Cirque du Liban returns to Abu Dhabi (it did a show on Yas last year) with "the first travelling water circus in the Middle East ... live entertainment, breathtaking artistic performances in a tailor-made aqua theatre, waterfalls cascading, artists diving [ ... ]
Paris-based CHAMPOP Galerie opened an outpost in Downtown Dubai this summer. It specialises in pop art and street art, and its first full-scale exhibition in Dubai features Banksy. On show are several originals plus screenprints and limited editions; the former, [ ... ]
Harsh Kocher brings all his jokes to the Radisson Red for this MadCat'gig. The door price of AED 99 includes a drink and popcorn
The November Laughter Factory tour. The acts: Tom Elwes Sold out his Edinburgh Fringe show: expect high-energy storytelling and razor-sharp wit Kate Barron One of the funniest things to come out of Canada (possibly) ever. "Fierce, unfiltered, and hilariously relatable" [ ... ]
This Aisha Alabbar Gallery exhibition in collaboration with Sotheby’s Middle East features five artists whose works explore the quiet persistence of memory and cultural inheritance – Najat Makki, Khalid Al Banna, Sara Al Haddad, Sara Aref Ahli, and Samar Hejazi. [ ... ]
The Day May Break (2021–) is an ongoing global series portraying people and animals whose lives have been profoundly affected by environmental degradation and destruction. This fourth chapter of the series was photographed in Jordan, one of the most water-scarce [ ... ]
A celebration of the life and work of the great Palestinian poet (b.1941 d.2008) that unfolds across six themed sections – The Son explores his childhood in Al-Birwa; The Poet highlights his early literary beginnings; The Exiled follows his displacement [ ... ]
Sharjah Art Foundation’s annual celebration of indie/experimental cinema returns for its eighth edition from 14 to 23 November 2025 with an expanded lineup of films, talks and artist development programmes. Screenings and events will take place at Mirage City Cinema, [ ... ]
"Explosive family theatre for curious minds", says then publicity. What a great idea – a spectacular family-friendly show inspired by the Science Museum in London, very successful in the UK and now making its UAE debut with a performance that [ ... ]
Alain Delon swashbuckler. At the time of the French Revolution, a masked bandit called the Black Tulip robs the rich and helps the poor. It’s all good fun, and Delon proved his acting chops by playing both the Tulipe Noire [ ... ]
A really interesting evening of contrasting but complementary music by performers who are all making their UAE debuts. Ballaké Sissoko & Derek Gripper Malian virtuoso Ballaké Sissoko has taken over the mantle of greatest living kora master, with an ability [ ... ]
MadCat Comedy returns to Xandros in Signature 1 Hotel, TECOM. The cover charge of AED 80 includes one drink.
The November Laughter Factory tour. The acts: Tom Elwes Sold out his Edinburgh Fringe show: expect high-energy storytelling and razor-sharp wit Kate Barron One of the funniest things to come out of Canada (possibly) ever. "Fierce, unfiltered, and hilariously relatable" [ ... ]
Manar Abu Dhabi returns for its second edition with the theme The Light Compass, presenting 19 newly commissioned light-based artworks by Emirati and international artists – including some very big names: Abdulla Almulla (UAE) Ammar Al Attar (UAE) Christian Brinkmann [ ... ]
Tor Siedel explores how ‘vandalism’ by environmental activists in triptychs that consider whether these attacks can also be considered performative acts of art. He focuses on the protagonists' actionism, the shock or entertainment value for visitors, and the professional dissemination [ ... ]
"Childhood is a half-remembered taste: sweet, sticky, and sometimes spoiled." In Girl Parts, her first solo exhibition, Aliyah Alawadhi expresses this residue in paint – bodies shimmering in pinks and creams, mouths agape, devouring and dreaming. Says the gallery: "These [ ... ]
A regular MadCat Comedy night – "Dubai's wildest comedy show on Saturday" (sic). The cover charge of AED 99 includes two F&B coupons.
The final gig for the November Laughter Factory tour. The acts: Tom Elwes Sold out his Edinburgh Fringe show: expect high-energy storytelling and razor-sharp wit Kate Barron One of the funniest things to come out of Canada (possibly) ever. "Fierce, [ ... ]
Drawing from the charged visual language of street walls in Palestine in this, her first solo exhibition in the UAE, Salma Dib transforms those surfaces of resistance into layered compositions that speak of loss, resilience, and collective memory. Her works [ ... ]
Gil Heitor Cortesão's fifth solo show at CARBON 12 (it is also the gallery's 100th exhibition) presents a suite of large and small works extending his investigation into the fragile perceptive systems and architectures of modernity. Working with oils on [ ... ]
Ali Kaaf’s first solo exhibition at Ayyam Gallery features his seminal body of work, the Rift series, alongside selected works from his Helmet and Ras Ras series. The Fire’s Edge evokes the fragile threshold where ancestral practices meet modern erasure [ ... ]
In his latest work, Palestinian artist Mohammed Joha redefines collage as "an architecture of rupture and reassembly, both a method and a metaphor". His works bring together scraps of fabric, paper, cardboard, plastic and other salvaged materials, textures pulled from [ ... ]
The artist’s first solo show at Ayyam Gallery features Kaaf’s seminal body of work from his Rift, Helmet and Ras Ras series. The Fire’s Edge evokes the fragile threshold where ancestral practices meet modern erasure, the line between scorched earth [ ... ]
A solo exhibition by Kamrooz Aram. The artist’s practice integrates sculpture, painting, and architecture, creating a context for viewing cultural artefacts in a way that brings them back into the present. At the centre of five collages, for instance, is [ ... ]
A group exhibition curated by Hamzeh Alfarahneh of South African curatorial firm Art(Advisory) and featuring works by Hamra Abbas (Pakistan), Diana Al-Hadid (Syria-USA), Timo Nasseri (Iran-Germany), and four South Africans – Igshaan Adams, Moshekwa Langa, James Webb, and Bronwyn Katz. [ ... ]
The artists in this group show have distinct visual languages that do find commonalities: they "transform the familiar through acts of care, attention, and intuitive play ... a shared attentiveness to what is provisional, such as a line that wavers, [ ... ]
Tabari Artspace's first exhibition at its new Alserkal Avenue location is a solo show for Miramar Al Nayyar, curated by Abeer Seikaly. In Hujra, Al Nayyar "traces how flow crystallises onto canvas, how light becomes matter, and how painting absorbs [ ... ]
A short pop-up exhibition for Devadeep Gupta, presented by Prameya Art Foundation with the support of Alserkal Avenue and India Art Fair. The artist’s practice investigates the overlapping histories of colonial extraction, ecological destruction, and indigenous resilience in Margherita, Assam [ ... ]
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, [ ... ]
A lyrical duet that weaves together music and poetry, Searching for Love transports audiences to the streets of Cairo to examine themes of love, alienation and longing. Director and writer Nanda Mohammad joins composer and violinist Mohamed Sami to offer [ ... ]
Well, you can't accuse Duboimedy of trying to fool us ... this is indeed a Sunday afternoon of comic improv, largely based on audience suggestions. It's free, but there is a minimum spend of one drink or one food item [ ... ]
The top Egyptian American comedian and satirist returns to Dubai for a one-off show at Coca-Cola Arena with his characteristic blend of satire and storytelling “as he weaves his journey of cultural identity, resilience, and the absurdities of politics and [ ... ]
This is Dillon's first solo exhibition in Dubai; and it is claimed to be a milestone in the artist’s career, featuring a body of work conceived and created specifically for this show. In Claude Lévi-Strauss’s influential text of the same [ ... ]
Koushaji’s exhibitions continues his exploration of memory, resilience, and the human condition with a new body of work that “reflects on a world shaped by displacement, conflict, and uncertainty, yet illuminated by fleeting moments of beauty and strength”. His distinctive [ ... ]
Inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s reflection that “It is here that we must love. All is here,” this exhibition of painting and sculpture invites viewers to rediscover paradise not as a distant place, but as something that exists within our [ ... ]
As a complement to the Nja Mahdaoui retrospective in the main gallery at BFAF, this exhibition presents loans from the Ministry of Culture’s Al Burda exhibitions from 2008 to 2023. Al Burda was an annual exhibition where contemporary artists engaged [ ... ]
MadCat’s standup team comes to the Easy Tiger bar in Abu Dhabi's Al Ain Palace. The door price of AED 99 includes two drinks ...
The 16th edition of Abu Dhabi Art will take place from 19 to 23 November, as usual at Manarat al Saadiyat. The fair element has more than 140 galleries from 37 countries, by far the largest number to date – [ ... ]
Emirati opera singer Fatima Alhashmi – known for her unique interpretations of French opera infused with Arabic lyrics – is joined for this concert by French pianist Marie Sontag (who has described crossing paths with Alhashmi as "a moment of [ ... ]
This is St Petersburg Opera's signature production of one of opera’s greatest works, reimagined with striking originality by the celebrated Russian director Yuri Alexandrov. Rigoletto remains one of Verdi’s most enduring masterpieces: a story of love, betrayal, and revenge told through [ ... ]
A boutique alternative to the conventional art fair, NOMAD is a peripatetic showcase for collectible design and contemporary art that pops up in “extraordinary architectural settings”. Its next iteration is NOMAD Abu Dhabi, to be held in the decommissioned Terminal [ ... ]
A group show for three young Japanese artists that celebrates the playful sensibility at the heart of contemporary Japanese expression – "a sensibility that transforms familiarity into wonder, nostalgia into dream" as the gallery has it. These artists have used [ ... ]
The inaugural show of Taymour Grahne's new project space in Dubai features the Maine-based painter, the recipient of numerous fellowships amd now (after 30 years as faculty at the Maine College of Art and Design) a full time artist. Her [ ... ]
In this exhibition, Jamil presents a new body of work that explores how we see ourselves — and how we are seen — in an ever-changing world. Working with hand-formed polished steel wall sculptures, woven metal mesh, and mirrored sculptural [ ... ]
In the new body of work in this solo show, Bernhard continues her exploration of surface as revelation "where paint radiates, refracts, and breathes ... Each canvas becomes a threshold between the sacred and the screen, where baroque intensity meets [ ... ]
The second weekend for Cirque du Liban's acrobatics-plus-aquatics show, "the first travelling water circus in the Middle East ... live entertainment, breathtaking artistic performances in a tailor-made aqua theatre, waterfalls cascading, artists diving and performing mind-blowing Aquatic experience". There are [ ... ]
What do Louis Vuitton, Marina Abramović and BMW have in common? According to cultural strategist Vadim Grigoryan in his newly published book, Art Thinking: Art, Meaning and Brand Leadership, they are all players in the evolving relationship between the art [ ... ]
This concert celebrating “the best of the choral and orchestral works of the British Isles” features some 60 voices and a 30-piece orchestra conducted by musical director Howard Wong. “The best” is a grand claim, but certainly the programme features [ ... ]
An open mic gig for local musicians; each act gets to perform one song. The Fridge's performance space is well equipped – you can use their drum kit, electric keyboard, amps for guitar and bass, and mics. And you can [ ... ]
A second performance for this lavish staging by St Petersburg Opera of Verdi’s most enduring masterpiece – a story of love, betrayal, and revenge told through some of the most celebrated music in the operatic repertoire. As with most shows [ ... ]
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