Under a vast canopy of tents in the Saudi city of Jeddah, religious artefacts are on display alongside contemporary art pieces, part of the kingdom's bid to transform its ultraconservative image.

The second edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale, titled "And All That Is In Between", features as its centrepiece segments of the "kiswa", the black cloth embroidered with gold and silver that covers the Kaaba, the cubic building towards which all Muslims pray.

Hundreds more works are on display at the west terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport in the coastal city, including valuable objects on loan from London's Victoria & Albert Museum and the Louvre in Paris, and rare artefacts from the Vatican Library such as a medieval Quran in Hebrew script.

"This bringing together of the contemporary and the past really emphasises the change that Saudi Arabia is going through," said Saudi artist Muhannad Shono, curator of the exhibition.

Home to Islam's holiest sites, the kingdom has long been dominated by Wahhabism, a........

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