• Sharjah Festival of African Literature

    University City Sharjah

    The second edition of the festival brings together 20 African and nine Emirati authors for around 20 Library sessions, book talks and panel discussions – and a series of African cooking sessions. The theme is “The African Way”, which is [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Off the Menu in Dubai: Arva S Ahmed

    Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

    Arva Ahmed is the entrepreneur behind Frying Pan Adventures, one of the Dubai’s more interesting food tour guides. This talk draws from her writings, YouTube channel, and television work to take stock of her career, her evolving relationship with the [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Boom.Diwan with Nduduzo Makhathini, Liany Mateo, and Elé Howell

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

    An evening of new music from Boom.Diwan's forthcoming album, which is being recorded this week. The style is their characteristic merging of Kuwaiti maritime and desert traditions with the improvisational energy of jazz. Joining the ensemble are some distinguished collaborators, [ ... ]

    Free
  • RUSTING ECHOES

    NYUAD Arts Centre Project Space

    Works by Yoshi (Aisha Al Ali), Ammar Al Banna, Ahmed Al Kuwaiti and Shaikha Al Shamsi. The theme is time as both a material and emotional presence, expressed through processes of transformation, memory, repetition, and decay – so time not [ ... ]

    Free
  • Yuyu Zhitong: Serendipity

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

    The debut solo exhibition in the Middle East for the Chinese-born London-based artist, known for her luscious sweeps of colour and a mordant wit (“Good Girls Go To Heaven, Cool Girls Go Everywhere”). This show presents a new body of [ ... ]

    Free
  • The Story of Art: The Age of Reason and Revolution – From Academic to Realism

    Bassam Freiha Art Foundation Cultural District Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi

    Bassam Freiha Art Foundation continues its monthly lecture series led by Dr Michaela Watrelot, BFAF Curator and Director of Exhibitions. This time it explores a pivotal moment in art history shaped by political upheaval, intellectual transformation, and shifting social ideals [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Conversation: Daniele Genadry and Nadine El Khoury

    NIKA Project Space Unit 11 Al Khayat Avenue, 19th Street Road — Al Quoz 1, Dubai

    Artist Daniele Genadry and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Associate Curator Nadine El Khoury will discuss Genadry’s practice and her approach to landscape through light, perception, and visual uncertainty, in relation to ecology, mediation, and the themes of the current group exhibition [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • UAE National Orchestra: The Beginning

    Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi

    The UAENO's inaugural concert series, the first with its full ensemble of 70 musicians and 30 choir, includes six dates around the Emirates in January. Performances in Abu Dhabi and Dubai will feature the acclaimed Iraqi oud virtuoso Naseer Shamma [ ... ]

    From AED 250
  • The Comedy Lab

    Radisson Red Dubai Digital Park, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai

    MadCat Comedy's regular stop in Silicon Oasis promises "insane laughs every week". The door price of AED 99 includes two drinks.

    AED 99
  • The Laughter Factory Premium Comedy Club

    The Bay, Al Hamra Golf Club Al Hamra, Ras Al Khaimah

    The November Laughter Factory tour. The acts: Emmanuel Sonubi big man, big smile, big fun. A big hit too when he was here a year ago. Highly recommended Saanya Abbas razor-sharp Dubai-based comedian with over half a million fans on [ ... ]

    AED 160
  • Digital Art: Printed Works

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

    A group show – 27 artists, 35 works – of prints from digital art that represent “a kaleidoscopic range of subjects and sentiments reflecting the complexity and richness of being human today … Rendered through digital tools, in some instances [ ... ]

    Free
  • Urdu Worlds

    Ishara Art Foundation Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    A contemporary art exhibition dedicated to the Urdu language: accoridng to Ishara, "the show explores how language provides the tools with which we create and shape our internal ‘worlds’. Words, rather than simply describing our surroundings, give rise to our [ ... ]

    Free
  • Echoes in Colors

    Renaissance Business Bay Hotel Al Abraj Street, Marasi Drive, Business Bay, Dubai

    A group show in the Renaissance Business Bay’s lobby for “a diverse roster of Dubai based artists” that is “defined by variety rather than a single style" and linked “through colour, emotion, and storytelling”. To 27 January.

    Free
  • Ras Al Khaimah Art 2026 Festival 

    Al Jazeera Al Hamra Ras Al Khaimah

    In the last few years the Ras Al Khaimah Art Festival has grown into a solid contributor to the UAE’s arts and culture scene, with a community-oriented twist to the mix of exhibitions, performances, workshops and film screenings. There’s always [ ... ]

    Free
  • Vladimir Kurumilian: MO(VE)MENT

    Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

    A live solo performance by the Lebanese-Armenian neo-classical pianist and composer (and a member of the Jameel team) for his latest album, MO(VE)MENT, which was released at the end of last year. Kurumilian says his music engages with questions of [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • The Viennese Ball with the UAE Philharmonic Orchestra

    Theatre of Digital Arts Souk Madinat Jumeriah, Dubai

    A recreation of the classic Strauss-laden New Year’s concert from imperial Vienna, an hour and a half of classics from Die Fledermaus to the waltzes (like Blue Danube, Emperor Waltz, Voices of Spring, Donner und Blitzen). And yes, there will [ ... ]

    From AED 200
  • Politically Incorrect Comedy

    Xandros Singature 1 Hotel, Barsha Heights, Dubai

    MadCat Comedy's regular standup night at Xandros in Signature 1 Hotel, TECOM. The cover charge of AED 80 includes one drink.

    AED 80
  • The Laughter Factory Premium Comedy Club

    Radisson DAMAC Hills Hessa Street Dubailand, Dubai

    The penultimate stop for the November Laughter Factory tour. The acts: Emmanuel Sonubi big man, big smile, big fun. A big hit too when he was here a year ago. Highly recommended Saanya Abbas razor-sharp Dubai-based comedian with over half [ ... ]

    AED 160
  • LAST CHANCE Lala Rukh II: The importance of staying quiet

    Grey Noise Unit 24 Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The first part of this series, Lala Rukh I, presented a selection of photographs from the artist’s archives during her years at the University of Chicago (1974-76). Its speculative framework helped us to stage the evolution of Lala’s photographic sensibility, [ ... ]

    Free
  • Kais Salman: Remnants

    New work by Kais Salman, who "places his audience among ruins ... his recent body of work acting as a pile of forgotten images buried beneath decades of historical buildup ... Faces emerge through Salman’s energetic brushwork, only to fade [ ... ]

  • Anuar Khalifi: Remember the Future

    The Third Line Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The third Third Line solo exhibition by Spanish-Moroccan artist Anuar Khalifi comprises a new body of large-scale paintings and works on paper that represent an evolution in Khalifi’s practice, with increasingly intricate and carefully composed settings expanding the pictorial field. [ ... ]

    Free
  • Alia Hussain Lootah: In the Space of Becoming

    Aisha Alabbar Gallery Warehouse C19, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    In this new body of work – paintings, drawings, and sculpture – Alia Lootah continues an exploration of how form moves, shifts, and transforms ("a form is never finished, only paused"). Shapes stretch, collapse, and reappear altered, "existing in a [ ... ]

    Free
  • Anahita Razmi: The Task of the Mythologist

    CARBON 12 17th Street, Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Anahita Razmi's video, installation and performance works usually focus on issues of identity and gender and examine processes of cultural appropriation in which the meanings of existing images, artefacts and thus identities are put into question by situating them in [ ... ]

    Free
  • :mentalKLINIK: Are You Human Enough

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

    Set within an environment of visual overload and compulsive accumulation, the work in this third solo exhibition at the gallery for the artist duo centres on the human figure at risk of dissolving into surface, interface, and pattern – a [ ... ]

    Free
  • Aïda Muluneh: This Bloom I Borrow

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

    A new series of images by the Ethiopian art photographer, her second solo exhibition at the gallery. The show includes 10 works that have never been seen before, using techniques developed through Muluneh's recent residency at Efie. Muluneh has been [ ... ]

    Free
  • Saher Nassar: Chronicles from the Storm

    Zawyeh Gallery Warehouse 27, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    In this new body of work, Nassar reflects on prolonged states of loss, endurance, and moral exhaustion, translating deeply personal and collective experiences across multiple mediums. Says the gallery: "Rather than seeking resolution or catharsis, the works dwell in a [ ... ]

    Free
  • Sarah McEneaney: Creative Non-Fiction

    Taymour Grahne Projects Warehouse 31A, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    For nearly five decades, Sarah McEneaney has devoted her practice to a singular theme, the meticulous chronicling of her own life. This exhibition presents a series of paintings that chart the latest moments and milestones in a life – domestic [ ... ]

  • John Dilg: Found and Lost

    Taymour Grahne Projects Warehouse 31A, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    The Iowa-based artist John Dilg represents scenic panoramas as earth-toned paintings that feel immediately familiar yet poignantly dreamlike. Having specialised in abstraction early in his career, Dilg’s evolution towards landscape painting retained an especial awareness of spatial relationships – "a [ ... ]

  • Al Hosn Festival

    Al Hosn Abu Dhabi

    This living expression of Abu Dhabi's Culture is always worth a visit. The emphasis is on heritage, so the Al Hosn programme includes traditional souks, performances (lots of ayyalah), food, coffee, kids’ workshops and more. It runs 4pm to 11pm [ ... ]

    AED 35
  • Reel Palestine Social

    One Life Kitchen & Café Building 5, d3, Dubai

    The RP Social returns for "an afternoon of great food, familiar faces, and engaging conversations around this year’s must-see films". Always a good meetup, and since this time it's in the afternoon there's more chance for kids to get involved [ ... ]

    AED 250
  • Legends and Motifs of Feathers

    L'ÉCOLE Middle East, School of Jewelry Arts Building 10, Dubai Design District, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Another of L’ÉCOLE Middle East’s entertaining talks about the art of jewellery – mostly of course from the atelier of the school’s parent, Van Cleef & Arpels. This one explores how birds and feathers became a major theme in jewellery [ ... ]

    AED 50
  • War and Peace

    Dubai Opera Mohammed Bin Rashid Boulevard, Dubai

    Tolstoy’s epic novel has often resisted dramatisation as a one-off theatrical performance – it’s huge, after all, which is the classic BBC series from 1972 ran for fully 20 episodes and Sergei Bondarchuk's film adaptation from the 60s spanned seven [ ... ]

    From AED 300
  • UAE National Orchestra: The Beginning

    Al Ain City Municipal Theatre Civic Centre, Al Jimi, Al Ain

    The UAENO's inaugural concert series, the first with its full ensemble of 70 musicians and 30 choir, includes six dates around the Emirates in January with variations in the programme (though all include Nadim Tarabay's specially commissioned symphony The Beginning) [ ... ]

    From AED 150
  • The Laughter Factory Premium Comedy Club

    Dukes The Palm Palm Dubai, Dubai

    The final gig for the November Laughter Factory tour. The acts: Emmanuel Sonubi big man, big smile, big fun. A big hit too when he was here a year ago. Highly recommended Saanya Abbas razor-sharp Dubai-based comedian with over half [ ... ]

    AED 160
  • Miqdaad D: Failed Successfully

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

    A standup special by MadCat Comedy's main man, Miqdaad Dohadwala: life advice for how to live your 20s, from a guy who did everything wrong. We think the regular MadCat comedy night deal applies, meaning a cover charge of AED [ ... ]

    AED 99
  • 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
  • War and Peace

    Dubai Opera

    The second and final performance of the Vakhtangov State Academic Theatre adaptation of Tolstoy’s epic novel, by celebrated director Rimas Tuminas. Reviews suggest that most of the grandeur and complexity of Tolstoy’s work has been retained, with the Napoleonic Wars [ ... ]

    From AED 300
  • Memory under Construction: Rashad Bukhash in conversation with Lina Najem

    Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

    Architect Rashad Bukhash has restored and protected from demolition hundreds of buildings in Dubai. In this conversation with researcher Lina Najem, he revisits decades of work on both shores of Dubai Creek, including a long tenure at Dubai Municipality, with [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • School is a City: Prasad Shetty and Rupali Gupte

    Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

    Prasad Shetty and Rupali Gupte reflect on the motivations and challenges that shaped their commitment to the School of Environment and Architecture in Mumbai which they founded in 2014. Today, it is a fully accredited architecture school with around 200 [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Sunday Night Comedy

    Social Distrikt The Pointe, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai

    Dubomedy's standup night at Social Distrikt returns. This has become a bit of a fixture: good vibes, good comedy, and "you never know who will pop in". Recommended. It's free, but it's popular, so pre-booking is recommended to get a [ ... ]

    Free, but minimum spend
  • Aakash Odedra: Songs of the Bulbul

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

    Aakash Odedra returns to the Arts Center with his latest work, an hour of beautiful, engrossing virtuoso dance from a single dancer that unashamedly embodies emotions – mostly joy, some reflection, a tinge of sadness and pain – in a [ ... ]

    AED 105
  • UAE National Orchestra: The Beginning

    Dubai Opera

    The UAENO's inaugural concert series, the first with its full ensemble of 70 musicians and 30 choir, includes six dates around the Emirates in January with variations in the programme (though all include Nadim Tarabay's specially commissioned symphony The Beginning) [ ... ]

    From AED 250
  • Localized Futures: Collective Heritage

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

    A key element in 421's Winter season is Localized Futures: Conversations by 421 x afikra, a four-part series of talks and panel discussions developed in collaboration with afikra. The series aims to explore the future of key cultural and civic [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • The Comedy Lab @ Easy Tiger

    Al Ain Palace Hotel Corniche Road, Abu Dhabi

    MadCat’s standup team at its regular stop in the Easy Tiger bar in Abu Dhabi's Al Ain Palace. The door price of AED 99 includes two drinks ...

    AED 99
  • Picasso, the Figure

    Louvre Abu Dhabi Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi

    A landmark monographic exhibition that traces Picasso’s lifelong preoccupation with the human form. Included are more than 130 artworks from the Musée National Picasso-Paris and other institutions, as well as Louvre Abu Dhabi, DCT Abu Dhabi, and other regional collections [ ... ]

    General admission AED 70
  • Caty Cordahi: Dubai, from Dunes to Vibrant Crowds

    La Galerie, Alliance Française Dubai Alliance Française Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    An expressionist exploration of the city that captures Dubai as it is felt, rather than as it is seen. "Through expressive brushstrokes, colour becomes a language, revealing the city’s complexity – its energy, diversity, and profound contradictions." To 5 February.

    Free
  • Emirates Airline Festival of Literature

    InterContinental Hotel Dubai Festival City, Dubai

    LitFest is back with the usual rich brew of panel discussions and conversations, talks, workshops, family activities and the LitFest After Hours programme. It looks like the biggest and most varied yet, so that probably means it will be the [ ... ]

  • Brushstroke Brilliance 2.0

    Rixos The Palm Dubai East Crescent Plot 40, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai

    A two-week pop-up in the lobby of Rixos The Palm presented in collaboration with Art Factor UAE and BKR Events. It features 14 artists: Jasmine Mohammed Rizvi Bindu Krishnan Roy Varsha Saju Nair Anjini Prakash Laitu Ahmed Al Awadhi (Rukni) [ ... ]

    Free
  • Rob Beckett: Giraffe

    Dubai Opera

    Rob Beckett is getting near to the end of a sell-out tour with his new show. The affable bloke-near-door of British comedy is known for his turns on shows like Would I Lie to You, Celebs Go Dating, 8 Out [ ... ]

    From AED 195
  • UAE National Orchestra: The Beginning

    Fujairah Cultural Centre Hamad Bin Abdulla Rd, Fujairah City Centre, Fujairah

    The UAENO's inaugural concert series, the first with its full ensemble of 70 musicians and 30 choir, includes six dates around the Emirates in January with variations in the programme (though all include Nadim Tarabay's specially commissioned symphony The Beginning) [ ... ]

    From AED 150