• Ahmad Nabil: Fetus Exodus

    Jameel Library Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai

    A Jameel Library Commission by the Palestinian artist and educator that explores regional myths and legends through ten monthly texts – chapters in fact, in digital form – that address an imagined foetus (referred to as a “child of myths") [ ... ]

    Free
  • Mama Mia!

    Etihad Arena Yas Island, Abu Dhabi

    The worldwide smash hit arrives in Abu Dhabi with its heartwarming story (the lighthearted and humorous tale of a mother, her daughter, and three possible fathers on an idyllic Greek island), created by Judy Craymer – who rarely gets the [ ... ]

    From AED 125
  • LAST CHANCE Reynier Llanes: Reverie

    Firetti Contemporary Unit 29, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    An exhibition inspired by French philosopher Gaston Bachelard’s comment on 'reverie' – "Reverie is not a mind vacuum. It is rather the gift of an hour which knows the plenitude of the soul", a space where imagination and memory intertwine [ ... ]

  • LAST CHANCE Thomas Lélu: Calm Down It’s Just Art

    Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery 796 Jumeirah Street, Dubai

    Thomas Lélu’s practice interweaves photography, installation art, and textual elements, frequently featuring the appropriation and recontextualisation of imagery from popular culture and media to interrogate themes of contemporary society, consumerism, and media representation. His methodology of exploration, archiving, and contextualization [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Ahmad Kasha: Offerings – The War Series

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

    Ahmad Kasha’s complete War Series (2018–2025) is presented here for the first time in association with Fann à Porter. Influenced by various traditions of war art, the series reflects on the psychological toll of violence on people, animals, nature, and [ ... ]

  • Artist Led Sessions with Chafa Ghaddar: Trace, Fragment, Ecosystem

    Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

    A two-day masterclass with Chafa Ghaddar on the fresco technique. Through a blend of theoretical discussion and practical hands-on exercises, this two-part programme invites you to examine how bodies and elements are held within and around surfaces, and to experiment [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Layered Dialogues: Society as Medium

    Manarat al Saadiyat Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Subtitled 'Objects as Anchors: Material, Narrative, and Memory', this panel discussion riffs on the recently-opened Layered Medium: We Are in Open Circuits exhibition at this venue (runs to 30 June and is well worth seeing). As the blurb puts it: [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • The Laughter Factory Premium Comedy Club

    The Club Al Mina, Abu Dhabi

    The second weekend for this month's Laughter Factory tour starts in Abu Dhabi. The acts: Marlon Davis effortlessly confident stand-up who began performing on the UK’s black comedy circuit and quickly graduated to a wider audience, including several Edinburgh Festival [ ... ]

    AED 160
  • Jesse Cook

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

    A second UAE date for the noted guitarist, accompanied by Fethi Nadjem (violin, mandole), Dan Minchom (bass), Matt Sellick (guitar), and either Matais Recharte or Marito Marques (drums, cajón, percussion) – and there's a special guest star, top oud soloist [ ... ]

    From AED 150
  • Joke Hub

    Canopy by Hilton Dubai Al Seef Al Seef Street, Umm Hurair 1, Dubai

    Another Mad Cat Comedy night – "Dubai's wildest comedy show on Saturday" (sic). The cover charge of AED 99 includes two drinks.

    AED 99
  • The Laughter Factory Premium Comedy Club

    Studio One Hotel Dubai Studio City, Dubai

    The second stop for this month's Laughter Factory tour has another good crop of stand-ups. The acts: Marlon Davis effortlessly confident stand-up who began performing on the UK’s black comedy circuit and quickly graduated to a wider audience, including several [ ... ]

    AED 160
  • LAST CHANCE Mohamed Al Astad: Rust & Waves

    Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi Reem Island, Abu Dhabi

    An exhibition showcasing the artistic journey of the Emirati artist known for his ability to capture maritime heritage and coastal landscapes through the interplay between nature and time; he characteristically incorporates elements of rust, waves, and the textures of the [ ... ]

    Free
  • Nima Nabavi: Sunrise at the Vortex

    The Third Line Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The second solo exhibition by Nima Nabavi at the gallery features new works that mark a significant evolution in the artist's practice, reflecting a deepened commitment to introspection, geometry, and modes of making that embrace technology alongside traditional tools. Created [ ... ]

    Free
  • Richi Bhatia: Antevasin – the one who sits at the border of two worlds

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

    The first solo exhibition at Gallery Isabelle for the UAE-based Indian artist. Her practice spans drawing, performance, object-making, food interventions, and assemblage; says the gallery, "inviting us to engage with liminality, her work challenges the normative categories that shape our [ ... ]

    Free
  • Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial: Bik Van der Pol’s The poem that jumps the fence

    Abu Dhabi Beach Al Hisn Street, Abu Dhabi, 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 [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Blue Fever at the Movies

    The Club Al Mina, Abu Dhabi

    Second and last of two shows by Abu Dhabi's long-standing (since 2008) and always excellent a capella group. This time the show features "iconic songs from the silver screen" with "delicious movie theatre dishes" on offer too. Note the early [ ... ]

    AED 150
  • M.O.R.O.N.S

    Blacksmith Bar The First Collection Business Bay, Al A'amal Street, Dubai

    A Mad Cat Comedy night, which usually means a good one, in a new venue. The cover charge of AED 99 includes one drink.

    AED 99
  • Unfiltered

    Courtyard by Marriott Al Barsha Road, Al Barsha 1, Dubai

    A comedykix standup gig, as usual promising "Dubai’s finest comedians" – and "don’t forget to come with an open mind". The door price is redeemable on F&B.

    AED 65
  • LAST CHANCE Zhou Song: Supernatural·Algorithm

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

    Zhou Song's solo show echoes traditional Chinese landscape painting but employs symbolic imagery to explore relationships between nature, technology, and faith. The 'anthropomorphic tree' is central, serving as a metaphor for nature’s alienation by technology – "these trees retain natural [ ... ]

    Free, but book appointment slot
  • Une affaire d’honneur | The Edge of the Blade: dir Vincent Perez (2023)

    Alliance Française Dubai Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The fourth film from veteran actor Vincent Perez is set in 1887 Paris, when illegal duals were common practice. The drama follows the blood feud that slowly develops between fencing master Clément Lacaze (Roschdy Zem), desperate to dissuade his nephew [ ... ]

    AED 35
  • 1 Minute to Krushit – Live in Abu Dhabi

    Black Tap Mamsha Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi

    Superfast comedy – comics get one minute at the mic, the audience votes, one winner takes it all. Fast, raw, unpredictable: what more could you want from a Tuesday evening in Abu Dhabi?

    AED 95
  • Summer Collective: Wavering Hope

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

    Ayyam Gallery’s summer group show celebrates and questions the current siutation in Syria with works by Kais Salman, Khaled Takreti, Tammam Azzam, Abdalla Al Omari, Othman Moussa, Safwan Dahoul, Thaier Helal, Elias Izoli, Abdul-Karim Majd Al-Beik, Mohannad Orabi, Nihad Al-Turk, [ ... ]

    Free
  • Wednesday Night Impro: Maestro

    Courtyard Playhouse Street 4B, Al Quoz 1, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The Courtyard's most peopular 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 [ ... ]

    Free
  • Pencil In

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

    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 [ ... ]

    Free
  • Ihab Ahmad: I PUT MY BRAIN ON PAUSE!

    Firetti Contemporary Unit 29, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    The new body of work in this solo exhibition marks a turning point in Ihab Ahmad’s practice – "a move toward instinct, spontaneity, and emotional exploration" as the gallery puts it. Smiling faces populate the canvases, each a reflection of [ ... ]

    Free
  • Layered Dialogues: Society as Medium – In/Visible City

    Manarat al Saadiyat Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Another in the series of panel discussions based around the Layered Medium: We Are in Open Circuits exhibition at this venue (runs to 30 June and is well worth seeing). Artist Minouk Lim talks with Wael Al Awar, Principal architect [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection: dir Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese (2019)

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

    Much-awarded poetic and emotional feature from Lesotho, a vivid, beautifully crafted reflection on identity, community and the tension between respecting age-old traditions and accepting the seemingly unstoppable march of progress. When her village is threatened with forced resettlement due to [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Politically Incorrect Comedy

    The Clavichord Signature Hotel, Barsha Heights, Dubai

    Mad Cat Comedy returns to the Clavichord in TECOM with "Dubai's wildest comedy night ... raw, unfiltered, hilarious". The cover charge of AED 80 includes one drink.

    AED 80
  • The Zero Apologies Show

    Al Ain Palace Hotel Corniche Road, Abu Dhabi

    Mad Cat Comedy comes to Abu Dhabi's Al Ain Palace with "Dubai's top comedy night ... a crowdwork show where you are the joke". The cover charge of AED 99 includes two drinks.

    AED 99
  • The Laughter Factory Premium Comedy Club

    Radisson DAMAC Hills Hessa Street Dubailand, Dubai

    The final Dubai stops for this month's Laughter Factory tour. The acts: Marlon Davis effortlessly confident stand-up who began performing on the UK’s black comedy circuit and quickly graduated to a wider audience, including several Edinburgh Festival Fringes, the winner's [ ... ]

    AED 160
  • 63Kolektib: Metro Diaries

    The Arts Center @ NYUAD NYUAD Campus, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Commissioned by The Arts Center, Metro Diaries invites audiences to step into a world that reflects the rhythm of daily metro rides through evocative performances that blend spoken word, dance, and live soundscapes; the experience unfolds in vignettes that capture [ ... ]

    AED 105
  • Joke Hub

    Canopy by Hilton Dubai Al Seef Al Seef Street, Umm Hurair 1, Dubai

    Another Mad Cat Comedy night – "Dubai's wildest comedy show on Saturday" (sic). The cover charge of AED 99 includes two drinks.

    AED 99
  • The Laughter Factory Premium Comedy Club

    Dukes The Palm Palm Dubai, Dubai

    The final gig for this month's Laughter Factory tour. The acts: Marlon Davis effortlessly confident stand-up who began performing on the UK’s black comedy circuit and quickly graduated to a wider audience, including several Edinburgh Festival Fringes, the winner's place [ ... ]

    AED 160
  • 63Kolektib: Metro Diaries

    The Arts Center @ NYUAD NYUAD Campus, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Last chance to see the show commissioned by The Arts Center. Metro Diaries invites audiences to step into a world that reflects the rhythm of daily metro rides through evocative performances that blend spoken word, dance, and live soundscapes; the [ ... ]

    AED 105
  • Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial: Bik Van der Pol’s The poem that jumps the fence

    Abu Dhabi Beach Al Hisn Street, Abu Dhabi, 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 [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • M.O.R.O.N.S

    Blacksmith Bar The First Collection Business Bay, Al A'amal Street, Dubai

    Mad Cat's Business Bay comedy night. The cover charge of AED 99 includes one drink.

    AED 99
  • Flow: dir Gints Zilbalodis (2024)

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

    An absolutely stunning low-budget (and largely handmade) antidote to Disneyification – a wordless animated fable about a cat reluctantly making friends with a dog, a ring-tailed lemur, a capybara and a secretary bird in a post-apocalyptic world. There's a message, [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Mountain Boy: dir Zainab Sheheen (2023)

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

    Feel-good family feature film based on Michele Ziolkowski's award-winning children’s book The Boy Who Knew the Mountains. Suhail, a lad with autism, flees to the mountains when his father shuns him. With his new friend Barakah, an Arabian Saluki, Suhail makes [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Dangerous Gentlemen: dir Maciej Kawalski (2022)

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

    Crime comedy featuring four distinguished figures from Polish culture at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries – novelist Joseph Conrad, translator Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski and painter and writer Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz. Their hangovers headaches are killing [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Mina Liccione & Friends in Abu Dhabi

    Broadway Brasserie and Bar Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental, West Corniche Road, Abu Dhabi

    Does exactly what it says on the tin: the Queen of the Dubai comedy scene in "a fantastic evening of comedy and music with some special guests".

    AED 95
  • The Comedy Lab @ Easy Tiger

    Al Ain Palace Hotel Corniche Road, Abu Dhabi

    Mad Cat brings its standup crew to Abu Dhabi's Easy Tiger bar in the Al Ain Palace. The door price of AED 99 includes two drinks ...

    AED 99
  • Bigman: dir Camiel Schouwenaar (2022)

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

    Much-awarded family movie that follows friends Dylan and Youssef, who are connected by their passion for football. But then Dylan is paralysed following an accident: his dad and former coach wants him to accept his disability, but though Dylan has [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Carmen: dir Valerie Buhagiar (2021)

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

    Inspired in part by the real experiences of the director's own aunt, this drama stars Natascha McElhone as Carmen, a Maltese spinster who has spent her adult life serving as a caretaker for her brother, a Catholic priest; as she [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Karama Arts Club Social

    [To be confirmed] Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Newly legitimised with a licence to call itself "Dubai’s first and only non-profit social club for independent creatives", KAC is effectively relaunching with a social night at an undisclosed location in Al Barsha (seems Karama was too awkward to get [ ... ]

    AED 180
  • Two to One: dir Natja Brunckhorst (2024)

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

    A heist comedy set in East Germany and based in part on a true story. It's the final hot summer before reunification in 1990; free-spirited Maren, her partner Robert and friend Volker happen upon millions of soon-to-be-worthless East German banknotes [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Pete Davidson

    Etihad Arena Yas Island, Abu Dhabi

    The Saturday Night Live alumnus brings his characteristic mix of irreverence and vulnerability to the region for the first time, as part of Abu Dhabi Comedy Season.

    From AED 295
  • 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
  • Shingo Yamazaki: Mauka to Makai

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

    The Middle East solo debut for the LA-based artist, known for layered, poetic paintings that explore the intersection of memory, identity, and place. Says the gallery: "Yamazaki constructs atmospheric compositions where domestic interiors dissolve into natural landscapes. Veil-like layers of [ ... ]

    Free
  • Living Large: dir Kristina Dufková (2024)

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

    Family-friendly animation about a 12-year-old boy who faces bullying because of his weight. He decides to take charge of his life by adopting a healthier lifestyle and wining the heart of the girl he admires. Through his journey, he learns [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Mond: dir Kurdwin Ayub (2024)

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

    A former martial artist hired to train three wealthy Jordanian sisters finds her dream job become something else, something unsettling: the isolated young women are under constant surveillance and show no interest in the sport. Why was she really hired? [ ... ]

    AED 25