultural asset strategies that aim to both entertain and educate. She was intimately involved in the inception of the Ministry’s upcoming New Media art center, Diriyah Art Futures, and the newly launched Fenaa Alawwal. Her curatorial & development philosophy lies in the holistic integration of divergent thoughts, individuals and processes to produce a unique, site and historically specific sense of place for cultural experiences.
Based in her research and writing practice, Sara’s visual art practice aims to build worlds through the integration of various practices including installation, fiction writing, sculpture, painting and new media technologies. Through a critical lens, Sara’s work builds speculative future fictions that question and reflect on the reality in which we live today. She uses these speculative fictions as a source of imaginative world building that engages with audiences through object ontology, contemporary visual media and sculptural work.
Sara is curator for an upcoming exhibition titled “Unfolding the Embassy” in Fenaa Alawwal, and her writing has been featured on platforms like “KoH-Collective”, “Ithraeyat”, “EastEast” and Columbia University academic journal. Her interdisciplinary visual art practice has been exhibited in Noor Al Riyadh 2023, Misk Art Institute and Columbia University MFA exhibition. Sara has a Masters of Architecture degree from Columbia University, where she graduated in 2020, and has concluded an intensive curatorial program at the Royal College of Arts in 2023.