The sabeel, a free water fountain often visible at mosques and other public spaces, is the focal point of Good Water, an exhibition at Saudi’s National Pavillion at the London Design Biennale 2025. Water is central to the history of Saudi’s land, which is the source of the miraculous zam zam well discovered during the time of the Prophet Abraham. Today, the kingdom is the world’s largest producer of desalinated water.
“The practice of offering free drinking water, embodied by the sabeel, is deeply rooted in our cultural landscape,” explains Dur Kattan, who formed a multidisciplinary design collective with fellow artists Alaa Tarabzouni, Aziz Jamal, and Fahad bin Naif. “It reflects a shared value system where hospitality is not just about hosting guests but about ensuring that even strangers and passersby are cared for. Providing water has historically been both a necessity and a virtue: a humble act of service that quietly speaks volumes about solidarity, community care and ethical responsibility.”
Photo: Dur Kattan
For the exhibition, which was commissioned by the Kingdom’s Architecture and Design Commission, the artists ponder questions such as, who pays for ‘free’ water? And what does it truly cost? In line with the Biennale’s theme, which is “Surface Reflections”, the collective deconstructs concepts like generosity, infrastructure, access and contradiction as they examine seemingly altruistic intentions behind the idea of the sabeel.
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Photo: Alaa Tarabzouni
“We want to present it as a symbol of interdependence, a challenge to commodification and a call to collective responsibility,” says Tarabzouni. “Ultimately, Good Water invites visitors to consider water not as a commodity to be consumed, but as a sacred right, deeply engrained in ethical, ecological and communal frameworks.”
Good Water runs from 5-29 June at Somerset House in London
