A Day in Riyadh
A 24-metre interactive LED wall at the UN Headquarters brought the capital of Saudi Arabia to life through personal stories and real-scale visual narratives.
Passersby triggered citizens of Riyadh to appear with deeply human accounts of life in the city.
This immersive installation connected global decision-makers with the everyday realities and vibrant culture of a metropolis few had explored before.
The concept was a linear, interactive panorama that turned a passage zone into a space of encounter. A 24-metre LED wall, placed at a key junction in the UN building, showed an evolving urban landscape of Riyadh.
When visitors approached, the system triggered appearances of real Riyadh residents at life-size scale: students, entrepreneurs, athletes, journalists, engineers and others. Each shared short, personal statements about their lives, aspirations, and relationship to the city.
The visual language combined clean portrait framing, contextual city imagery, and subtle interface cues, so interaction felt intuitive without any explicit instructions.
Audience activated the installation by moving close to the screen, causing life-size figures from Riyadh to emerge and speak about their lives, hopes, and everyday experiences. Movement in the UN lobby became part of the dramaturgy: the more visitors engaged, the richer and more continuous the flow of stories.
This interplay between user and content created an emotional bond, transforming the UN lobby into a lively stage of human narratives.
The piece offered a textured portrayal of a pulsating metropolis with many facets, encouraging global visitors to rethink stereotypes and connect personally with Saudi culture.
During the 2016 UN General Assembly, diplomats and delegates from 193 countries crossed the same circulation spaces on tight schedules. The challenge was to speak to this highly formal, time-pressed audience with an experience that was clear at a glance yet deep enough to change perception.
The installation needed to present Riyadh as a diverse, contemporary city, not a generic backdrop, and to do so in a way that felt respectful, non-intrusive, and technically robust in a high-security environment.
The project introduced Riyadh’s social and cultural reality into one of the world’s most symbolic political spaces, without speeches or statistics. It created a low-threshold, emotionally accessible experience that complemented the policy debates of the General Assembly and promoted cross-cultural understanding in a setting usually dominated by protocol.
Lead Agency & Scenography: Boris Micka Associates
Music & Sound Design: Not a Machine