Saudi Gazette RIYADH — The Italian Embassy in Riyadh, in collaboration with Prince Sultan University, organized “The Shapes of Water” (Trame d’Acqua) exhibition by La Triennale di Milano.
Saudi people are culturally educated and active in all cultural fields.” Speaking to Saudi Gazette Dr. Al-Yamani said: “Prince Sultan University is collaborating with La Triennale museum where they have the exhibition that moves around in the region and we thought it would be very helpful for the university as community service to focus on awareness of water.
Since Saudi Arabia has the challenges of water scarcity, we thought it would be very appropriate to bring it to the community through our students and faculties and open the exhibition to the public.
(It is important) to think about the use and the misuse of water as the government spends 25 percent of oil and gas revenues on water desalination, which is expected to reach 50 percent by 2030.
It is very important for Saudis to be aware of the importance of water and what the government has to go through to get them fresh water.
” The exhibition continues till Jan. 31 and aims to address the issue of water scarcity and the sustainable use of water, both themes being of particular relevance nowadays.
It features social design and product design items by international designers, as well as artists from the wider Mediterranean region, related to different uses of water.
Renowned Saudi artist and designer Noura Bouzo contributed to the exhibition by creating an original item inspired by the traditional Islamic water filters in use many centuries ago across the Arab region.
“The Shapes of Water” is an example of the thriving cultural partnership between Italy and Saudi Arabia and concludes the year-long cultural program promoted by the Italian Embassy in Riyadh within the framework of the “Italy, Cultures and the Mediterranean”, a project aimed at fostering dialogue between Italy and the wider Mediterranean region in the cultural sector.
La Triennale di Milano is a prestigious Italian cultural institution founded almost a century ago with the aim of promoting art and design applied to everyday life.

The week-long exhibition features items by international designers, as well as artists from the wider Mediterranean region, related to the different uses of water The Italian Embassy in Riyadh, in cooperation with Prince Sultan University, will next week host an exhibition about water scarcity and the sustainable use of water.
The week-long exhibition features items by international designers, as well as artists from the wider Mediterranean region, related to the different uses of water.
“It aims to address the issue of water scarcity and the sustainable use of water, both themes being of particular relevance nowadays,” an embassy statement said Tuesday.
Entry to the exhibition will be open to the public on a daily basis until Jan. 31.
Admission is free but prior online registration is required at the following website: https://bit.ly/2D5ooLi.
These ornate objects were used to filter water, keep it cool, and prevent insects from falling in.
They were a reminder of the importance of saving water, the statement said.
The embassy added that the exhibition was an example of the thriving cultural partnership between Italy and Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia ranks among the top five countries in the world in terms of water scarcity, leading the Kingdom to change the way it produces, uses and distributes water to ensure sustainable growth.
About 50 percent of the country’s drinking water comes from desalination, 40 percent from the mining of non-renewable groundwater, and 10 percent from surface water in the mountainous regions, particularly the southwest.

Brother Nut filled 10,000 emptied bottles of Nongfu Spring water, a well-known brand of bottled water in China, with the polluted water that villagers have been drinking.
Air Pollution and the Meaninglessness This is not Brother Nut’s first exhibition, and it’s not his first time speaking for environmental issues.
“We can’t see the smog,” Brother Nut said.
“Turning it into a brick that we can touch, it’s not only for protesting against the air pollution, but also for the exploration of new recycling methods.” Brother Nut has expanded beyond pollution and environment for other art projects.
He explained in an interview with VICE China that the purpose of the project is to inform people: It’s not always easy to see the real values of things.
“People don’t like to do things that seem meaningless,” he said.
“But if there is a company that pays you for doing meaningless things, you may find the values that lie behind.” Upcoming Exhibition on Water Pollution After the first bottled water exhibition, the Environmental Protection Bureau of Yulin, Shaanxi started the investigation.
Brother Nut is concerned that it’s not enough for Xiaohaotu.
“There are many places like Xiaohaotu,” Brother Nut said.
“The background of this exhibition is not only the water pollution in Xiaohaotu, but the water pollution in worldwide.” 0 Want to see more stories like this?

In June 2017, five graduate students in the School of Architecture’s Landscape Architecture program spent a month travelling along the Dakota Access Pipeline, exploring its impact on local communities and the environment.
In 2016, thousands of activists and Native American groups gathered at a camp near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota to protest the construction of this pipeline.
The Standing Rock Sioux and other native tribes raised concerns that the underground pipeline would pass through sacred burial grounds.
Furthermore, it would travel underneath the Missouri River, the primary drinking water source for the Standing Rock Sioux.
Inspired by the Standing Rock protests and the interplay between land and politics, Abbas, Casstevens, Harris, Turett and Walker received funding from the School of Architecture’s Benjamin C. Howland Traveling Fellowship to travel to, research and document the landscape surrounding the pipeline.
“We just felt like it really needed this other lens that we felt like we had the capacity to give it.” The five students began their trip and spent most of their time in North Dakota and then followed the pipeline through South Dakota and Iowa.
Throughout these different places, the group also looked at physical aspects of the pipeline, including its width, depth and materials used in its construction.
Their drawings in the exhibit show both the broad landscapes of the areas that they travelled to as well as close-up details such as the plants and soil.
In January 2017, NASU and the Virginia Student Environmental Coalition (VSEC), formerly the Climate Action Society, organized a protest in which over 100 students, faculty and community members demonstrated against the Dakota Access Pipeline and several others.
Fourth-year College student and NASU member Evelyn Immonen values the architecture exhibit for its inclusion of multiple perspectives and the importance placed on firsthand experience.