Culture Emulsion brings its successful French comedy to Abu Dhabi – and it is very funny, a sharp and blackish comedy about the ties that unite (and sometimes suffocate). Every Friday the Mesnards gather at the family café before going [... more]
Two further performances of Sebastian Mayer’s Hannibaby and Zarafa. Hannibaby manifests as a walkabout performance by a life-sized baby elephant puppet, alongside a workshop series instructing families in the art of creating and decorating their own 3D elephant masks. It [... more]
A thrilling, child-friendly musical-thriller adaptation of Shakespeare’s play of shenanigans in the Scottish court with daggers and added witches. The S4K (Shakespeare for Kidz) team has been bringing the world of Shakespeare to young people around the world for more [... more]
This 12th edition of the Sharjah Calligraphy Biennial has the theme 'Balance' and features 297 works by 145 artists from around the world. It's always an interesting visit because of the range of styles and techniques on show, covering traditional [... more]
A mini-retrospective for Sliman Mansour during Alserkal Art Week 2026 covering five decades of his work – “the first time since 2011 that such an extensive body of the artist’s work has been brought together in a single exhibition”, says [... more]
Curated by Suheyla Takesh and Rémi Homs, this exhibition features works from the Barjeel Art Foundation collection, including pieces by Inji Efflatoun, Samia Halaby and Mona Saudi; it also has some archival exhibition posters dating from the 1940s to the [... more]
An afternoon dedicated to Jane Austen’s novel of love, family, heartbreak, and societal expectations (which of course you could say about most of her novels. Maybe not Northanger Abbey ...) This sort-of book club with tea and good conversation will [... more]
The Mad Cat team does the rather cool Moon Bar at the Sana Restaurant in Mina Al Salam – a great venue: quite intimate, few distractions. Featuring surprise drop-ins, fresh material, and “the kind of intimate room where sitting in the [... more]
An evening of stand-up with graduates of Dubomedy's Stand-up Workshops plus special guests. Free, but you're recommended to pre-register because spaces are limited and go fast ...
Reynier Llanes’ second solo exhibition at Firetti Contemporary includes works from The Tourist and The Poet series plus the debut of Bodega, a new series in which the human figure gives way to transparent vessels overflowing with flowers. "Moving between [... more]
This is sure to be one of the shows of the year, and not just because of its scale. Ayyam’s 20th-anniversary exhibition seeks to honour a journey defined by continuity, resilience, and artistic exchange, says the gallery; and, "much like [... more]
The first solo exhibition by Emirati artist Faris Alshafar features new oil paintings that mark his move from monochrome into colour. Says the gallery: "The works explore how we alter our appearance and behaviour in response to desire and expectation, whether [... more]
The Ghanain artist’s second solo exhibition with Efie Gallery extends Owusu’s longstanding exploration of value, currency, and the social structures through which worth is assigned and perceived; it features textured canvases, mixed media sculptures, and – for the first time [... more]
Malik Thomas Jalil Kydd’s second solo exhibition marks a significant evolution in his practice, says the gallery – "one in which desire and divinity are intertwined and rendered in quiet persistence". Previous works often situated their subjects within expansive landscapes, [... more]
A solo show for the French abstract painter whose work melds the aesthetics of Western art – line, action and abstraction – with the principles of traditional Eastern art, such as unity, spontaneity and asceticism. Verdier paints vertically using giant [... more]
As part of the programming for Ayyam Gallery’s 20th anniversary, co-founder Khaled Samawi joins Myrna Ayad for a conversation exploring the gallery’s journey since its founding in Damascus in 2006. Reflecting on two decades of exhibitions, artistic collaborations, and the [... more]
An exhibition of newly commissioned and recent works by Rajni Perera, Sancintya Mohini Simpson, Soma Surovi Jannat, Karan Shrestha and Rain Wu – five artists whose work offers different perspectives on our relationship with place. The exhibition moves between mythology [... more]
Mad Cat’s standup team at their regular stop at the Easy Tiger bar in Abu Dhabi’s Al Ain Palace. The door price of AED 99 includes two drinks …
An exhibition that brings together works by the Italian artist Marilina Marchica and Emirati artist Salmah Almansoori that are rooted in the landscapes respectively of Sicily and Ghayathi. Marchica traces the imprints of abandoned buildings and domestic spaces through drawing, [... more]
A chance to meet students and faculty on the NYU Abu Dhabi MFA course, learn more about the programme, and get a glimpse of life as an MFA student. Students featured: Shae Nadine Jingyi Tang Amina Yahia Ameni Abida Xingi [... more]
Led by Viviana Checchia, this participatory studio invites participants to explore how everyday acts of gathering, cooking, and conversation can become spaces for collective thinking, exchange, and connection – and for expressing ideas, sharing experiences, and challenging established social structures. [... more]
The fair for upmarket collectible design, contemporary art, jewellery and crafts returns to the iconic decommissioned Terminal 1 of the old Abu Dhabi Airport with more than 50 exhibitors and a much expanded programme. "This year, we have a better [... more]
Building on nearly two decades of Abu Dhabi Art, the inaugural edition of Frieze Abu Dhabi marks a new chapter for the region's international art scene. The aim is to connect Abu Dhabi and local arts ecosystem with Frieze's global [... more]
The region's premier affordable art fair is back, with all its stalls having sold out and the promise of more than 10,000 artworks from 300+ artists and galleries to see (the exhibitor list is here). There's a busy programme of [... more]
Mad Cat Comedy's regular Thursday stop in Silicon Oasis promises "insane laughs every week". The door price of AED 99 includes one drink and popcorn.
“Dubai’s hottest comedy night” (aka the Mad Cat team) come to the moodily-lit speakeasy style bar in DIFC for a regular Thursday gig. The door price includes one drink.
This concert by the UAE National Orchestra and choir puts the emphasis on 'national' with "an evening where we come together in love for the nation, sharing moments of pride and belonging ... a space where we gather as sons [... more]
Mad Cat Comedy’s regular standup night at Xandros in Signature 1 Hotel, TECOM. The cover charge of AED 80 includes one drink.
As part of the programming for Ayyam Gallery’s 20th anniversary, Gallery Director Maya Samawi leads an "intimate tour" of the exhibition, sharing stories from the gallery’s journey and her family’s role in shaping Ayyam Gallery.
A regular Mad Cat Comedy night – “Dubai’s wildest comedy show on Saturday” at “the first purpose built comedy room in the country”. The cover charge of AED 99 includes two F&B coupons.
Exhibition of the winner and proposals shortlisted for the sixth edition of The Art Circle Award.
The Mad Cat team does the rather cool Moon Bar at the Sana Restaurant in Mina Al Salam – a great venue: quite intimate, few distractions. Featuring surprise drop-ins, fresh material, and “the kind of intimate room where sitting in the [... more]
Sim Chi Yen’s installation and performance speaks to the intersecting geographies of forced migration that came about as a result of the mass deportation of over 30,000 people from British-ruled Malaya (present-day Malaysia and Singapore) to China between 1948 and [... more]
The Emirati artist's first solo exhibition features an imaginary bestiary on paintings, works on paper and ceramic sculptures. Al Falahi’s creatures each carry a feeling, a memory or a premonition, says the gallery: "Pieced together from what has stayed with the [... more]
Mad Cat’s standup team at their regular stop at the Easy Tiger bar in Abu Dhabi’s Al Ain Palace. The door price of AED 99 includes two drinks …
The Thai painter Verapat Sitipol explores the relationship between abstraction and the natural world in this body of work; the exhibition considers how we experience nature as something in flux, continuously shaped by movement, memory, and time. Sitipol’s compositions are [... more]
"A comedy whirlwind featuring a revolving lineup of Dubai's best comedians and fresh faces! You never know what will happen!" A regular fortnightly standup gig with the Mad Cat folk. The cover charge of AED 99 includes one drink.
A solo exhibition by Malaysian artist and designer that reflects on the quiet, temporary musollas that pop up in the UAE’s warehouses, shopfronts, and back rooms, modest prayer spaces that are shaped by necessity rather than formal design. Through paintings, [... more]
“Dubai’s hottest comedy night” (aka the Mad Cat team) come to the moodily-lit speakeasy style bar in DIFC for a regular Thursday gig. The door price includes one drink.
Bassam Freiha Art Foundation's book-club-with-a-difference starts a new season of stories and conversation inspired by books and art. It opens with this reflective writing session centered on memory and personal growth – participants are invited to choose a book, character, [... more]
Mad Cat Comedy’s regular standup night at Xandros in Signature 1 Hotel, TECOM. The cover charge of AED 80 includes one drink.
A music festival with a regional vibe that this time supports UNHCR's work with displaced families in the Arab region. Under the slogan 'One night. One collective voice. One common language. Music', it's certainly a good lineup: 🎙️Marcel Khalif (right) [... more]
The clue is in the name: Expo City's pioneering (and excellent) all-female orchestra take on some of the great arias with "a special guest soprano".
This concert by the UAE National Orchestra and choir puts the emphasis on 'national' with "an evening where we come together in love for the nation, sharing moments of pride and belonging ... a space where we gather as sons [... more]
A regular Mad Cat Comedy night – “Dubai’s wildest comedy show on Saturday” at “the first purpose built comedy room in the country”. The cover charge of AED 99 includes two F&B coupons.
The latest edition of Sharjah Art Foundation's open-call photography exhibition examines the evolving possibilities of documentary photography through newly commissioned works by six artists – Luisa Dörr, Latifa AlBokhari, Sathish Kumar, Adam Rouhana, Guanyu Xu and Maheder Haileselassie. The principle [... more]
An exhibition that brings together works by the Italian artist Marilina Marchica and Emirati artist Salmah Almansoori that are rooted in the landscapes respectively of Sicily and Ghayathi. Marchica traces the imprints of abandoned buildings and domestic spaces through drawing, [... more]
The Mad Cat team does the rather cool Moon Bar at the Sana Restaurant in Mina Al Salam – a great venue: quite intimate, few distractions. Featuring surprise drop-ins, fresh material, and “the kind of intimate room where sitting in the [... more]
Benjamin Lipscomb's 2021 book draws on a recently opened archives and extensive correspondence and interviews with those who knew them best to tell the story of four lifelong friends who met at university and made their mark in a male-dominated [... more]
Sofiane Chalal's hip-hop dance performance XXL addresses the thorny issue of being seen as overweight in society. Rather than hide behind euphemisms and concealment, XXL centres ‘non-standard’ bodies to dismantle pejorative labels and celebrate a journey towards acceptance and recognition. [... more]
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