Noor Riyadh 2023 festival has secured new Guinness World Records for the third consecutive year

For the third year in a row, the Royal Commission of Riyadh City's Noor Riyadh 2023 event has broken six records and set new Guinness World Records. From November 30 to December 16, the largest festival of light celebrated its third year. It attracted over three million people with its expansive immersive exhibits spread across five major centres in the capital of the Kingdom. The performance set new global records, building on its prior successes and increasing the festival's three-year total to 14 Guinness global Records.

Through a stunning light show, German interaction designer Christopher Bauder's "DIALOGUE" created a dynamic between two of Riyadh's most recognisable structures, Al-Faisaliyah Tower and Kingdom Tower. Two records were set by it: one for the most lights (560) used in a light show on a single Al-Faisaliyah structure, and another for the most lights used in a temporary light and sound performance that lit both Kingdom Tower and Al-Faisaliyah Tower.

With 3,000 drones, Studio Drift's "Desert Swarm" artwork produced the largest drone bird swarm. Aside with launching the most drones in a single week, the event also lit up the skies with shimmering performances.

The largest interactive projection-mapped exhibit was "Magic Carpet, Origin of the World" by French artist Miguel Chevalier. It included a carpet-like arrangement of proliferating cells that came to life when people walked across it.

In addition to setting a sixth record for the festival, Yinka Ilori's "Block Cubes" turned into the largest temporary skate park in the world and demonstrated an original method of creating light-based works.

Under the theme "The Bright Side of the Desert Moon," Jerome Sans, Pedro Alonzo, Fahad bin Naif, and Alaa Tarabzouni organised Noor Riyadh 2023. Its striking artworks, which were dispersed over the landscapes of Salam Park, Wadi Hanifa, Wadi Namar, King Abdullah Financial District, and JAX District, investigated light as a unifying force in times of isolation.

The exhibition featured standout pieces including the immersive video art projections by SUPERFLEX in King Abdullah Financial District and the light and formlessness investigation by Muhannad Shono in JAX District.

Noor Riyadh continues to light brightly in its companion exhibition, "Refracted Identities, Shared Futures," even after the festival has ended. Neville Wakefield and Maya Al-Athel organised the exhibition, which runs until March 2 and includes 32 pieces by artists from 16 different nations.