• Steinway Series: Aleksandra Swigut – Chopin

    Dubai Opera Studio Downtown Dubai, Dubai

    The much-awarded Polish pianist, known for her creative interpretations of the classics, performs an interesting Chopin programme (and on a Steinway Limited Edition piano, too): Barcarolle F-sharp Major, op.60 Ballade No.2 in F Major, op.38 Piano Sonata No.2 in B-flat [ ... ]

    AED 220
  • Laughter Factory Premium Comedy Club

    Dukes The Palm Palm Dubai, Dubai

    The last stop for March's Laughter Factory tour, featuring Edinburgh Festival favourite Adam Bloom, witty South African Dalin Oliver, and hotly tipped local talent Liz Bains.  

    AED 160
  • 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
  • LAST CHANCE Behzad Khosravi Noori: The Life of an Itinerant Through a Pinhole

    Gulf Photo Plus Unit D36 Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Behzad Noori, PhD is a self-described artist, writer, educator and necromancer; his research-based practice includes films, installations, and archival studies, investigating histories from the Global South, labour and the means of production, and histories of political relationships that have existed [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Athar Jaber: Vestiges

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

    A solo exhibition for an artist only recently signed by Ayyam Gallery. This large body of work, an exploration of the fragile relationship between the human form and the forces that shape it, re-imagines the human form as figures that [ ... ]

    Free
  • Seeking Haven for Mr Rambo: dir Khaled Mansour (2024)

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

    Tensions boil over when 30-year-old Cairo security guard Hassan (Essam Omar) gets into an argument with his bullish landlord Karem (Ahmed Bahaa), Hassan’s beloved dog Rambo steps up to defend his master via a bite to Karem's privates. Vengeance beckons; [ ... ]

    AED 105
  • Les Félins | Joy House: dir René Clément (1963)

    Alliance Française Dubai Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Alan Delon is Marc, a petty criminal on the run from American gangsters, who seeks refuge in a mission for the poor where wealthy widow Barbara (Lola Albright) hires him as her chauffeur and moves him to her Riviera château. [ ... ]

    AED 35
  • LAST CHANCE Slavs and Tatars: Simurgh Self-Help

    The Third Line Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    This is The Third Line's third solo exhibition with the artist collective Slavs and Tatar, presenting a new body of work inspired by Marcel Broodthaers’ Musée d'Art Moderne – Département des Aigles (1968-1972) – one of the most influential works [ ... ]

    Free
  • Akram Khan Company: Jungle Book reimagined

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

    Akram Khan’s signature choreography, blending Kathak and contemporary dance, delivers a bold adaptation of Kipling’s classic tale which explores urgent themes such as climate change and human displacement. Akram and his team have reimagined the journey of Mowgli through the [ ... ]

    AED 150
  • A Thousand Tales

    Dubai Opera

    The third visit to Dubai for this spectacular ballet performance based on characters from classic fairy tales (though probably not a thousand of them). It is danced by the Alberta Ballet Canada to choreography by Francesco Ventriglia and a score [ ... ]

    From AED 450
  • LAST CHANCE Shama Al Hamed: I Jump – Will I Stick the Landing?

    Aisha Alabbar Gallery Warehouse C19, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    This first solo show by Shama Al Hamed, curated by Walter Williems, features a collection of paintings, sculptures, and installations that offers insight into the formative experiences and emotions that have shaped the artist's creative practice and artistic perspective. Says [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Nour Malas: Evil is Banal

    Carbon 12 Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Nour Malas’ solo exhibition starts with Hannah Arendt's quote about the Nazis' unconscionable acts of genocide: they were not exceptional but part of a wider belief that estimated some human lives as disposable. For Malas, displacement upheaves feelings of belonging; [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Hady Boraey: Migrants to the North

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

    The second solo show at this gallery for the Egyptian artist, featuring new works by the artist that delve into themes of memory, nostalgia, and childhood. Inspired by ancient Egyptian and Coptic art, Boraey heavily depends on metaphors, "taking his [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Mariana Oushiro: The Higher We Soar

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

    This solo exhibition by the Japanese-Brazilian artist marks the culmination of her V-Residency programme at Volery, during which Oushiro has developed a new body of work that (according the gallery) "pushes the boundaries of abstraction, inviting the viewer into a [ ... ]

    Free
  • Ali Pasandideh: Love Is the Beginning of Humanity

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

    A solo exhibition by the noted Iranian calligrapher Ali Pasandideh. Inspired by the poetry of Hooshang Ebtehaj (aka HE Sayeh) this collection of more than two dozen works in Nastaliq calligraphy explores the timeless link between love, humanity, and the [ ... ]

    Free
  • Negative S P A C E

    Villa 72, Al Fanna St Umm Suqeim 3, Dubai

    A group exhibition curated by Nadine Khoury and Gaith Abdulla that examines the resilience and resourcefulness of artists working outside the confines of institutional representation. The exhibition brings together a diverse group of artists navigating the scarcity of creative spaces [ ... ]

    Free
  • Akram Khan Company: Jungle Book reimagined

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

    The second and final performance for this bold adaptation of Kipling’s classic tale which explores urgent themes such as climate change and human displacement. Akram Khan and his team have reimagined the journey of Mowgli through the eyes of a [ ... ]

    AED 150
  • A Thousand Tales

    Dubai Opera

    The second and final performance of this spectacular ballet based on characters from classic fairy tales (though probably not a thousand of them). It is danced by the Alberta Ballet Canada to choreography by Francesco Ventriglia; the set is by [ ... ]

    From AED 450
  • Stars of Russian Ballet Gala

    Zabeel Theatre Jumeirah Zabeel Saray, Palm Jumeirah West Crescent, Dubai

    Classic dances from favourite ballets including Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, and The Flame of Paris by virtuoso Russian ballet dancers from Russia’s foremost companies: the Bolshoi, Mariinsky, Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko, and the D. Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk Opera [ ... ]

    From AED 420
  • LAST CHANCE Amirhossein Bayani: The Season of Ruin’s Remembrance

    Zawyeh Gallery Warehouse 27, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    Iranian artist Amirhossein Bayani's vividly coloured and highly detailed landscape paintings s explore themes around life, immigration, and freedom. Each of the paintings in this series was inspired by a real-life story of an Iranian woman who fought for freedom [ ... ]

    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
  • Remote Al Ain by Rimini Protokoll

    Rimini Protokoll pushes the boundaries of conventional theatre. During this performance walk within the collective’s ‘Remote X’ series (2013–ongoing), you are invited to explore the growing presence of artificial intelligence in future cities; for this tour, designed specifically for Al [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • LAST CHANCE Dilyara Kaipova: Silk and Velvet: Warning safety signs

    Andakulova Gallery Unit 18, P4 Level Damac Park Towers, DIFC , Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Dilyara Kaipova's practice is located at the intersection of folk artisan traditions and contemporaneity; she works with Uzbek textiles, employing centuries-long traditions to make work that is relevant to the socio-cultural and ecological issues of the region.

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Nada Baraka and Esraa Elfeky: Across A Velvet Horizon

    Tabari Artspace Gate Village Level 2, DIFC, Dubai

    A collaborative presentation of Egyptian artists Nada Baraka and Esraa Elfeky that plays on "a sense of incompleteness ... Here, history is unfixed and left open to question. Viewers are invited to sit with uncertainty, to embrace the search even [ ... ]

    Free
  • Art Connects Women

    DIFC Gate Avenue 4 DIFC, Dubai

    Launched in 2017, this annual initiative dedicated to empowering female artists and fostering gender parity in the creative industry includes a short-run exhibition which promises "an extensive array of art works by women artists from across the world" (we don't [ ... ]

    Free
  • Kodo

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

    In Japanese, the word ‘kodo’ can have two meanings – it can be translated as ‘heartbeat’, the primal source of all rhythm, and in a different context it can mean ‘children of the drum’, which reflects the group’s desire to [ ... ]

    AED 175
  • Habuba Farah: Beams of Light

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

    A selection of works from the 1970s to the present by the noted Lebanese-Brazilian artist, including oils on canvas, gouache on paper, and pencil drawings. A highlight is her exploration of 'neutral gray' or coloured gray, achieved by blending primary [ ... ]

    Free
  • Will the UAE be the capital of Arab pop culture over the next decade?

    NYUAD Campus, Conference Centre NYUAD Campus, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Another good-looking offer from the NYUAD Institute, considering whether the UAE can become the epicentre of Arab pop culture over the next decade or if its influence will remain tied to amplifying trends from elsewhere. The panellists will examine the [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Kodo

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

    A second performance for the Abu Dhabi Festival by this troupe of highly skilled Japanese drummers  

    AED 175
  • To Know Malaysia is to Love Malaysia: Major Highlights from The AFK Collection

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

    A group show by pioneering first-generation Malaysian contemporary artists, selected from The AFK Collection — the most comprehensive collection of Malaysian contemporary art from the 1980s to the present. Exhbiited artists include Ahmad Shukri Mohammed, Ahmad Fuad Osman, Ali Nurazmal, [ ... ]

    Free
  • Hadieh Shafie: Resonant Turns

    The Mine Warehouse 46, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Hadieh Shafie uses ink, paint and paper as material for works that abstract text into form, evoking different optical perspectives; her reliefs comprise circular or cone-shaped scrolls inscribed with Farsi poetry and her own writing in acts of concealment, fragmentation [ ... ]

    Free
  • DIFC Art Nights

    DIFC Dubai

    The 19th edition of DIFC's pre-Art Dubai "celebration of art and creativity" – art on show, mostly al fresco, plus panel discussions, live perfromances, and late-night opening for the DIFC galleries. Open 5pm to 10pm.

    Free
  • Art Connects Women Conference

    DIFC Gate Avenue 4 DIFC, Dubai

    The conference in the Art Connects Women programme has the title From Finance to Sustainable Impact: Advancing Women's Role in the Creative Economy; it aims "to bridge the gap between finance and sustainable impact, empowering women in the creative economy [ ... ]

    tbc
  • 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
  • Aseel AlYaqoub: three films

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

    A screening of three films by Aseel AlYaqoub, currently featuring in the NYUAD Art Gallery's important Between the Tides: A Gulf Quinquennial exhibition (due to close on 20 April and well work seeing – again, if you've already been). Through [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Yunchan Lim

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

    For this Abu Dhabi Festival recital, the gifted young Korean pianist plays Bach’s Goldberg Variations. In 2022 he was the youngest person in history to win the gold medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, aged 22; he's been [ ... ]

    SOLD OUT but there may be returns
  • LAST CHANCE Ryoten Ogata: The Essence of Blue

    Hotel Indigo Dubai Downtown Marasi Drive, Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Inspired by his upbringing in Hokkaido, Ryoten Ogata creates artwork with the sea as a recurring theme; each painting represents a singular, unrepeatable moment of movement on the sea's surface

    Free
  • Pedro Martin Rojo: Faces of Dubai

    The Warehouse Goshi Warehouse 57, Al Quoz 3, Dubai

    The artist's first solo exhibition in Dubai features 12 new portraits that aim to capture "the rich diversity of women who define Dubai’s essence ... each portrait a tribute to the quiet confidence, individuality, and allure that make this city [ ... ]

    Free
  • Hazem Harb: Not There, Yet Felt

    Tabari Artspace Gate Village Level 2, DIFC, Dubai

    Unlike earlier works that centred around collective narratives, this new body of work from Hazem Harb is highly personal and intimate; it aims to draw the viewer into Harb's own lived environment, reflecting his sense of disembodiment, a feeling of [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Negative S P A C E

    Villa 72, Al Fanna St Umm Suqeim 3, Dubai

    A group exhibition that examines the resilience and resourcefulness of artists working outside the confines of institutional representation. Negative S P A C E is the outcome of Engage101’s third Peer Review Program, an artist development initiative centred around discussion [ ... ]

    Free
  • Adel Dauood: Immigrant

    Urbanist Art Gallery Box Park, Al Wasl Road, Dubai

    "The immigrant embodies the human capacity to adapt and rebuild wherever they settle. They create bridges between cultures, carrying a soul heavy with memories that form a part of their identity." New work by the prominent Syrian artist, blending abstraction [ ... ]

    Free
  • It Awakens (At Night) The Thought

    Sima Collective 11 21C Street, Al Quoz 3, Dubai

    "An intimate group show interrogating the nocturnal psyche", featuring Shamsa Al Mansoori, Farah Maktari, Ashna Malik and Jude Samman. This is the first show to be organised by a new name to us, @Vertygo.art, and curated by Nicolo Venelli. To 21 [ ... ]

    Free
  • Bluewaters Art Festival

    Bluewaters Dubai

    The inaugural Bluewaters Art Festival runs 4pm to midnight from 12 to 20 April, featuring a theme ("Re:Connect") and "designed to transform the island into a vibrant open-air gallery". Expect murals,  installations, large-scale inflatable art, outdoor sculptures, and indoor exhibits [ ... ]

    Free
  • Reading Group: Reading the City – Home and Belonging in the Gulf

    Jameel Library Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai

    The Jameel Library Reading Groups return with a new series that considers urban life across the globe. Over the course of four sessions, participants will engage with short texts that spotlight different cities, following thematic threads and examining contemporary literature [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Candlelight Opoen Air: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons

    Raffles The Palm West Crescent, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    One of the most successful productions in the Candlelight Concerts series – "classical music concerts aimed at democratising access to classical music by allowing people all over the world to enjoy live music candlelit performances".  The Vivaldi favourite was written [ ... ]

    From AED200
  • Contemporary vs Traditional Genres

    Etihad Museum 1 Jumeirah St, Dubai

    A discussion exploring the connection between poetry and urban music, featuring Emirati artist Saud G and poet Salem Al Attas with Saudi music expert and radio host Hassan Dennaoui (Big Hass) moderating. What influence has Western musical styles had on [ ... ]

    Free