magpie

Reading for Pleasure Conference
2025-05-09 - 2025-05-11 | Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Al Razi St, Umm Hurair 2, Dubai Healthcare City, Dubai
The second edition of this Emirates Literature Foundation conference brings together a diverse selection of educators and experts from across the globe, including some of the most influential voices in the fields. The aim: to discuss and offer guides to best practice with the overall aim of fostering a love of reading amongst children. This year’s theme, Beyond the Classroom, focuses on the need to extend the scope of reading and associated activities, considering such issues as reading with STEM, inclusivity, the impact of AI on reading, and topics as explorative as reading art and keeping culture alive for children. Perhaps the tone will be set by the opening session, which has the title ‘Reading in schools – we’re doing it wrong’; librarian and library adviser Alan Jacques has the hot seat for this one, which he’s amplified as ‘Literacy rates are up and yet global statistics show that reading level are down … what’s happening?’
The conference runs afternoons only 9 to 11 May. It is definitely one for librarians, teachers and other professionals, but there will be important learnings for parents too …

Youth Takeover 2025
2025-05-10 - 2025-06-02 | Jameel Arts Centre, Al Jaddaf, Dubai
The Jameel’s annual Youth Takeover is the manifestation of the Assembly, an experimental learning programme designed to foster creative leaders aged 18 to 24 in the UAE, “inviting the creation and curation of projects reflective of their generation’s areas of interest”. The Assembly 2024-2025 cohort comprises multimedia graphic designer Abrar Kebaili, visual artist and designer Ayesha Fernandes, multimedia designer and writer Desirée Barreto, literary artist Ioanna Orphanide, poet Jared Maxilom, researcher and writer Manal Nadeem, architect and researcher Omar Darwish, exhibition designer Sanjushrree Subash, and poet Syed Haider.
This year’s theme for the Youth Takeover – a physical takeover of spaces on the Jameel’s ground floor – is titled ‘Spoon Spade Shovel’. It covers experiments in how the Assembly members dig, sift and stir through the world, “offering a network of creative experiences as tools for excavation, reflection and play … The exhibition presents a range of interdisciplinary works that use tools – literal and metaphorical – to question how we make and remake meaning”. These works sit uneasily beside one another, but their differences are invitations rather than obstacles “whether you sift or stir, extract or excavate, your experience will be shaped by the tool you reach for: its size, scale, heft and intent. You are invited to inhabit this instability and co-compose the meanings that emerge … What you take from this exhibition depends on what you bring to it”.
The artists are:
Ayesha Fernandes with Svabhu Kohli
Desirée Barreto with Angie Pais and Mouza Al Hamrani
Ioanna Orphanide with Danae Orphanide and Ilya Akimov
Jared Maxilom with Halo-Halo Experiment, Vinyl Souk and memoryall
Manal Nadeem with Khaled Esguerra and Jed Bacason
Omar Darwish with Fatma Al Ali and Maitha Ali
Sanjushrree Subash with Danutė Vaitekūnaitė and Farheen Fatima
Syed Haider with Hessa Lootah, Souldier and Aqib Anwar
Besides the commissioned artworks, the Youth Takeover 2025 features a public programme. These are all free, but re-registration is required:
10 May 10
– Opening Preview and panel discussion with the Assembly 2024-2025 members and programme curators Abhirami Suresh and Nabeeha Sajjad
– Musical Activation: Translating Oscillations by artist Mckie Alvarez
– Musical Performance: ABRI
11 May
– Workshop: Synthesising Landscapes (Part 1) with Assembly members Ayesha Fernandes and Ioanna Orphanide
17 May
– Tour: Assembly-led exhibition tour
– Workshop: Portable Beats – DIY Music with Pocket Operators. Music production workshop by artist PHO, in collaboration with Vinyl Souk
– Gathering: Storytelling – The Journey of Design by graphic designer Poorvaja Subramanian and Assembly member Abrar Kebaili
– Musical Activation: Translating Oscillations by Madam Void
18 May
– Workshop: You may now sleep? by artist Henry Tan
– Themed activation: me.me con by artist Fatima Raza and Assembly member Desiree Barreto
24 May
– Performance Tour: And the Tools Begin to Speak – Poets in Response to Spoon Spade Shovel by poets Ahmed Gihad Hamad, Dania Dawn, Jared Maxilom, Malavika Suresh, Pankaj Kanchandani, Sarah Afaneh, Shania Laude and Syed Haider
– Performance: lorem ipsum 9-to-5 by Andres Ugartechea
– Musical activation: Translating Oscillations by Joe Najm
25 May
– Tour: Assembly-led Youth Takeover 2025 tour
– Workshop: Between the Gesture and the Ground by artists Aya Afaneh and Yoonsik Chico Park
– Workshop: Dwelling in the In-between: A Workshop of Waiting, Devotion and Movement by writer and performance artist Faraz Ali
31 May
– Tour and workshop: Family Saturdays at the Jameel by Assembly member Ayesha Fernandes
– Workshop: Monuments and Enchantment – Inhabiting Urban Space by artist-researcher Maitha Ali
– Musical activation: Translating Oscillations by PHO
1 June
– Interactive performance: Synthesising Landscapes (Part 2) by artists Aakarsh Singh and Ahmed Bilal
– Musical activation: Feedback Loops: A Sunset Sound Gathering by artists Cyrill Reaidy and Kirill Zhan of Moist Paper Party

Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial: Bik Van der Pol’s The poem that jumps the fence
2025-05-11 14:30 - 16:00 (Asia/Dubai) | Abu Dhabi Beach, Al Hisn Street, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Artist duo Bik Van der Pol (Liesbeth Bik and Jos Van der Pol) engage in collaborative projects on how art constructs public spaces for speculative thought and collective creativity. The poem that jumps the fence features weekly performances on Abu Dhabi Beach and workshops connecting words and sand as real and symbolic material that binds our world; every Sunday afternoon, a performer writes a poem in the sand, only for it to fade away. During workshops in collaboration with local poets and writers, participants generate text for the performances.

Performance Co/Lab
2025-05-11 16:00 - 18:00 | 421 Arts Campus, Mina Zayed, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
An ongoing programme of performance exercises such as contact improvisation, breath work, acting warm-ups, games, and techniques aimed at “performing artists, creatives, and curious individuals looking to explore movement practices. Instructors are multidisciplinary theatre artist and game designer Carlos Páez González; and dance creator, director, and teacher Mary Chase.
These sessions are free, but spaces are limited …

Gravity & Other Myths: The Pulse
2025-05-11 17:00 - 18:30 | Dubai Opera
The final chance to see this performance of modern circus at its best from a top Australian company. An award-winning creative team of director Darcy Grant, designer Geoff Cobham and composer Ekrem Eli Phoenix have extended and amplified the signature spirit of this rather unique company: visceral, poetic, heart-stopping feats with seemingly impossible levels of cooperation create an intricate, organic synchronicity of human movement and sound …
