• Wissam Shawkat: Journey of a Letter

    Sharjah Calligraphy Museum

    Wissam Shawkat, one of the best of the modern calligraphers, presents his journey in the world of Arabic calligraphy from classical Arabic letttering during his schooldays in Iraq to the development of his Al Wissam script and Calligraforms style. The [ ... ]

    General admission: AED 10
  • Sal & Rushdi Do Comedy feat Saad Haroon

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

    Two of the Courtyard's favourite performers with an evening of improv and stand-up. There are sets from Salman Qureshi, who lays the groundwork by dissecting the absurdities of everyday life; and Rushdi Rafeek, who takes those everyday observations and launches [ ... ]

    Free but donations welcome
  • Some seasons: Fereydoun Ave and the Laal Collection, 1959-2019

    Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

    Over the past five decades, artist, curator, designer and collector Fereydoun Ave (b. 1945) has assembled a singular collection of modern and contemporary Iranian art inflected by personal history, friendship, sensibility and circumstance. A linchpin figure, Ave returned to Iran in 1970 [ ... ]

    Free
  • Victor Ekpuk: INTERwoven TEXTures

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

    The Nigerian-American artist’s solo debut in the Middle East is an exhibition of painting and sculpture that continues his exploration of Nsibidi, an ancient Nigerian graphic communication system. A tribute to the power of dialogue and collective human experiences, this [ ... ]

    Free
  • Sahand Hesamiyan: Prolepsis

    The Third Line Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The Third Line's third solo exhibition with Sahand Hesamiyan is a collection of sculptures that celebrate his dedication to steel as a 3D medium and shine a light on a number of long-cherished yet unrealised projects. While Hesamiyan is known [ ... ]

  • Saher Nassar: The Front Side Strikes the Most

    Zawyeh Gallery Warehouse 27, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    Soldiers undergo rigorous training, sometimes bordering on indoctrination, to execute commands often beyond their personal desires or intentions. They become pieces in a domino effect, operating in environments they cannot control. The latest works by Saher Nassar examine the psychology [ ... ]

    Free
  • Mariam Abbas: Terra Ephemera

    Mestaria Gallery Unit 35, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    Mariam Abbas is an Emirati illustrator, designer, and visual artist influenced by the architecture, botany, and the rich cultural backdrop that surrounds her. In particular, she finds that architecture can narrate tales of the past, while botanical gems convey cultural [ ... ]

    Free
  • Jehangir Vazifdar: A 60 Year Retrospective

    Leila Heller Gallery Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The late 60s and 70s were a time when the Indian sensibility found fresh voice, a time when new styles, techniques and visions came into the light. To some he will be known as the architect of some of Mumbai’s [ ... ]

    Free
  • Ali Cha’aban: I Guess I Am Still Angry

    Leila Heller Gallery Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Within the depths of our memories lie fragments of our childhood utopias. This exhibition seeks to examine the potency of these recollections, exploring how they shape our understanding of the world and influence our desires for a better future. Nostalgic [ ... ]

    Free
  • Shambhavi Singh: To see a world in a grain of sand …

    Volte Art Projects Warehouse 13, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    Singh appropriates, distorts, and symbolically creates surfaces and patterns within nature; raised in a farming family, it is the rural landscape, the farmer, and agricultural implements that find form in her practice. So the sickle, used primarily for harvesting or [ ... ]

    Free
  • MULTIVERSE by klove

    1x1 Art Gallery Unit 10 Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    You don't often find glass and light fittings presented as art in Dubai, so this show could be interesting. Prateek Jain and Gautam Seth established klove studio in New Delhi in 2005, since when it has built a reputation for [ ... ]

    Free
  • Inked in time

    Waddington Custot Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Custot’s new show is a group exhibition of works on paper, by Fernando Botero, Richard Höglund, Marc Quinn, Pablo Reinoso, Bernar Venet and Fabienne Verdier. Höglund’s magnifies the interaction of ink and paper, highlighting the fluid and marking properties of [ ... ]

    Free
  • Khalid Alastad: Little Neighbours

    FN Designs Unit 26 Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    A solo show of documentary photography, presented by Tashkeel at its new location in Alserkal Avenue at FN Designs(Warehouse 26). Alastad is known in photography circles for his passion, patience and dedication to the documentation of the UAE's desert ecosystem; [ ... ]

    Free
  • Sawsan Al Bahar

    Firetti Contemporary Unit 29, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    As an extension of Sawsan Al Bahar's solo show currently at Maraya Art Centre, Firetti Contemporary will be exhibiting works by the artist for Alserkal Lates. In drawing, Installation and text, Sawsan explores and experiments with a notion of home [ ... ]

    Free
  • Alserkal Lates

    Alserkal Avenue Al Quoz 1, Dubai

    The new season's first open-all-evening mini-festival at Alserkal Avenue. It's the mix as before, only more so – the galleries are staying open late, most with brand new shows, and so are the eateries and coffee shops. But added to [ ... ]

    Free
  • All Seeing Eye

    Seeing Things Warehouse 34, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    A phygital (physical/digital) and interactive exhibition created in response to an open call by MORROW Collective (the show also marks the launch of MORROW's NFT space on Foundation World, where most of these works will also be available). The exhibition [ ... ]

    Free
  • Cry, the Beloved Country: dir Zoltan Korda (1951)

    Manarat al Saadiyat Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Canada Lee is the black parish priest in the backcountry of South Africa, who travels to Johannesburg to support his son accused of murdering a prominent white man. With the assistance of  clergyman Reverend Msimangu (Sidney Poitier), he eventually meets the [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Costa Brava, Lebanon: dir Mounia Akl (2021)

    Museum of the Future Trade Centre 2, Sheikh Zayed Rd, Dubai

    A couple decide to leave the toxic pollution and social unrest of Beirut, hoping to build a utopian existence in the mountains. It’s a strong story, beautifully acted; the result is something of a love letter to Lebanon, a political [ ... ]

    General admission: AED149
  • Vir Das: Mind Fool Tour

    Dubai Opera

    The top Indian comic comes to Dubai fairly regularly, and he's always reliably funny. “No artist embodies the globalisation of stand-up like Vir Das” said the New York Times; “there is a mixture of audacity and humility in Das's comedy” [ ... ]

    From AED 150
  • Miriam Fares, Ahmed Saad, Ayed & Dj Aseel

    Coca-Cola Arena City Walk, Dubai

    A pretty cool lineup for the UAE graduation concert– "the ultimate afterparty", as the blurb puts it, and it's open to the public too.  with headliners Myriam Fares, Ahmed Saad, Ayed and DJ Aseel. Acclaimed artist, Myriam Fares, known as [ ... ]

    From AED 95
  • Curating Art with Maria Firetti

    CB2 Level 2, Mall of The Emirates, Dubai

    The eponymous founder of Firetti Contemporary Gallery talks about understanding value and choosing art if you're a novice collector (always interesting to hear the views of a galerist on such subjects). The talk is at CB2, the high-end furniture and [ ... ]

    Free
  • Rooftop Rhythms: Season 12 Opening

    Marketplace, NYUAD Campus Abu Dhabi

    The Middle East’s longest-running (and best, and best-supported) poetry (and other performance) open mic event enters its twelfth season. You get culturally-diverse voices with a lineup that features up-and-coming spoken word artists, poets, and musicians presenting original material, typically on [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Soylent Green: dir Richard Fleischer (1973)

    Museum of the Future Trade Centre 2, Sheikh Zayed Rd, Dubai

    The classic ecological dystopian thriller starring Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young, and Edward G. Robinson; the story follows a murder investigation in a grim future of dying oceans and year-round humidity caused by the greenhouse effect, with the resulting pollution, depleted [ ... ]

    General admission: AED149
  • Bebel Gilberto: Songs My Father Loved

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

    The Brazilian chanteuse presents a musical love letter to her father João Gilberto, one of the originators of bossa nova, featuring a deeply personal collection of songs he made famous. With her rich, smoky voice, Bebel has developed a distinctive [ ... ]

    AED 105
  • Beasts of the Southern Wild: dir Benh Zeitlin (2012)

    Museum of the Future Trade Centre 2, Sheikh Zayed Rd, Dubai

    Faced with both her hot-tempered father's fading health and melting ice-caps that flood her beloved bayou home, six-year-old Hushpuppy must learn the ways of courage and love. Her father contracts a mysterious illness, nature flies out of whack, and an [ ... ]

    General admission: AED149
  • Wow Music Fest

    Coca-Cola Arena City Walk, Dubai

    Live EDM DJing with a genuinely great bill. Headliners are Paul van Dyk (above) and genre-hopping duo Infected Mushroom; support comes from Weekend Heroes (hi-energy progressive house and techno) and the excellent progressive PsyTrance project Invisible Reality. Top local lad DJ [ ... ]

    From AED 174
  • Breaking Boundaries II

    Firetti Contemporary Unit 29, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    Firetti’s original Breaking Boundaries exhibition featured the works of Nasser Al Salem and Josh Rowell; this successor, curated by Celine Azem as part of the Dubai Calligraphy Biennale, has work by six artists from different parts of the world. It [ ... ]

    Free
  • Saudi Film Confex

    BLVD Expo Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    The Saudi Film Commission’s new industry event is a four-day conference and exhibition that aims to “lay the foundations for the Kingdom’s future film industry ventures ... underpinned the growing economic role of the film industry in Saudi Arabia”. We’re [ ... ]

    Free for exhibition
  • Blane De St Croix: Horizon

    NYUAD Art Gallery Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    The Art Gallery at NYUAD opens its new season with works from a sculptor who works on the relationship between people and landscape and in particular the landscape of climate change. His practice is based on extensive field research; over [ ... ]

    Free
  • Matilda The Musical

    Dubai Opera

    The multi-award-winning musical (it has won more than 99 international awards) inspired by the Roald Dahl book touches down in Dubai for what has to be one of the highlights of the season. As the New York Post put it, [ ... ]

    From AED 325
  • Trevor Noah: Off the Record

    Coca-Cola Arena City Walk, Dubai

    Trevor Noah’s The Daily Show landed a record seven Emmy nominations this year; but he’s rather wasted in that talk-show-host role, IMO, for he’s a consummate standup performer – especially for large auditoriums – with sold out shows on five [ ... ]

    From AED 250
  • Inge Thomson: Lecture Concert

    Sharjah Art Foundation, Flying Saucer Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

    In this Sharjah Art Foundation lecture performance, Inge Thomson will be performing excerpts from projects that have had an impact on her outlook as an artist and musician, while also sharing some of her thoughts along the way. Inge has [ ... ]

    Free
  • Fridge Concert Series 41: Ghaliaa / Mira Habash

    The Fridge Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter Ghaliaa should be able to make the most of the revamped Fridge venue with its redesigned stage and new state of the art sound system. Ghaliaa’s sound fuses RnB, hiphop, electropop, indie and jazz, all characterised by what [ ... ]

    AED 70
  • A Utopian Stage: Excavated Archives: Festival of Arts, Shiraz-Persepolis

    Meem Gallery Umm Suqeim Rd, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    This exhibition describes an open-ended, evolving project that “explores how in the aftermath of the collapse of European hegemonies and the rise of the Global South a fluid artistic exchange was possible across geographies, histories and forms in ways and [ ... ]

    Free
  • Samuel Olayombo: Lotus Bloom Ranchers

    Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery 796 Jumeirah Street, Dubai

    “I cross the boundaries of traditional masculinity, macho culture, societal gender assertions and associations," says Samuel Olayombo, who works with oils, acrylics, charcoal and pastels to create vibrant and large-scale canvases of predominately male but non-gender normative portraits. Using a [ ... ]

    Free
  • Fereydoun Ave: A Mini-Retrospective

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

    Tehran's Dastan Gallery has worked with Fereydoun Ave since its establishment and has been part of many of his projects. In this exhibition, Dastan seeks to present a glimpse into the diverse and multidimensional world and practice of the artist. [ ... ]

    Free
  • Connecting Worlds: Acoustic Ocean & Forest Mind Film Screenings with Ursula Biemann

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

    Two short films by the Norwegian director Ursula Biemann that explore the profound connections of indigenous communities to their natural environments. Screenings will be followed by a Q&A with Biemann. Acoustic Ocean (2018, 18 mins) is a poetic invitation to [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Emmie McLuskey: Creative Practices and Curation in Sound Art

    Sharjah Art Foundation -- Calligraphy Square Sharjah

    Glasgow-based Emmie McLuskey works with sculpture, print, sound and performance to explore the physical embodiment of communication with a particular focus on systems of learning. McLuskey works across the roles of artist, programmer, writer and educator. She sees these as [ ... ]

    Free
  • Postmordial Soup: Talal Al Najjar And Ziad Al Najjar, Miramar Al Nayyar

    ICD Brookfield Place Al Mustaqbal Street, DIFC, Dubai

    An immersive AV-plus-2D group exhibition featuring Talal Al Najjar, Ziad Al Najjar, and Miramar Al Nayyar in a new space at ICD Brookfield Place. Guests are invited to enter “an otherworldly space that feels simultaneously like a sanctuary of origin [ ... ]

    Free
  • Koyaanisqatsi Live

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

    Godfrey Reggio’s groundbreaking 1982 film Koyaanisqatsi set to an influential score by Philip Glass (his first major film success) and performed live by the Philip Glass Ensemble. Taking its title from a Hopi word meaning “life out of balance,” Koyaanisqatsi [ ... ]

    AED 105
  • Mina and The Funny Girls Go Pink

    Melrose Paramount Midtown, Al Mustaqbal Street, Dubai

    This is the 12th annual event in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month with a strong all-female line-up of comedians plus a special guest survivor, a BCA info booth and more. Men are very welcome too ... Mina Liccione hosts, [ ... ]

    Free
  • Coco Makmak: Karakoz

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

    The French-Lebanese funnywoman has a massive social media following for her character-based snippets of life – notably for Mother Makmak, a caricature of the typically caustic Lebanese mother. There are shows on 5 and 6 October, in French, Arabic and some [ ... ]

    From AED 150
  • Festival X

    Alserkal Avenue Al Quoz 1, Dubai

    This is the second edition of a festival that described itself as “the point of intersection between art, technology and the community … The main goal is to attract and create a community of open minded artists, scientists, and tech [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Coco Makmak: Karakoz

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

    A second show for the French-Lebanese comedienne and her character-based snippets of life in French, Arabic and some English.

    From AED 150
  • Jason Leong: Brain Drain

    Theatre by QE2 Queen Elizabeth 2, Port Rashid, Dubai

    The Malaysian doctor-turned-comedian is in town with his Brain Drain world tour. Expect quick wit and and great comic timing; his recently released second Netflix special, Ride With Caution, suggests that he is destined for greatness (he's keen to become Malaysia’s first [ ... ]

    From AED 125
  • Creative Careers Days

    Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

    The Jameel's annual festival devoted to helping the young explore a possible future in the arts is pitched at "all high school and university students, teachers, developing professionals and creatively minded youth in the UAE". Day one is aimed at [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-registration recommended
  • Neon Keys with Jolynn J Chin

    Theatre of Digital Arts Souk Madinat Jumeriah, Dubai

    Award-winning keyboardist Jolynn J Chin did well on America’s Got Talent with her eclectic blend of classical, pop and electronics. For this 90-minute ToDA gig, she's supported by immersive neon art from Polygon.

    From AED 190
  • Monday Night Comedy: This Is Impro & Ahmed

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

    Exactly what it says: a regular Monday evening of scenes, stories and narrative improvisation influenced by audience suggestions and featuring the Courtyard Playhouse's most experienced improv performers plus guests. There's a new angle to the event for this season – [ ... ]

    Free but donations welcome
  • Fahad Salim: The Sin Within

    Urbanist Art Gallery Box Park, Al Wasl Road, Dubai

    The Omani artist’s first solo show in Dubai declares that there's always a way to emerge from darkness to lightness, as exemplified by the transformation of shame from something sinister into strength and confidence: bold colours suspending and transcending traumatic [ ... ]

    Free