Concéntrico is Spain’s leading festival of architecture and design in public space. Held annually in Logroño, the festival invites international creatives to reimagine the role of public space through temporary installations, exhibitions, and talks
For the second consecutive year, the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) joins Concéntrico.
For its second participation, Ithra presents an immersive installation Rooted in Warmth by Saudi multimedia artist Raghad Al-Ahmed, exploring the intersection of Saudi agriculture, familial gathering, and environmental design, alongside a sensory experience titled Summer Blessings on 19 June. This initiative reflects Ithra’s efforts to promote cultural dialogue, cross-border collaboration, and design as a tool for human connection.
Rooted in Warmth is an immersive installation, inspired by the artist’s upbringing in Taif, western Saudi Arabia and created in collaboration with over 50 female artisans from Al-Jawf, northern Saudi Arabia. Drawing from the artist’s roots in the Hejazi community and personal memories of family gathering under the shade of trees, the installation reflects on moments of cohesion between nature, family and tradition through a contemporary lens.
The installation is constructed from a modular wooden structure wrapped in wool-textured fabric, with seating shaped by the contours of Taif’s mountains. Handwoven Al-Sadu patterns, a UNESCO-listed craft, are reimagined in fruit-inspired colors representing Saudi Arabia’s agricultural richness: dates, citrus, grapes, pomegranates, and berries.
Visitors are encouraged to interact with, enter and even climb the structure, to experience the work’s celebration of the deep ties between agriculture, familial connection, and the nurturing qualities of nature..
Credit photo : Josema cutillas , Sara cuerdo
