Good Water draws inspiration from Saudi Arabian hospitality.
London Design Biennale 2025 has announced details for the Saudi Pavilion. Running from 5 to 29 June at Somerset House, the festival is in its fifth edition. The exhibition Good Water brings together Saudi Arabian artists, and explores the politics behind water.
London Design Biennale 2025's Saudi Pavilion brings together artists including Aziz Jamal, Dur Kattan, Fahad bin Naif and Alaa Tarabzouni. The pavilion is an initiative by the Saudi Architecture and Design Commission, which is led by CEO Dr. Sumaya Al-Sulaiman.
The multidisciplinary design explores our relationship with water, the distribution of water, and who ultimately has access to water. At the heart of the pavilion is a sabeel – a free water fountain – which is a symbol of hospitality. While the fountain makes water accessible to everyone, it also explores wider topics. For example, it raises the question of who pays for the free water and what it costs.
Alaa Tarabzouni, Aziz Jamal, Dur Kattan and Fahad bin Naif, explained: "The pavilion uses familiar elements to draw attention to water's hidden economies, encouraging the visitors to drink with awareness, to acknowledge the price, and to understand that while the cost of free (good) water is borne by someone else, it truly costs everyone.
"In cities where sabeel are commonplace, their presence is often taken for granted, their function seen as a simple act of public service. But by relocating this familiar structure to the London Design Biennale 2025, where water scarcity is not an everyday concern, we reframe it as an object of scrutiny. We aim to force a shift in perception, making the invisible visible, the passive active."
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