• The Comedy Lab @ Easy Tiger

    Al Ain Palace Hotel Corniche Road, Abu Dhabi

    MadCat’s standup team at its regular stop in the Easy Tiger bar in Abu Dhabi's Al Ain Palace. The door price of AED 99 includes two drinks ...

    AED 99
  • The Muppet Christmas Carol: dir Brian Henson (1992)

    Manarat al Saadiyat Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    The best film version of Dickens' novel? Ebenezer Scrooge (Michael Caine, obviously having a lot of fun) is visted on Christmas Eve by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. Together with kind, humble Bob Cratchit (Kermit the Frog) [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • The Holdovers: dir Alexander Payne (2023)

    Manarat al Saadiyat Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    A warm-hearted and thoughtful holiday story of three lonely, shipwrecked people who find support in the most unlikely of places. A curmudgeonly teacher (Paul Giamatti) is forced to remain on campus at a New England prep school over Christmas to [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • The Comedy Lab

    Radisson Red Dubai Digital Park, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai

    MadCat Comedy's regular stop in Silicon Oasis promises "insane laughs every week". Given the date, we'd expect something a bit special ... The door price of AED 99 includes two drinks.

    AED 99
  • Politically Incorrect Comedy

    Xandros Singature 1 Hotel, Barsha Heights, Dubai

    MadCat Comedy's regular standup night at Xandros in Signature 1 Hotel, TECOM. The cover charge of AED 80 includes one drink.

    AED 80
  • Joke Hub

    Canopy by Hilton Dubai Al Seef Al Seef Street, Umm Hurair 1, Dubai

    A regular MadCat Comedy night – "Dubai's wildest comedy show on Saturday" (sic). The cover charge of AED 99 includes two F&B coupons.

    AED 99
  • LAST CHANCE The Only Way Out Is Through: The Twentieth Line

    The Third Line Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Shumon Basar curates this project marking the gallery’s 20th anniversary, a look back on "two decades of The Third Line’s story in relation to global cultural, political, and economic shifts". The exhibition component features both early and more recent works from [ ... ]

  • LAST CHANCE Art Here 2025

    Louvre Abu Dhabi Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi

    The fifth edition of the Louvre Abu Dhabi Art Here exhibition, featuring six artworks by seven artists shortlisted for the Richard Mille Art Prize, has been curated by guest curator Sophie Mayuko Arni under the theme Shadows – "exploring the [ ... ]

    General admission AED 65
  • Beauty and the Beast: dir Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise (1991)

    Manarat al Saadiyat Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    A tale as old as time gets the Disney treatment, with added lustre from a newly restored print of this family-friendly animation: the beast (an enchanted prince, of course) tries to win the love of the young and beautiful Belle [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • The Comedy Lab @ Easy Tiger

    Al Ain Palace Hotel Corniche Road, Abu Dhabi

    MadCat’s standup team at its regular stop in the Easy Tiger bar in Abu Dhabi's Al Ain Palace. The door price of AED 99 includes two drinks ...

    AED 99
  • LAST CHANCE Fereydoun Ave, Raana Farnoud, Shaqayeq Arabi: IMPROVISATIONS

    Gallery Isabelle Unit 17, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The artists in this group show have distinct visual languages that do find commonalities: they "transform the familiar through acts of care, attention, and intuitive play ... a shared attentiveness to what is provisional, such as a line that wavers, [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Fertile Dreams

    Tabari Artspace Gate Village Level 2, DIFC, Dubai

    The group show brings together artists from the MENA region and its diaspora whose practices engage fertility as a generative force tied to questions of origin, transformation, and the cycles that govern land and self. Across drawing, painting, ceramics, textiles, [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Manar Abu Dhabi 2025

    [various Abu Dhabi locations] Abu Dhabi

    Manar Abu Dhabi returns for its second edition with the theme The Light Compass, presenting 19 newly commissioned light-based artworks by Emirati and international artists Key locations include Jubail Island, Souq Al Mina, and, for the first time, Al Ain’s [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Mohammad Alfaraj: Seas are sweet, fish tears are salty

    Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

    The first institutional solo exhibition of Mohammad Alfaraj brings together installations, photography, video works and site-specific commissions that respond to the gardens and outdoor spaces of the Jameel. Central to Alfaraj’s practice is his use of storytelling, both in written [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Aliyah Alawadhi: Girl Parts

    Bayt AlMamzar House 2, 26 Street, Al Mamzar, Dubai

    "Childhood is a half-remembered taste: sweet, sticky, and sometimes spoiled." In Girl Parts, her first solo exhibition, Aliyah Alawadhi expresses this residue in paint – bodies shimmering in pinks and creams, mouths agape, devouring and dreaming. Says the gallery: "These [ ... ]

  • LAST CHANCE SILA: All that is Left to You

    Maraya Art Centre Al Qasba, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

    In times of adversity, especially amid the ongoing devastation in Gaza, tatreez – the ancient practice of hand-embroidery, a foundational element of Palestinian intangible heritage – becomes an act of survival and defiance. This exhibition of works by 25 artists [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Salma Dib: Marks of Return

    Aisha Alabbar Gallery Warehouse C19, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    Drawing from the charged visual language of street walls in Palestine in this, her first solo exhibition in the UAE, Salma Dib transforms those surfaces of resistance into layered compositions that speak of loss, resilience, and collective memory. Her works [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Gil Heitor Cortesão: All That Is Solid

    CARBON 12 17th Street, Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Gil Heitor Cortesão's fifth solo show at CARBON 12 (it is also the gallery's 100th exhibition) presents a suite of large and small works extending his investigation into the fragile perceptive systems and architectures of modernity. Working with oil on [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE By the Movement of All Things

    Lawrie Shabibi Unit 21, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    A group exhibition curated by Hamzeh Alfarahneh of South African curatorial firm Art(Advisory) and featuring works by Hamra Abbas (Pakistan), Diana Al-Hadid (Syria-USA), Timo Nasseri (Iran-Germany), and four South Africans – Igshaan Adams, Moshekwa Langa, James Webb, and Bronwyn Katz. [ ... ]

    Free
  • Romeo and Juliet

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    This is a true classic of ballet, and it is always danced best by a company that follows the classical tradition rigorously – which is what you traditionally get from Russian companies, of course. This production is not from the [ ... ]

    From AED212.50
  • LAST CHANCE The Shape of Things to Come

    Efiɛ Gallery 2 Al Khayat Art Avenue, First Al Khail Street, Dubai

    A striking collection of artists feature in this group show, with works by El Anatsui, Iman Issa, Abdoulaye Konaté, Adam Pendleton, Yinka Shonibare and Carrie Mae Weems. Curated by Japan-based American curator Dexter Wimberly, the exhibition responds to "the shifting [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Printed Matter

    Fann à Porter The Workshop, Villa 45, St. 23b, off Al Wasl Road (opposite Box Park), Jumeirah 2, Dubai

    A group exhibition of photography and mixed media works by El3attar Film Collective – Cynthia Zahar, Georges Yammine, and Mohammad Al Hawajri. Through preserving and reconfiguring found materials, stories, and images, each artist tackles themes of memory, war, and change.

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Ali Kaaf: The Fire’s Edge 

    Ayyam Gallery B11, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Ali Kaaf’s first solo exhibition at Ayyam Gallery features his seminal body of work, the Rift series, alongside selected works from his Helmet and Ras Ras series. The Fire’s Edge evokes the fragile threshold where ancestral practices meet modern erasure [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHNACE Ali Kaaf: The Fire’s Edge

    Ayyam Gallery B11, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The artist’s first solo show at Ayyam Gallery features Kaaf’s seminal body of work from his Rift, Helmet and Ras Ras series. The Fire’s Edge evokes the fragile threshold where ancestral practices meet modern erasure, the line between scorched earth [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Kamrooz Aram: Domestic Compositions

    Green Art Gallery Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    A solo exhibition by Kamrooz Aram. The artist’s practice integrates sculpture, painting, and architecture, creating a context for viewing cultural artefacts in a way that brings them back into the present.

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Silajit Ghosh: Abstract Reality

    Andakulova Gallery Unit 18, P4 Level Damac Park Towers, DIFC , Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    A solo show for the noted Indian artist, whose paintings aim to explore the essence of reality rather than its literal representation. His signature use of strong colours evoke emotions rather than depictions – "his works feel like waves, each [ ... ]

    Free
  • Cinderella

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    A second performance by the Russian State Ballet Mari El, again Prokofiev and again one of the classics. We're promised magnificent costumes and sets plus the dancers’ skill and classical technique.

    From AED233.75
  • LAST CHANCE Daniel Arsham: What Remains

    Perrotin Gate Village Building 5, DIFC, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    A solo show by the American artist Daniel Arsham, known for his works of 'fictional archaeology' expressed through sculpture, architecture, drawing, and film – what he calls “future relics of the present.” This exhibition marks the 24th collaboration between the [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Mohammed Joha: Houselessness

    Zawyeh Gallery Warehouse 27, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    In his latest work, Palestinian artist Mohammed Joha redefines collage as "an architecture of rupture and reassembly, both a method and a metaphor". His works bring together scraps of fabric, paper, cardboard, plastic and other salvaged materials, textures pulled from [ ... ]

    Free
  • The Nutcracker

    Zabeel Theatre Jumeirah Zabeel Saray, Palm Jumeirah West Crescent, Dubai

    The Russian State Ballet Mari El is touring a selection of classic ballets around the UAE this week. This time it's Tchaikovsky’s evergreen seasonal favourite "in a dazzling production that blends classic choreography with fresh expression". There are shows at [ ... ]

    From AED 159
  • LAST CHANCE Besher Koushaji: Moments of Hope

    Firetti Contemporary Unit 29, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    Koushaji’s exhibitions continues his exploration of memory, resilience, and the human condition with a new body of work that “reflects on a world shaped by displacement, conflict, and uncertainty, yet illuminated by fleeting moments of beauty and strength”. His signature [ ... ]

    Free
  • Romeo and Juliet

    Zabeel Theatre Jumeirah Zabeel Saray, Palm Jumeirah West Crescent, Dubai

    The Russian State Ballet Mari El, a company known for its commitment to classical ballet technique, is touring a repertoire of ballet standards in the UAE. It has gained a reputation for the quality and accessibility of its performances; so [ ... ]

    From AED212.50
  • LAST CHANCEKwang Hyun Kim: Flytrap Anthology

    Volery Gallery Maze Tower - 5201, Dubai International Financial Center, Dubai

    A solo show for the Korean artist reflecting Kim’s belief that we live within a paradox where we can be both predators and shelter for one another. Says the gallery: "despite this contradiction we continue to reach outward, to connect, [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Lala Rukh II: The importance of staying quiet

    Grey Noise Unit 24 Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The first part of this series, Lala Rukh I, presented a selection of photographs from the artist’s archives during her years at the University of Chicago (1974-76). Its speculative framework helped us to stage the evolution of Lala’s photographic sensibility, [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Ala Younis: Past of a Temporal Universe

    NYUAD Art Gallery Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    This mid-career retrospective marks the first institutional survey in the region for Ala Younis. It includes archival installations, textiles, murals, mosaics, and drawings spanning the last two decades of her hybrid practice as an artist-researcher-curator. There will also be some [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Mamluks: Legacy of an Empire

    Louvre Abu Dhabi Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi

    An exhibition on the rich heritage of the Mamluk Sultanate, a dynasty that ruled a vast expanse of territory encompassing the most significant Islamic holy sites for more than 250 years (1250–1517), with more than 270 works  gatheredfrom 34 museums [ ... ]

    General admission AED 65
  • LAST CHANCE Nja Mahdaoui: the Choreographer of Letters

    Bassam Freiha Art Foundation Cultural District Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi

    This focused retrospective surveys over six decades of practice by the Tunisian multimedia artist Nja Mahdaoui, an influential figures in Arab modern art who repurposed Arabic calligraphy into a visual and abstract contemporary art form. This show, o-curated by Michaela [ ... ]

  • LAST CHANCE Al Burda Exhibition: The Shape of Meaning

    Bassam Freiha Art Foundation Cultural District Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi

    In response to the Nja Mahdaoui retrospective in the main gallery at BFAF, this exhibition presents loans from the Ministry of Culture’s Al Burda exhibitions from 2008 to 2023. Al Burda was/is an annual exhibition where contemporary artists engage with [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Hybrid Vistas

    NIKA Project Space Unit 11 Al Khayat Avenue, 19th Street Road — Al Quoz 1, Dubai

    A group show with Adel Abidin, Daniele Genadry, Ali Kaeini, Katya Muromtseva, and Melissa Rios that explores "how landscape is transformed in an age of post-human thought, climate disruption, and hybrid perception ... This is a space where nature is [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Leda Catunda: I like to like what others are liking

    Al Mureijah Square Sharjah

    The most comprehensive solo exhibition to date of Brazilian artist Leda Catunda outside her home country. Sharjah Art Foundation is presenting four decades of Catunda’s practice, tracing the transformation of her art from figurative painting to hybrid forms that explore [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Bady Dalloul: Self-portrait with a Cat I Don’t Have

    Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

    An extended solo exhibition for the Syrian-French artist, curated by Art Jameel’s Lucas Morin. Self-portrait with a cat I don’t have is Bady Dalloul’s first institutional solo exhibition in the United Arab Emirates. Blending autobiographical anecdotes with stories of individuals [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE And After

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    A group exhibition with 15 Arab artists that explores the element of air and its various states through the lens of Arabic terminology, specifically Sukoon, Hawaa, Naseem and Riyah. The exhibition, curated by Dirwaza Curatorial Lab, invites audiences to reconnect [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim: Two Clouds in the Night Sky

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    A solo show celebrating the work of Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, a massively influential figure in the development of contemporary art in the UAE. He was part of the UAE's first generation of contemporary artists from the late 1980s, an avant-garde [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook: The Bouquet and the Wreath

    Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

    The acclaimed Thai artist’s first international large-scale survey exhibition brings together works from the last 45 years alongside new commissions. Including performance, video and installations plus some large-scale sculptures not seen since the 1990s, the exhibition fills the indoor galleries, [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE The Dice Player: Mahmoud Darwish

    House of WIsdom Al Juraina 1, Sharjah

    A celebration of the life and work of the great Palestinian poet (b.1941  d.2008) that unfolds across six themed sections – The Son explores his childhood in Al-Birwa; The Poet highlights his early literary beginnings; The Exiled follows his displacement [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Golden Ink: A Journey through Arab and Islamic Manuscripts

    Qasr Al Watan Ras Al Akhdar, Abu Dhabi

    This flagship travelling exhibition, run in collaboration with McGill University, Canada, is a great chance to explore the richness, inherent beauty, and global impact of the heritage of Arabic and Islamic manuscripts. The exhibition promises an exploration of the intellectual [ ... ]

    General admission AED 65
  • Marwan: A Soul in Exile

    Concrete Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    As part of Alserkal Art Week, and marking 20 years since Christie’s first Dubai auction dedicated to Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art, this exhibition of works by the Syrian-German artist Marwan Kassab-Bachi (1934–2016) was first shown at Christie’s London [ ... ]

  • LAST CHANCE Marwan: A Soul in Exile

    Concrete Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    As part of Alserkal Art Week, and marking 20 years since Christie’s first Dubai auction dedicated to Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art, this exhibition of works by the Syrian-German artist Marwan Kassab-Bachi (1934–2016) was first shown at Christie’s London [ ... ]

  • LAST CHANCE The Poetry of Birds

    L'ÉCOLE Middle East, School of Jewelry Arts Building 10, Dubai Design District, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Following previous editions of this exhibition in Paris and Tokyo, L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts aims to offer a dialogue between 19th and 20th-century Western jewellery and Islamic arts, with poetry as the common thread. Jewels, precious objects, and gouaché [ ... ]

    Free