Intimate Correspondence via the Unseen: Anatomy of the Unseen Exhibition Review
Written by Mizuho Yamazaki
“Through those activities, Anatomy of the Unseen unfolds as more than an exhibition; it becomes a living encounter shaped by hospitality, exchange, and shared imagination.”
Curatorial Premise: From Personal Practice to Collective Inquiry
“My practice as an artist has revolved around the notions of fantastic beings that are often shaped by fears, joys, wishes, dreams, nightmares… which are all infused into embodiment. Coming in as a curator, I wanted to expand the concepts that intrigued my own practice, and present it as an exhibition to see how other artists interpret and reply to them in a free way.”
Abdulmohsen Albinali, the artist and founder of the artist-led salon and residential space in AlUla, The N.E.S.T. (New Experimental Salon for Travelers), opened his mouth as above for the on-going exhibition, Anatomy of the Unseen.
Installation views, Anatomy of the Unseen. Courtesy of the N.E.S.T. (New Experimental Salon for Travelers). Photo by: Lorenzo Arrigoni.
The N.E.S.T.: Autonomy and the Artist-Run Ecology
The N.E.S.T. is an experimental platform that operates outside of the institutional frameworks to grant genuine autonomy to artists. Established in 2024, the venue has both an exhibition space and a residential area. Just as travelers made a short rest in the city during their pilgrimage erstwhile, artists are invited to stay, exchange, create, and leave traces of their practice at The N.E.S.T.
Courtesy of the N.E.S.T. (New Experimental Salon for Travelers). Photo by: Lorenzo Arrigoni
Conceptual Framework: Alam Al-Ghayb — The Unseen World
For the second exhibition of the only independent cultural space in AlUla, Albinali also stepped up as a curator and developed the idea of Alam Al-Ghayb –“the unseen world”– in liaison with his fellow artists. Alam Al-Ghayb denotes the unseen domains of spiritual reality, destiny, and divine knowledge that lie beyond human awareness. This term bolsters Albinali’s practice as a multi-disciplinary artist as well. As a new attempt in his artistic journey, Albinali sent invitations to other artists, asking how they would respond to the exhibition’s core idea. 19 artists from around the world answered with their own expressions, which brought Anatomy of the Unseen to fruition.
Domestic Space as Portal: Intimacy and Intrusion
One of the exhibition artists, Tamara Kalo, a Lebanese-French interdisciplinary artist, showcases the video performance, How Do You Sleep at Night (2024). Wrapping a bed with green tape, the work captures how the bed, the most private space, becomes a portal between the intimate and the digital, revealing how political unrest and digital violence disrupt rest and seep into private space.
Tamara Kalo, How Do You Sleep at Night, Courtesy of the N.E.S.T. (New Experimental Salon for Travelers). Photo by: Lorenzo Arrigoni.
Architecture, Landscape, and Memory
Also looking into the house essentials, KAWKAB’s mixed-media sculptural work, Echoes through Portal #3 (the Windows) (2025), brings the landscape of AlUla into the exhibition space. A window is transformed into a living gateway that releases fragments of memory, landscape, and time, revealing hidden connections between past and present, reality and imagination.
Mashael Alsaie, Bahraini photographer and video artist, explores land and water as witnesses to buried memory in her photographs, Bleeding from Within (2025). In these works, viewers observe when the landscape silently testifies to wounds beneath the surface rather than offering healing.
On the other hand, The Mound by multidisciplinary Saudi artist Abeer Sultan uses a termite mound as a metaphor to shed light on buried histories and ancestral memory, embodied by a bride figure guarded by a serpent-like presence. All the artists are reflecting on the thesis of the unseen organically and vividly.
Abeer Sultan, The Mound, Courtesy of the N.E.S.T. (New Experimental Salon for Travelers). Photo by: Lorenzo Arrigoni.
Mashael AlSaie, Bleeding from Within, Courtesy of the N.E.S.T. (New Experimental Salon for Travelers). Photo by: Lorenzo Arrigoni.
Public Program: Ritual, Hospitality, and Shared Experience
The N.E.S.T. often arranges public programs in relation to the exhibition as well. On February 3, 2026, the exhibition artist Zeynep Tunaboylu in collaboration with Sedat Özkan presented a dinner on the rooftop of the salon’s building, overlooking the mountains of AlUla under the moon and stars. The two Turkish cinematographers prepared a course menu, which were inspired by their home dishes with a hint of other cultures that they had encountered on their journeys. There were also films, music, and mini-games orchestrated to tell and amplify the stories of each dish, allowing guests not only to taste the dishes but also to watch, hear, and feel the whole experience. The unique public program is also a strength of the artist-run space, making the experience unforgettable for those who visit the site.
Courtesy of the N.E.S.T. (New Experimental Salon for Travelers). Photos: Sedat Özkan.
Conclusion: A Living Encounter and Site of Passage
Through those activities, Anatomy of the Unseen unfolds as more than an exhibition; it becomes a living encounter shaped by hospitality, exchange, and shared imagination. The diverse artistic responses to Alam Al-Ghayb reveal how the unseen manifests across bodies, landscapes, memories, and rituals, blurring boundaries between the spiritual and the material. Anchored by The N.E.S.T.’s commitment to autonomy and experimentation, the project affirms AlUla as a site of pause and passage, where artists and audiences alike are invited to dwell briefly and carry traces of their journeys beyond the space itself.
