In the last few years the Ras Al Khaimah Art Festival has grown into a solid contributor to the UAE’s arts and culture scene, with a community-oriented twist to the mix of exhibitions, performances, workshops and film screenings. There’s always [ ... ]
This living expression of Abu Dhabi's Culture is always worth a visit. The emphasis is on heritage, so the Al Hosn programme includes traditional souks, performances (lots of ayyalah), food, coffee, kids’ workshops and more. It runs 4pm to 11pm [ ... ]
The 14th edition of what has become one of Dubai Culture's flagship initiatives is back in Al Shindagha Historic District, this year with the theme ‘Imagining Dubai: Identities of the Future’. The festival promises "a diverse array of artworks" in [ ... ]
Reel Palestine returns to Cinema Akil for its 12th edition, running from 23 January to 1 February,. The programme this year has 29 screenings, including two Academy Award–nominated titles, reflecting the breadth of contemporary Palestinian cinema across fiction, documentary, and [ ... ]
The 10th edition of the Xposure International Photography Festival features a wide-ranging agenda featuring 95 exhibitions, 3,200 artworks, and more than 570 events – among them 126 talks and panel discussions, 72 workshops, and 280 portfolio review sessions. There’s also [ ... ]
The Arts Center's mini-Womad for artists who mix modern/Western ideas with traditional/regional styles returns with three good-looking acts (each of whom will play for about an hour, which makes the door price a bit of a bargain). Yasmine Hamdan (above) [ ... ]
The final performance in the UAENO's inaugural concert series, the first with its full ensemble of 70 musicians and 30 choir. The programme: Alexander Borodin Prince Igor – Polovtsian Dances (arr Shakir Hassan) Ercan Saatçi Alisamadim for Qanun and Orchestra [ ... ]
MadCat Comedy's regular stop in Silicon Oasis promises "insane laughs every week". The door price of AED 99 includes two drinks.
Dubomedy is bringing its Friday Night Comedy format to Abu Dhabi, specifically a new standup venue at Surf Abu Dhabi's Nalu restaurant on Al Hudayriyat. The Dubai original at Social Distrikt has become a staple of the city’s live entertainment [ ... ]
“Bold, dazzling, and unapologetically fun ... jazz standards and iconic pop hits reimagined into sultry, high-voltage showpieces”. Olesia Glants has a great voice and real stage presence, so this should be a good gig.
What exactly is 'art'? Yasmina Reza's cult comedy classic uses that as the starting point for a caustic examination of the potentially fragile architecture of friendship. One of the three friends has just bought a very expensive painting – it's [ ... ]
MadCat Comedy's regular standup night at Xandros in Signature 1 Hotel, TECOM. The cover charge of AED 80 includes one drink.
The now-regular Friday and Saturday dates for late-evening jazz at Dubai Opera's studio appears to be settling into a fine groove. This time it's the Egyptian pianist and composer, one of the Middle East's most distinctive jazz artists, leading a [ ... ]
This first solo exhibition in the Middle East for the SF-based Libyan-Yurok artist takes its title from a poem by Joy Harjo, which considers cycles of transformation across land, water, and time, moving from submerged environments to human settlement and industrial [ ... ]
For the next event in its SAT03 public programme, Sharjah Architecture Triennial presents a conversation on reimagining the city and the possibilities of architecture beyond its conventional boundaries. Led by Vyjayanthi Rao and Tau Tavengwa, Curator and Associate Curator of [ ... ]
The Ukrainian pianist and composer (multiple awards, six studio albums, performances around the world) is back at the Fridge with a new show: working between two grand pianos, he performs pieces that explore the wonder of childhood and the vast [ ... ]
Yasmina Reza's cult comedy classic uses three friends' reactions to an expensive all-white painting to examine the dynamics of friendship. Spoiler alert: it's not really about art per se – the white painting is just the catalyst, but it does [ ... ]
A regular MadCat Comedy night – "Dubai's wildest comedy show on Saturday" (sic). The cover charge of AED 99 includes two F&B coupons.
Tona is Cuban trumpeter Tonatiut Isidron, well known to Dubai audiences. With his friends he makes up a high-energy quartet that delivers a fusion of classic jazz with modern improvisation. Should be good, even at this slightly elevated price (which [ ... ]
Yasmina Reza's cult comedy classic uses three friends' reactions to an expensive all-white painting to examine the dynamics of friendship. Spoiler alert: it's not really about art per se – the white painting is just the catalyst, but it does [ ... ]
The third Mini Festival promises to transform 25hours Hotel One Central into a vibrant hub for alternative music, creativity, and community – six rooms, live bands, DJs and vinyl selectors, workshops and talks, film screenings, a record fair, and a [ ... ]
Dubomedy's standup night at Social Distrikt returns. This has become a bit of a fixture: good vibes, good comedy, and "you never know who will pop in". Recommended. It's free, but it's popular, so pre-booking is recommended to get a [ ... ]
Known for his dramatic performances, an edgy take on classical crossover, and roguish good looks, the young Serbian piano virtuoso infuses classical music with dance beats while (mostly) keeping his intricate playing to the fore in his arrangements. Mrvica definitely [ ... ]
The acclaimed Japanese choreographer, in town for his performance piece Ink in a couple of days' time, explores how movement becomes conversation. In this workshop, participants learn to sense and respond to the subtle messages within their own bodies and [ ... ]
A one-night special where male and female teams go head-to-head in fast, improvised games. No scripts, no planning — expect fierce rivalry, loads of mischief and some serious acting moves as the judges score each round. By the end of [ ... ]
Behind the precision of robotics and the poetry of movement lies a story of resilience and grace. In this talk, Huang Yi reflects on how scarcity became a source of creativity and how gratitude continues to guide his work and [ ... ]
The UAE National Orchestra's second concert programme unfolds in three movements: Emerging Love, Passionate Love, and Eternal Love. There's no information about the music, but we're told that "at the heart of this journey, the ney traces a path of [ ... ]
The Courtyard's popular evening of elimination improv. Ten actors converge for a night of scenes, songs and games based on audience suggestions. After each round you score the players on a scale of 1 to 5, and the one with [ ... ]
New work from the Saudi artist, who has been exhibited all over the Middle East since 1999. His practice is shaped by poetry from the Arab world and "the complex intersections between modern spaces and personal freedoms"; he aims to [ ... ]
An expressionist exploration of the city that captures Dubai as it is felt, rather than as it is seen. "Through expressive brushstrokes, colour becomes a language, revealing the city’s complexity – its energy, diversity, and profound contradictions." To 5 February.
The Middle East's newest art fair opens with a core presentation of 87 galleries and 84 artists (more than half of whom come from the region) plus a Special Projects programme of nine large-scale, site-specific sculptures, installations, and performances in [ ... ]
Huang Yi was last seen in Abu Dhabi in The Arts Center’s inaugural season, dancing with an industrial robot. This time he takes the ‘dance meets tech’ idea in new directions; in this collaboration with audiovisual pioneer Ryoichi Kurokawa, the [ ... ]
The Laughter Factory bookers are on a bit of a roll right now, which might be enough to justify the door price hike (from AED 160 to 175). The February tour has another good collection of standups: Paul Tonkinson Terrific [ ... ]
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 [ ... ]
Huma Shoaib has always been an interesting, thoughtful artist, creating patterns from sacred geometry and looking for analogies in life and nature. She often uses paper cut silhouettes layered with detailed graphite drawings that typically adds three-dimensional depth to otherwise [ ... ]
The debut exhibition in the UAE by the emerging Egyptian artist draws inspiration from Hawam's hometown of El Mahalla El Kubra in Gharbeya Governorate – its countryside, colours, and the faces of people who shaped his early life. Working in [ ... ]
The Jameel's introduction to careers in the creative sector, aimed primarily at school and college students, is back. Past editions were given to somewhat unwieldy titles, and this one continues the trend with Art as a Voice: How do you [ ... ]
The Jameel's introduction to careers in the creative sector, aimed primarily at school and college students, continues with its mix of stands run by potential employers and educators (over 30 UAE organisations and universities) and a busy programme of workshops [ ... ]
This UAE National Orchestra concert looks like a really interesting (and challenging) option – music by the baroque master composer rescored for the instruments, modes and sounds of the Arab world: "a musical dialogue emerges, as harpsichord converses with qanun and [ ... ]
Culture Emulsion’s production (in French, of course) of the popular comedy by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière that premiered in 2010 and went on to become a successful film adaptation. It’s a story about names and family relationships; [ ... ]
The February Laughter Factory tour has another good collection of standups: Paul Tonkinson Terrific live performer with an effervescent style and some great caricatures in his repertoire. A former (double winner) Time Out Comedian of the Year Pierre Hollins Another [ ... ]
Filipino indie folk-pop band known for soulful melodies and rich harmonies come to the Main Stage at Global Village. The gig is free with general admission.
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 [ ... ]
More than 30 new paintings, offering a comprehensive survey of the artist’s recent work. This show approaches ancestry as a living presence rather than a distant past, reflecting on civilizations whose surviving traces – clay tablets, systems of law and [ ... ]
While Jorge Tacla was only an adolescent during the 1973 coup against Chile’s democratically-elected socialist president Salvador Allende, the upheaval left an irrevocable mark on his politics and practice. Titled after a line from a TS Eliot poem, Tacla’s "most [ ... ]
The motifs of the sun and its intense heat as well as the sand and its pervasive orange hue often serve to represent and condense the Gulf’s complex ecologies and aspirations. This selection of recent and newly commissioned works by [ ... ]
The February Laughter Factory tour has another good collection of standups: Paul Tonkinson Terrific live performer with an effervescent style and some great caricatures in his repertoire. A former (double winner) Time Out Comedian of the Year Pierre Hollins Another [ ... ]
Dubomedy's standup night at Social Distrikt – good vibes, good comedy, and "you never know who will pop in". Recommended. It's free, but it's popular, so pre-booking is recommended to get a seat. And there's a minimum spend of one [ ... ]
The debut solo exhibition in the Middle East for the Chinese-born London-based artist, known for her luscious sweeps of colour and a mordant wit (“Good Girls Go To Heaven, Cool Girls Go Everywhere”). This show presents a new body of [ ... ]
Animenia returns to Manarat Al Saadiyat with five days of cosplay, music, food, and J-pop culture – “step inside a world inspired by the hidden corners of Neo-Tokyo, where glowing signs, colourful characters, and offbeat discoveries bring anime culture to [ ... ]
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