A seven-day live art "experience" (7-13 November, 5-9pm) lets visitors watch and take part in the creative process as a different artist each day runs a live demonstration and participative workshop. The artists: 7 Nov Azza Al Qubaisi Express Yourself [... more]
A hands-on introduction for beginners and curious learners: the workshop introduces traditional scaling and measurement techniques, offering a clear and accessible entry point into the art of calligraphy. Participants will explore the fundamentals of Arabic calligraphy, learning basic strokes, proportions, [... more]
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 [... more]
A writers’ group intended for writers to practice their craft without the pressures of producing a final outcome, designed to provide a supportive environment for writers to write alone yet in a group. You're invited to polish your writing skills [... more]
This hands-on workshop centres on the emotional significance of giving, inviting participants to think about the significance of floral gestures and craft enduring flower offerings. Inspired by the ongoing exhibition Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook: The Bouquet and the Wreath, it begins with [... more]
This two-hour writing workshop engages directly with Bady Dalloul’s ongoing exhibition Self-Portrait with a Cat I don’t have, inviting participants to explore how objects, the concept of home and experiences of migration inform personal and cultural identity. It includes guided writing [... more]
This workshop on subjective storytelling invites participants to experiment with a range of approaches to speaking, writing, or otherwise responding to artworks, by way of the ongoing exhibition (and newly published monograph) Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook: The Bouquet and the Wreath (ends [... more]
A hands-on introduction to using geometry, abstraction, and material exploration to build meaning. Led by Emirati artist Sarah Al Mehairi, whose practice examines language, materiality, and memory through intuitive approaches to narrative and abstraction, the workshop will guide discussions on [... more]
Dubomedy is hosting a free community comedy workshop designed to help participants release stress, reconnect with laughter, and learn simple humour exercises that calm the mind and shift perspective during uncertain times. Participants will get to work with Dubomedy's Ali [... more]
A writers’ group intended for writers to practice their craft without the pressures of producing a final outcome, designed to provide a supportive environment for writers to write alone yet in a group. You're invited to polish your writing skills [... more]
Maktaba is 421's monthly gathering dedicated to collective reading, viewing, and discussion across disciplines. For this second iteration, multidisciplinary and performance artist Yoonsik Chico Park leads a dialogue around performance studies: together, participants will "examine, synthesise, and speculate the alternative [... more]
"A playful, interactive experience where style meets reflection, connection, and a whole lot of fun ..." It all hangs on the Shift Happens cards, which encourage you to explore your wardrobe and fashion preferences with dares, truths, and prompts that [... more]
Writer and poet Balqees Alhawamdeh invites participants to explore poetry in an approachable and creative way by crafting a short poem as a visual composition using colour, collage, and form. It starts with a line from a poem or a [... more]
Dubai comedy heavyweight Miqdaad Dohadwala (main man at Mad Cat Comedy) explores stand-up as a serious creative craft, has some practical advice to would-be comics, and offers thoughts about why Dubai’s comedy scene is so strong right now. This chat [... more]
"This is not a talk, and it is not spectacle for spectacle’s sake. It is an intervention (or perhaps, a contemplation) inviting audiences to negotiate artists and their practices more critically and dynamically, to engage with them, and to enter [... more]
In this hands-on workshop with Meera Abdulrahim Salem, organised by Assembly 2025-2026 member Poorvaja Subramanian as part of the Youth Takeover 2026, visitors will decode their own emotions, routines and data into maps, symbols and form – using colour, grids [... more]
A writers’ group intended for writers to practice their craft without the pressures of producing a final outcome, designed to provide a supportive environment for writers to write alone yet in a group. You're invited to polish your writing skills [... more]
Maktaba is 421's monthly gathering dedicated to collective reading, viewing, and discussion across disciplines. For its final iteration this season, researcher and sonic practitioner Safeyya Alblooshi will guide the conversation around sound, soundscapes, and interventions within sound cultures; texts shared [... more]
"A welcoming space to write alongside others and find your voice on the page" in the form of a writing seminar led by Sarah Afaneh designed for writers at any stage of their practice. It comprises six sessions held across [... more]
The second of six sessions for this writing seminar led by Sarah Afaneh designed for writers at any stage of their practice. It comprises six sessions held across three months, alternating between guided teaching and communal workshops. In this workshop [... more]
Vantage Point 13 artist Luisa Dörr introduces different ways of approaching portraiture today, through observation, collaboration and visual storytelling using a smartphone. A series of hands-on guided exercises will help participants beyond quick snapshots to consider how gesture, environment and [... more]
Maktaba is 421's monthly gathering dedicated to collective reading, viewing, and discussion across disciplines. For this session, the focus is on Albert Memmi's The Colonizer and the Colonized (1957). A foundational work of postcolonial thought, the book examines how the [... more]
A workshop and Develop your photography skills through hands-on training in composition, lighting, and camera settings using a professional camera or smartphone. The workshop, in celebration of World Photography Day, is led by Mansour Al Mansoori.
A two-day workshop (same times tomorrow) with Amparo Baquerizas Carreras and her photobook Gauchito Querido (2026), which will be used as a case study for alternative cartography and the concept of ‘artist as gatherer’. Participants will explore how artistic research [... more]
A three-day discussion-based practical seminar (evenings, 6-9pm) investigating photography’s seeming constraint – its 'short shadow', edging in on what already exists – and how that makes it a radical driver of modern art and thought. The seminar leader is Rohit [... more]
An opportunity for feedback from a successful UAE-based illustrator – Ibrahem Swaid (Noobovich), whose work spans comics, games and visual development. This session is suitable for intermediate-level illustrators or comic artists working in character design, digital painting and concept art; [... more]
Maktaba is 421’s monthly gathering dedicated to collective reading, viewing, and discussion across disciplines. This session discusses theatre-making as a practice of solidarity, exploring how performance builds connections across geographies, identities, and movements. Facilitated by artist and theatre-maker Maitha Ali, [... more]
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is preparing the local audience for its 11 December opening with a series of events at Manarat al Saadiyat “for the public to engage with artists, ideas and conversations that are shaping the new museum”. This one [... more]
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