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 [ ... ]
A second performance for the Abu Dhabi Festival by this troupe of highly skilled Japanese drummers
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, [ ... ]
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 [ ... ]
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.
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 [ ... ]
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 [ ... ]
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 [ ... ]
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 [ ... ]
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
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 [ ... ]
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 [ ... ]
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 [ ... ]
"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 [ ... ]
"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 [ ... ]
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 [ ... ]
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 [ ... ]
FLEX* is a talking and listening game created by Manila-based curatorial and research initiative Load na Dito; participants explore the meaning of words based on personal experiences while moulding clay. Inspired by the city’s ubiquitous gift shops, the accompanying installation will [ ... ]
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 [ ... ]
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 [ ... ]
New works by the noted Palestinian artist. The title The Promise suggests a poetic and ambiguous statement of intent; a promise is made but can also be broken. Makhoul's practice engages deeply with the concept of home, with the recurring [ ... ]
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 [ ... ]
An ongoing programme of performance exercises such as contact improvisation, breath work, acting warm-ups, games, and techniques aimed at "performing artists, creatives, and curious individuals looking to explore movement practices. Instructors are multidisciplinary theatre artist and game designer Carlos Páez [ ... ]
Vinyl Souk's Mini Festival is back, a day of live music, records, audio gear, merch, art, DJs, bands, workshops, and kids' activities – "a celebration of local and regional talent and good vibes for all". There's tasty street fare at [ ... ]
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 Abu [ ... ]
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 [ ... ]
A reggae evening with the dynamic five-piece, with a repertoire that spans reggae history from Bob Marley to Lucky Dube, (plus a bit of UB40 pop-reggae and their own songs). These guys know how to have a lot of fun [ ... ]
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 [ ... ]
Efie Gallery is opening its new space in Alserkal Avenue with Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons’ debut solo exhibition in the Middle East. The exhibiiton, curated by Faridah Folawiyo, explores diaspora and interconnectedness through the flora and fauna of Latin America, the [ ... ]
This clever collaboration fills one of Leila Heller's gallery spaces with work by artists from Toronto's Zaal Art Gallery for a short run that coincides with Art Dubai – thus providing curated exposure for rather more work than an Art [ ... ]
Kuniko Kato is one of the world’s leading percussionists, noted for astonishing virtuosity and flawless technique, exquisite musical insight and expressive yet elegant performance style; we don't know what her programme will be, but she is equally proficient in traditional [ ... ]
Sailstorfer’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery brings together three series of works that explore one of the artist’s signature themes: energy. He reflects on energy as a source, as storage, as a transmitter, as working material – in short, [ ... ]
A solo exhibition of recent body work by one of the gallery’s stars. Alshaibi’s multimedia work explores spaces of conflict and the power struggles that reimagine Baghdad’s transformation – its peaks, declines, and latent possibilities. Baghdad becomes a site of [ ... ]
Huda Lutfi’s fourth solo exhibition at the gallery includes works from three recent series – When Dreams Call for Silence (2019), Our Black Thread (2020–2021), and Healing Devices (2020–ongoing) It also includes a selection of previously unshown miniature collages, offering [ ... ]
The first solo exhibition in the Middle East for the Addis Ababa artist showcases Sime’s distinctive practice of transforming colourful wires, circuit boards, and electronic components into intricate, layered compositions that blur the boundaries between technology, nature, and abstraction. The [ ... ]
The second solo exhibition at this gallery for the Iran-born, NY-based artist features new paintings that revels in transplanting elements within themselves. Hoseini says “the figures have moved from architecture to landscape"; so the flat figure expands and multiplies in [ ... ]
Experimental photography works by the Iraqui artist, who says: “Inspired by the Sumerian myth and my archaeological excavations in our invisible life, the mythological love series invites us to contemplate the magical love relationship between human women and the Anunnaki [ ... ]
Al Braithwaite is a contemporary artist from London who works across a variety of disciplines including sculpture, assemblage, found material and installation. For this show, Braithwaite’s Material Abstraction (MATAB) comprises textured panels arrayed as physical sculptures. Says the gallery: “Their [ ... ]
Curated by Murtaza Vali, this exhibition revisits Hassan Sharif’s 'objects', works which expand the definition of 'craft' beyond notions of skill, precision and medium-specific mastery and towards "an experimental, experiential and embodied practice of learning, understanding, and knowing through making". [ ... ]
A group exhibition featuring Emirati artists Asma Khoory, Taqwa Alnaqbi, and Sultan Al Remeithi, curated by Salem AlSuwaidi. "In a world rushing forward, the exhibition invites you to linger—where 'killing time' becomes a quiet, radical act of care, presence, and [ ... ]
A solo show for an artist whose distinctive approach to visual storytelling lies in her ability to blend hyperrealism with dreamlike distortion. Her paintings transform the sea into a metaphor for modern existence where joy and anxiety coexist, and spectacle [ ... ]
A solo show for an artist whose distinctive approach to visual storytelling lies in her ability to blend hyperrealism with dreamlike distortion. In this series, a follow-on from her gorgeous but unsettling La La Land works, her paintings transform the [ ... ]
Khazaie's solo show is inspired by nature, particularly by trees that bend in the face of wind and storms yet do not break. These symbolise resilience and flexibility; just as in life, people too change under pressure and harsh conditions, [ ... ]
A preview of Al-Hadid Art Dubai exhibits in advance of the art fair, showing in the Plaza at One Za'abeel in partnership with Galleri Brandstrup and Bureau Safavid. We promised "a dialogue between memory, architecture, and cultural identity"; guided tours [ ... ]
Asunción Molinos Gordo’s second major collaboration with Art Jameel – following her 2019 Artist’s Garden, In Transit (Botany of a Journey) – is her first retrospective exhibition in West Asia. This show spans 15 years of Molinos Gordo’s work, tracing [ ... ]
A clever juxtaposition of works by two masters of the poetry of balance and movement that reveals unexpected harmonies between the artistic languages of Alexander Calder and Philippe Hiquily. Calder’s gouaches on paper, with their bold colours and rhythmic compositions, [ ... ]
The inaugural exhibition in the Emirates for the Ghanaian artist explores the concept of ‘home’ through the lens of Afro-Surrealism. This series marks an introspective shift in his practice, reflecting his evolving sense of place in the world; HOME: Heart [ ... ]
A dazzling film set in n 1970s Rome in a dressmaking atelier for film and theatre. The atelier is directed by two very different sisters, one determined and slightly despotic, the other more fragile and tormented. An important order comes [ ... ]
We’re promised “an original and innovative musical programme” from the Labèque sisters, and they never disappoint. Noted for their impeccable synchronicity, electrifying energy, and deftness of interpretation, the sisters “have transformed the piano duo” (New York Times) and “their musical [ ... ]
The connection between silence and noise, minimalism and maximalism, is explored in this exhibition, which contrasts contemporary and traditional art: Ali Zolghadri works with minimalistic black-and-white photography, Niga Sayyed captures quiet stories from the past in pieces that evolve from [ ... ]
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