• Mohamed Yousif and Maggie Otieno: Solace in Soil

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

    A duo exhibition for Emirati artist Mohamed Yousif and Kenyan sculptor Maggie Otieno that "celebrates the grounded connections between the practices of the two artists and the cross-cultural exchange between the Middle East and Africa". Or as curator Shamma Al [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Sheher, Prakriti, Devi

    Ishara Art Foundation Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    Riffing on the interwoven relationship between cities, the natural environment and the sacred, this show presents work by 12 artists and collectives working across diverse contexts of urban, rural, domestic, communitarian, public and non-material spaces. In this show are works [ ... ]

    Free
  • Sean McLennan: key of the glass door

    Mahaweb Art Studio Goshi Warehouse Village - 14 22nd St, Al Quoz 3, Dubai

    A short exhibition of work by the Scottish Mawaheb artist, his first solo show. To 6 June.

    Free
  • Kusay Bader: What Have You Done

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

    Solo exhibition that offers "a unique perspective on the beauty of nature and the urgent need for environmental stewardship". To 14 July.

    Free
  • ChefBurger: Journey Through the Arts – From Tokyo to Paris

    ME Dubai The Opus by Omniyat, Al Amal Street, Business Bay, Dubai

    A collection of digital and painted art from ChefBurger (aka Mano Gonzalez) that "offers a unique opportunity to experience the convergence of diverse cultures through compelling portraits, French masterpieces, and a profound reverence for nature". Included is a new series [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Valdés

    Anima Gallery 30 La Croisette, Porto Arabia, The Pearl Qatar, Doha, Qatar

    A solo exhibition of works by Manolo Valdés, the Spanish artist known for his unique approach of drawing from art history to create his paintings, prints, and sculptures in a signature style of pared-down forms and unrefined mark-making. Through meticulous [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE In Real Time

    NYUAD Art Gallery Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery is celebrating its ten-year anniversary with a characteristically interesting exhibition. In Real Time is a dynamic show – over the course of three months the curators will be adding artists, and the artists and performers [ ... ]

    Free
  • All That Perishes at the Edge of Land: dir Hira Nabi (2019)

    Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

    Before the Ocean Master met its demise at the Gadani shipbreaking yards in Pakistan, filmmaker and artist Hira Nabi gave it a voice and staged conversations between the vessel and the labourers dismantling it. The stories exchanged between the workers [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Curators Talk: Munira Al Sayegh – Exhibitions as Cultural Correctors

    NYUAD Art Gallery Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    For the sixth in the new NYUAD Art Gallery Curators Talk series, Munira Al Sayegh will explore the role of a curator as "sociopolitical ambassador". Delving into the various complexities of representing cultures and nations outside their usual contexts, Al [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Reverberations: Textile as Echo

    Green Art Gallery Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The second of three exhibitions showcasing contemporary approaches to textile and fibre art curated for Green Art Gallery by Murtaza Vali. It brings together work by four contemporary artists – M’barek Bouhchichi, Sayan Chanda, Himali Singh Soin, and Swapnaa Tamhane [ ... ]

    Free
  • backbone

    Carbon 12 Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    studio salasil has curated this group show of six artists "who engage in risk and interruption within their practices", structuring the exhibition around the effective concept of the backbone – "a central, internal structure of strength that binds and connects [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Suanjaya Kencut: Re-Charge

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

    Kencut's first solo show in the Middle East explores personal challenge and transformation, described by the gallery as "a pivotal moment in Kencut's artistic journey— a deliberate pivot from external inspirations to an introspective examination of the struggles that define [ ... ]

    Free
  • An Hoang: Between Days

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

    Solo exhibition for An Hoang, her debut show in the Middle East. In these new paintings, Hoang explores a delicate balance between abstraction and figuration through "expressive, colourful compositions that capture moments of immersion in nature ... With the use [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Vikram Divecha: Short Circuits

    Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

    Vikram Divecha’s exhibition covers the Dubai-based artist’s practice since 2013, showcasing his playful and poetic site-specific works, public art, installations, videos, photography and drawings. In particular, Divecha has long had an in-depth interest in the invisible structures of planning, construction, [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Lala Rukh: In the Round

    Al Mureijah Art Spaces Al Mureijah Square, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

    The first major survey of the late artist, feminist organiser and pedagogue Lala Rukh brings together more than 50 drawings, prints, photographs, videos and animation works from across her three-decade practice. The artist captured the diverse rhythms of lunar movements, [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Henok Melkamzer: Telsem Symbols and Imagery

    Sharjah Art Museum Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

    With more than 100 works, many on view for the first time, this exhibition is the largest solo presentation by telsem artist Henok Melkamzer. Traditionally termed a healing or talisman art, telsem is a distinctive Ethiopian art form that incorporates [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Echoes of Sierra Leone

    Urbanist Art Gallery Box Park, Al Wasl Road, Dubai

    A group show by five artists from Sierra Leone – Hawa-Jane Bangura, Hickmatu Leigh, Julius Parker, Felix Rhodes, Zahra Fakih Zato.

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Echoes of Infinite: Poetry’s Visual Symphony

    Farjam Foundation Unit GF-97 Gate Avenue, DIFC, Dubai

    The Farjam Foundation isn’t a particularly activity gallery, but it does have access to an excellent private collection that spans early Islam to present-day artistic practice across regional geographies and beyond. So when it puts on a show of selected [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Khaled Akil: The Infinite & The Finite

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

    A solo show for the artist’s recent work − which aims to depict “the unseen, the felt, and the omnipresent”. Akil creates his compositions through dozens of thin layers, creating depth while avoiding impasto; “the drying process presents and provokes [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Raed Yassin: Allegorical Ruins

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

    Yassin explores the implications of Roland Barthes' concept of "the return of the dead" in photography, playing on the tension between memory and ghostliness by utilising old black and white photographs to evoke loss and the fleeting nature of memory. [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Ala Ebtekar: The Sky of the Seven Valleys

    The Third Line Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Ebtekar's exhibition, is presented as "one work in seven chapters", each composed of one to four doorway-sized panels that combine multi-wavelength photographic processes with the artist's distinctive cloud-making brushstrokes. Inspired by Farid ud-Din Attar's Sufi poem Conference of the Birds, [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Khalid Jauffer: Looking, dwelling, leaving

    The Third Line Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Jauffer is an artist who deals in the metaphoric potential of everyday objects, find the ironies in his everyday surroundings ad teasing out the spatial, poetic relationships between his subjects and their frangible correlation to human beings. "Discarded objects and [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Susan Kosti: What Lies Beneath

    kanvas Dubai Unit 1, Al Khayat Art Avenue, 19th Street Al Quoz 1, Dubai

    The Sydney-based media artist and motion graphic designer has assembled a cutting-edge immersive 3D-projection show that translates ocean data collected by NASA into what the organisers describe as “a stunning kaleidoscope of vibrant corals and sea creatures ... What Lies [ ... ]

    Free
  • Artist’s Rooms: Amba Sayal-Bennett

    Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

    Works spanning the last eight years of the artist’s practice that critically engage with the socio-political contexts of architectural heritage and modernist ideologies and aesthetics. Drawing is at the centre of Amba Sayal-Bennett’s practice, expanding across works on paper, projections [ ... ]

    Free
  • Artist’s Rooms: Augustine Paredes

    Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

    Augustine Paredes’ artist’s room brings together his own personal histories and stories that explore his relationship to identity and family via his personal journey as a migrant, navigating constantly between time, places and identities. Gradually moving away from the camera [ ... ]

    Free
  • Artist’s Rooms: Sancintya Mohini Simpson

    Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

    Sancintya Mohini Simpson is a descended from indentured labourers sent from India to work on colonial sugar plantations in South Africa; her work navigates the complexities of migration, memory and trauma, moving between painting, video, poetry and performance to address [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE An Hoang: Between Days

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

    Solo exhibition for An Hoang, her debut show in the Middle East. In these new paintings, Hoang explores a delicate balance between abstraction and figuration through "expressive, colourful compositions that capture moments of immersion in nature ... With the use [ ... ]

    Free
  • Project22: The Code

    kanvas Dubai Unit 1, Al Khayat Art Avenue, 19th Street Al Quoz 1, Dubai

    A one-evening-only popup exhibition celebrating the second anniversary of the eponymous digital art project Project22, featuring work by two dozen generative artists including Sasha Stiles, Seohyo, and Nice Aunties. There will also be an AV performance by Digital Moss, an [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • LAST CHANCE Kusay Bader: What Have You Done

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

    Solo exhibition that offers "a unique perspective on the beauty of nature and the urgent need for environmental stewardship".

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Arnaud Rivieren: Steel Life

    Waddington Custot Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Rivieren's second solo show at Custot is a continuation of his previous exhibition, Natural Sublime, featuring new organic forms and new production processes On show are 14 new and existing works; "through recognisable and nostalgic organic shapes, we find ourselves [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Leila Eskandari: Whispers of Legends

    Zawyeh Gallery Warehouse 27, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    Eskandari's exuberant and busy paintings intertwine myth and reality, exploring the power of storytelling – the artist's inspiration for this series comes from the Shahnameh, or the Book of Kings, an ancient Persian epic poem filled with mythical figures and [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Houda Bakkali: Digital Art, Digital Culture

    Alliance Française Abu Dhabi Al Bateen, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    An exhibition that aims to demonstrate the power of digital art to break spatial, temporal and generational borders, "creating synergies between different audiences and making art not only timeless, but also universal, close and understandable". It features work by Bakkali [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE ChefBurger: Journey Through the Arts – From Tokyo to Paris

    ME Dubai The Opus by Omniyat, Al Amal Street, Business Bay, Dubai

    A collection of digital and painted art from ChefBurger (aka Mano Gonzalez) that "offers a unique opportunity to experience the convergence of diverse cultures through compelling portraits, French masterpieces, and a profound reverence for nature". Included is a new series [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Drawing Time: Duets

    Al Mureijah Art Spaces Al Mureijah Square, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

    This exhibition spotlights new and historical works from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection that present the range and possibilities of drawing and print culture. The first instalment of a four-part series, it delves into the concept of “the double, the [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Khaled Jarada: Non Key Frame

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

    The title of this exhibition evokes a notion that originates from the world of the moving image. Key frames are those that define a scene in a film; they set its starting as well as ending point, they are typically [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Echoes of the Orient

    Bassam Freiha Art Foundation Cultural District Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi

    The inaugural exhibition of the brand new Bassam Freiha Art Foundation is curated from the private collection of Bassam Said Freiha to offer a perspective into how the Middle East has been perceived, portrayed and romanticised over time – particularly [ ... ]

    Free
  • Susan Doe: Entwined

    NYUAD Project Space NYUAD Campus, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi

    The first Project Space exhibition of the new season features a series of paintings, sculptures, and installations through which Susan Doe explores ideas of intersectionality, rooted in her own bicultural upbringing. Says the gallery: "Reflecting on her Chinese American background, [ ... ]

  • One Hundred Years of Painting: Arab Art from 1916 to 2017

    Kutubna Cultural Center Madina Avenues 17, Nadd Al Hamar, Dubai

    An explicitly-titled exhibition of 27 paintings selected from two Dubai collections, those of the International House Group and Al Noon Residence; included are works by Farid Aouad, Amine El Bacha, Saliba Douaihy, Farghali Abdel Hafez, Faek Hassan, Shaker Hassan, Emanuel [ ... ]

  • LAST CHANCE Through the Seasons with Eric Carle

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

    For the first time in the region, the work of the noted illustrator and children’s book author (more than 70 titles to his name, including of course The Very Hungry Caterpillar) is celebrated through Carle’s brilliant imagery of the seasons, [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Mona Ayyash: The Clock Doesn’t Care

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

    In her first solo exhibition, Mona Ayyash presents a collaborative video piece with a group of actors, dancers, and performance artists, focusing on small body movements. Selected through an open call, the artist’s collaborators committed to a long-term creative process [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE On a Timeline: 2024 MFA Graduate Show

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

    Marking the third year of collaboration and an expanded partnership between 421 Arts Campus and NYUAD, the exhibition of work by students completing the two-year Master of Fine Arts in Art and Media at NYUAD showcases research and experimentation by [ ... ]

    Free
  • Closing Program: Spring 2024 Exhibitions

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

    Most exhibitions open with a bang and close with much less fanfare, so 421 is to be commended for marking the end of its current shows – Mona Ayyash: The Clock Doesn’t Care and On a Timeline: 2024 MFA Graduate [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Hussein Sharif: Re-framing Reality

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

    A major survey of four decades of the artist’s work across painting, drawing, collage and sculpture that should further demonstrate why Sharif – one of 'the five' – is such an important figure in the development of UAE postmodernism. The [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Native: Plants in the UAE

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

    A group exhibition that showcases the UAE’s native flora, exploring the life conditions of plants indigenous to the country’s landscape and examining how the surrounding atmosphere both affects their growth and results in unique variations of colour, texture, size and [ ... ]

    Free