Encounter
Future Archaeologies: Commissioning, Artists and the Making of a Museum
22 Oct 2026
22 Oct 2026
Taking Ayman Zedani’s exhibition « In the Bellies of the Rocks », presented at Paris Internationale, as its starting point, this conversation explores how a museum can take shape long before its physical opening. Commissioned by the AlUla Contemporary Art Museum (ACAM) following the artist’s long-term residency, the installation combines archival footage, 3D scans and speculative narratives to imagine a future archaeology of the Arabian Peninsula, where fiction, landscape and history intertwine.
Bringing together the artist, the exhibition’s co-curators Candida Pestana and Arnaud Morand, and Anna Hiddleston from Centre Pompidou, a key institutional partner of ACAM, the discussion will examine the role of artistic commissions and residencies in shaping an emerging museum’s identity, collection and programme. It will also explore how artists engage with archaeological landscapes and historical narratives, and how collaborations between established and emerging institutions can foster mutual learning, experimentation and new approaches to museum-making.
Through Zedani’s practice and his sustained relationship with AlUla, the conversation asks a broader question: how can artists contribute not only to the collections of future museums, but to the very institutions they aspire to become?
This conversation is presented as part of the AlUla Cultural Season in Paris, organised by Arts AlUla, the AlUla Contemporary Art Museum, AFALULA and Paris Internationale.
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With Candida Pestana, Anna Hiddleston, Arnaud Morand and Ayman Zedani
AlUla, a region of extraordinary archaeological heritage and natural landscapes in northwestern Saudi Arabia, is undergoing an ambitious cultural transformation. Through a growing ecosystem of museums, artist residencies, public art commissions, exhibitions and cultural initiatives, AlUla is fostering new forms of artistic production and international exchange, connecting its rich heritage with contemporary creative practices.
Free admission subject to availability of seats
Where
Paris Internationale, Paris
187-198 Quai de Valmy
75010 Paris
When
22 Oct 2026
From 4pm© D.R