18 September 2025

Marwan Bassiouni: New Western Views (Preview)

Lawrie Shabibi Unit 21, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

This first solo exhibition in the region for Bassiouni offers a first look at an ongoing international project that reframes landscape photography through the lens of lived Muslim presence in the contemporary West. Each of these photographs – taken from [ ... ]

Free

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 [ ... ]

Elias Izoli: Inside Out ‘25

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

After a long break from painting, Izoli has returned with a new body of work centred around "the circus of life" – Izoli uses the circus as a metaphor for the unpredictability and complexity of life as a Syrian citizen. [ ... ]

Free

Abdelkader Benchamma: Rumors from the Skies

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

Says the gallery: "Drawing on literature, philosophy, and astrophysics, Benchamma transforms celestial phenomena into symbolic landscapes that invite us to move beyond the material and the real, into dimensions where the rational and the fantastical coexist". For his third solo [ ... ]

Free

Mahmoud El Safadi: Personal Sea

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

Exhibiting for the first time in Dubai, Lebanese artist Mahmoud El Safadi is showing a collection of miniature paintings on playing cards, a series of works that reflect on the Mediterranean as a site of memory, inheritance, and continuity – [ ... ]

Free

Mona Al Khaja: Caravan of Colors

Aisha Alabbar Gallery Warehouse C19, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

A retrospective celebrating over four decades of work by the Sharjah-born artist. It traces Mona Al Khaja’s journey from her studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo to her continued exploration of abstraction, symbolism, and colou, featuring works [ ... ]

Free

The Narrative of Decline

Carbon 12 Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Bernhard Buhmann curates this group show based on the idea that plunging downwards is both terrifying and liberating – the gallery quotes Andrea Roelig: "We stand between death and life, and decline is dangerously enticing because it also carries an [ ... ]

Free

Gail Spaien: Arranging Flowers

Taymour Grahne Projects Warehouse 31A, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

The inaugural show of Taymour Grahne's new project space in Dubai features the Maine-based painter, the recipient of numerous fellowships amd now (after 30 years as faculty at the Maine College of Art and Design) a full time artist. Her [ ... ]

Free

Edges of Perception

Waddington Custot Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

A group show of paintings, sculptures, and photographs by a number of well-known contemporary artists that explore contrasts of material, form, and colour. The artists: Kenia Almaraz Murillo Nick Brandt Ian Davenport Hubert Le Gall Umberto Mariani Landon Metz Marc [ ... ]

Free

Heritage, Memory & The Body

Artbooth Gallery Centro Capital Center, Al Khaleej Al Arabi Street, Abu Dhabi

A group exhibition for four distinguished Palestinian women artists – Rania Amoudi, Dina Matar, Fatima Abu Rumi, and Marwa Alnajjar – that offers a powerful counterpoint to static portrayals of femininity and nationhood. Grounded in place yet transcending borders, the [ ... ]

Free

Amina Illuminati

Rarares Galllery Zone C, Gate Avenue, DIFC, Dubai

Says the gallery: “In an era of visual noise and the relentless pace of modern life, Amina Illuminati offers a moment of stillness — a space where matter becomes light, and form becomes revelation”. It’s a group show for work [ ... ]

Free

Ammar Al Attar: Silent Residues

Iris Projects Studio 20, Madar 39, MiZa, Port Zayed, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

The first solo exhibition for a key figure of the contemporary avant-garde in the UAE, curated by Nasser Abdullah. This series engages with abandoned and derelict spaces across the Emirates in a playful, insightful way. Often using desert settings and [ ... ]

Free

Monif Ajaj: Shams

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

New ink drawings on paper and acrylic paintings on canvas from the French-based Belorussian artist that offer viewers a journey through colour, symbolism, and contemplation. These are works that "reflect on the mystical power of nature, its geometry and order, [ ... ]

Free

Bady Dalloul: Self-portrait with a Cat I Don’t Have

Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

Bady Dalloul’s first institutional solo exhibition in the UAE is an extended solo show curated by Art Jameel’s Lucas Morin. The artworks feature fragile heroes and ordinary people navigating systems larger than themselves; Dalloul repurposes everyday materials (including books, matchboxes, [ ... ]

Free

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

Talal Al Najjar: Mesh & Mayhem

Tabari Artspace Gate Village Level 2, DIFC, Dubai

Talal Al Najjar’s works feel very contemporary, not just in his use of materials and technologuy but also in his concerns and ambitions. He produces sculpture, video, sound, CGI animation, painting, and installation, in addition to writing and curation; his [ ... ]

LAST CHANCE Ana Escobar Saavedra: It Starts Where It Ends

421 Arts Campus Mina Zayed, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Ana Escobar Saavedra has a cross-disciplinary creative practice working on the frontiers of craft, art and design. Born and bred in Colombia, she is now established in the UAE; for the last few years, she has combined a personal studio [ ... ]

Free

LAST CHANCE Unstable Grounds: 2025 MFA Graduate Exhibition

421 Arts Campus Mina Zayed, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

For the fourth time, this exhibition shows work by students completing the two-year Master of Fine Arts in Art and Media at NYUAD – Dima Abou Zannad, Bao, Adele Bea Cipste, Hala El Abora, Mowen Li (Amira), Jude Maharmeh, Safeya [ ... ]

Free

Banafsheh Hemmati: Body Geometry

Satellite Gallery DIFC, Dubai

The first solo exhibition in the UAE for the Tehran-based artist-designer presents a collection of the artist’s jewellery and wearable sculptures. Body Geometry is a research-based project, where the design process is presented as well as the finished pieces. As [ ... ]

Free

LAST CHANCE Ranim AlHalaky: Of Liminal Threads

Tashkeel Studio and Gallery Nad Al Sheba, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Tashkeel reopens its Nad Al Sheba Gallery with this solo exhibition by Syrian-Lebanese artist and designer Ranim AlHalaky, the culmination of a year-long journey of research, mentorship, and production as part of Tashkeel's Critical Practice Programme.

Free

LAST CHANCE Talal Al Najjar: Mesh & Mayhem

Tabari Artspace Gate Village Level 2, DIFC, Dubai

Talal Al Najjar’s works feel very contemporary, not just in his use of materials and technologuy but also in his concerns and ambitions. He produces sculpture, video, sound, CGI animation, painting, and installation, in addition to writing and curation; his [ ... ]

LAST CHNACE Monif Ajaj: Shams

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

New ink drawings on paper and acrylic paintings on canvas from the French-based Belorussian artist that offer viewers a journey through colour, symbolism, and contemplation. These are works that "reflect on the mystical power of nature, its geometry and order, [ ... ]

Free

LAST CHANCE<.mark> Heritage, Memory & The Body

Artbooth Gallery Centro Capital Center, Al Khaleej Al Arabi Street, Abu Dhabi

A group exhibition for four distinguished Palestinian women artists – Rania Amoudi, Dina Matar, Fatima Abu Rumi, and Marwa Alnajjar – that offers a powerful counterpoint to static portrayals of femininity and nationhood. Grounded in place yet transcending borders, the [ ... ]

Free

LAST CHANCE Banafsheh Hemmati: Body Geometry

Satellite Gallery DIFC, Dubai

The first solo exhibition in the UAE for the Tehran-based artist-designer presents a collection of the artist’s jewellery and wearable sculptures. Body Geometry is a research-based project, where the design process is presented as well as the finished pieces. As [ ... ]

Free

LAST CHANCE Edges of Perception

Waddington Custot Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

A group show of paintings, sculptures, and photographs by a number of well-known contemporary artists that explore contrasts of material, form, and colour. The artists: Kenia Almaraz Murillo Nick Brandt Ian Davenport Hubert Le Gall Umberto Mariani Landon Metz Marc [ ... ]

Free

LAST CHANCE Abdelkader Benchamma: Rumors from the Skies

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

For his third solo exhibition here, the French-Algerian artist has taken inspiration from Kometenbuch (The Comet Book), a 16th-century Flemish treatise depicting comets and fantastical apparitions; Benchamma suggests how astronomy and astrology, science and folklore, continue to overlap in shaping [ ... ]

Free

LAST CHANCE Mahmoud El Safadi: Personal Sea

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

Exhibiting for the first time in Dubai, Lebanese artist Mahmoud El Safadi is showing a collection of miniature paintings on playing cards, a series of works that reflect on the Mediterranean as a site of memory, inheritance, and continuity – [ ... ]

Free

LAST CHANCE Afra Al Dhaheri: Restless Circle

Sharjah Art Foundation, Al Mureijah Square Sharjah

A selection of works by Afra Al Dhaheri that explore the structural effects of tension, repetition and time provides Sharjah Art Foundation's first show of Autumn. "Working with materials such as cotton rope, fabric, cement and hair, the artist emphasises [ ... ]

Free

LAST CHANCE Marwan Bassiouni: New Western Views (Preview)

Lawrie Shabibi Unit 21, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

This first solo exhibition in the region for Bassiouni offers a first look at an ongoing international project that reframes landscape photography through the lens of lived Muslim presence in the contemporary West. Each of these photographs – taken from [ ... ]

Free

LAST CHANCE Mona Al Khaja: Caravan of Colors

Aisha Alabbar Gallery Warehouse C19, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

A retrospective celebrating over four decades of work by the Sharjah-born artist. It traces Mona Al Khaja’s journey from her studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo to her continued exploration of abstraction, symbolism, and colou, featuring works [ ... ]

Free

LAST CHANCE The Narrative of Decline

Carbon 12 Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Bernhard Buhmann curates this group show based on the idea that plunging downwards is both terrifying and liberating – the gallery quotes Andrea Roelig: "We stand between death and life, and decline is dangerously enticing because it also carries an [ ... ]

Free

LAST CHANCEThe 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 Elias Izoli: Inside Out ‘25

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

After a long break from painting, Izoli has returned with a new body of work centred around "the circus of life" – Izoli uses the circus as a metaphor for the unpredictability and complexity of life as a Syrian citizen. [ ... ]

Free

LAST CHANCE Ruba Salameh: Refined Compositions

Zawyeh Gallery Warehouse 27, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

In the face of genocide, Palestinian artist Ruba Salameh finds her way forward through abstract painting – weaving her own narrative while connecting across generations to the work of art historian and artist Kamal Boullata. This exhibition reflects primarily on [ ... ]

Free

LAST CHANCE Whispers of the Past

Sotheby’s Dubai DIFC Gate Village Building No3, Unit 01, Level B2, Dubai

This Aisha Alabbar Gallery exhibition in collaboration with Sotheby’s Middle East features five artists whose works explore the quiet persistence of memory and cultural inheritance – Najat Makki, Khalid Al Banna, Sara Al Haddad, Sara Aref Ahli, and Samar Hejazi. [ ... ]

Free

LAST CHANCE Whispers of the Past

Sotheby’s Dubai DIFC Gate Village Building No3, Unit 01, Level B2, Dubai

A group show by Aisha Alabbar Gallery in collaboration with Sotheby’s Middle East at Sotheby’s gallery space in DIFC. It featyures five influential rgeional artists – Najat Makki, Khalid Al Banna, Sara Al Haddad, Sara Aref Ahli, and Samar Hejazi [ ... ]

Free

LAST CHANCE Gail Spaien: Arranging Flowers

Taymour Grahne Projects Warehouse 31A, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

The inaugural show of Taymour Grahne's new project space in Dubai features the Maine-based painter, the recipient of numerous fellowships amd now (after 30 years as faculty at the Maine College of Art and Design) a full time artist. Her [ ... ]

Free

LAST CHANCE Amina Illuminati

Rarares Galllery Zone C, Gate Avenue, DIFC, Dubai

Says the gallery: “In an era of visual noise and the relentless pace of modern life, Amina Illuminati offers a moment of stillness — a space where matter becomes light, and form becomes revelation”. It’s a group show for work [ ... ]

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 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 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