• LAST CHANCE Fariba Boroufar: In Our Bones

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

    Fariba Boroufar’s first exhibition at the gallery features her signature woven forms. Reminiscent of elements of the built environment, they offer a poetical portrait of our broken present, a protest against forgetting, and a paean to another way of moving [ ... ]

  • DIFC Art Nights

    DIFC Gate Village Dubai

    Nine days of “artistic celebration and cultural engagement” (7-15 November) to commemorate the 20th anniversary of DIFC, apparently with public art installations, panel talks, performances, live art, workshops for kids, and musical entertainment. The website doesn’t currently have much information [ ... ]

    Free
  • Men’s Rings: the Yves Gastou Collection

    L'ÉCOLE Middle East, School of Jewelry Arts Building 10, Dubai Design District, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The late dealer / collector Yves Gastou (he passed away in 2020) was known for his educated eye, eclectic tastes, and an ability to discover lost gems and new talents in art, design, jewellery and exquisite taste generally. From an [ ... ]

  • Into The Beat | Dein Herz Tanzt: dir Stefan Westerwelle (2020)

    Cinema Akil in 25hours Hotel Trade Center St, Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    A great coming-of-age movie – teen destined for ballet stardom discovers hip hop dance. She finds a new passion that challenges everything she knows. Torn between ballet and hip-hop, Kaya must decide which path to follow: the one set by [ ... ]

    Free
  • Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra with Jaap Van Zweden and Sarah Chang

    Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi

    On its first ever concert in the UAE, the Seoul Philharmonic under the baton of Jaap Van Zweden is joined by the award-winning violinist Sarah Chang for Shostakovich’s Symphony No.5 in D minor. The programme also includes Beethoven’s Symphony No.5 [ ... ]

    From AED 150
  • Steven Naifeh: Found in Translation

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

    The first solo exhibition in Abu Dhabi in 50 years of works by Steven Naifeh, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, businessman and artist – particularly of large-scale geometric abstractions that owe much to hos appreciation of geometric art in the Middle East. [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Seulgi Kim: Ride the Wave

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

    Seulgi Kim’s first solo exhibition in the Middle East brings to Volery Gallery a deeply personal exploration of her emotional journey,. The sea, which plays a central role in her work, becomes a metaphor for life’s turbulence and tranquillity; her [ ... ]

    Free
  • Urban Market Festival

    Manarat al Saadiyat Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Originally launched in Dubai in 2021 to promote sustainable thrift shopping, this event arrives in Abu Dhabi with a makeover and what looks like a more commercial bent – the 40+ vendors do include thrift and vintage fashion, but there’s [ ... ]

    AED 25
  • Meeting Mozart

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

    This acclaimed interactive experience for the young has been a major success for Sydney Opera House; it’s a 40-minute show aimed at children aged 2 to 10 (and their families) which blends live music, storytelling, and song to introduce young [ ... ]

    From AED 120
  • Call Me Dancer: dir Leslie Shampaine (2023)

    Alliance Française Dubai Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Charismatic, athletic Manish is a talented young street dancer from a poor Mumbai family who struggles against his parents’ insistance that he forgets his dreams of becoming a professional dancer. He meets Yehuda, a curmudgeonly 70-year-old Israeli ballet teacher who [ ... ]

    Free
  • Blackadder Goes Forth

    The Junction Unit H72, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    A stage adaptation of the fourth (and best-scripted) of the BBC sitcom originally written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton. Dubai Drama Group really can't go wrong with this – a series of schemes by Captain Edmund Blackadder to escape [ ... ]

    AED 125
  • Meshwar: A Musical Journey

    Berklee Abu Dhabi UAE Pavilion, Saadiyat ISland, Abu Dhabi

    The latest in Berklee Abu Dhabi’s concert series showcasing different musical styles and genres. Headlining are Canadian singer-songwriter JP Saxe (soulful R&B-influenced pop: he's on the left in the pic) and Jordanian singer/composer /producer Aziz Maraka (on the right: he's [ ... ]

    AED 120
  • Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra with Jaap Van Zweden and Inmo Yang

    Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi

    A second Abu Dhabi Classics concert for the Seoul Philharmonic conducted by Jaap Van Zweden, again featuring a stellar young soloist in Inmo Yang. They will play one of the most popular concertos in the solo violin repertoire, Bruch’s Violin [ ... ]

    From AED 300
  • LAST CHANCE Armin Najib: -continuum

    Aisha Alabbar Gallery Warehouse C19, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    Najib is a multidisciplinary artist from Iran whose practice includes painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, and art jewellery but primarily revolves around kinetic mechanisms and magnetic fields. His fascination with magnetism, ergonomic placement elements, and environmental sensing has led him to [ ... ]

    Free
  • Fictional Landscapes

    Foundry Downtown Boulevard Crescent, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard, Dubai

    A group exhibition featuring 28 women artists from the UAE, Russia, Iran, Armenia, India, Pakistan, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Iceland, USA and more. These artists, who live and work across the globe, look at landscapes — urban, imagined, natural and artificial [ ... ]

    Free
  • Awodiya Toluwani: The Becoming

    Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery 796 Jumeirah Street, Dubai

    Toluwani's fourth exhibition with the gallery (and his second in Dubai) looks at marriage in his native Nigeria. It provides insights into several marital practices observed across different local cultures and analyses prospects for the institution. To 7 January. Above: [ ... ]

    Free
  • L’ÉCOLE Middle East: Public Open Day

    L'ÉCOLE Middle East, School of Jewelry Arts Building 10, Dubai Design District, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    A Public Open Day at L’ÉCOLE Middle East, School of Jewelry Arts as part of Dubai Design Week. Expect tasters and demonstrations of the jewellery and gemstone courses, kids workshops, guided tours and other activities – and the new exhibition [ ... ]

  • Move on Screen: Short Films UAE

    Alliance Française Dubai Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    A programme of dance-related shorts in the Move on Screen programme. The 24 films include 10 produced by students of the Sharjah Performing Art Academy; the remainder are by local filmmakers and artists.

    Free, but pre-register
  • Gallant Indies | Les Indes galantes: dir Philippe Béziat (2021)

    Alliance Française Dubai Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    On the stage of the Opéra Bastille in Paris, 30 dancers from non-traditional genres – hip-hop, krump, break, voguing – reprise and remix Jean-Philippe Rameau's baroque 1735 masterpiece, Les Indes galantes. It’s an opera offensive to modern sensibilities that reflected [ ... ]

    Free
  • Rise | En Corps: dir Cédric Klapisch (2021)

    Alliance Française Dubai Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Élise (played by real-life Paris Opera Ballet principal ballerina Marion Barbeau in her first film rôle) thought she had the perfect life: an ideal boyfriend and a promising career as a ballet dancer. It all falls apart the day she [ ... ]

    Free
  • Steinway Concert Series: Illia Ovcharenko

    Dubai Opera Studio Downtown Dubai, Dubai

    The young Ukrainian pianist Illia Ovcharenko is something of a must-see, especially when he's playing the Romantic repertoire – and most especially for his treatment of Liszt. Praised as “technically flawless and impeccably musical” (International Piano) and winner of multiple [ ... ]

    AED 220
  • Blackadder Goes Forth

    The Junction Unit H72, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The second and final performance by Dubai Drama Group of this  stage adaptation of the fourth (and best-scripted) of the BBC sitcom – a series of schemes by Captain Edmund Blackadder to escape the horrors of World War One, aided [ ... ]

    AED 125
  • Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige: The Vertiginous Story of Orthosia

    Bait Gholoum Ibrahim Al Issa Corniche Street, Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

    The Nahr al Bared refugee camp was built in north Lebanon in 1948 for Palestinian families fleeing the Nakba. At the time, nobody considered the possibility that they might still be there 75 years later. In 2007, fighting erupted in [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Searching for Pierrot

    The Junction Unit H72, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    A return for this single-hander, written by and (we think) performed by Gillian Rhodes, who is really very good at this storytelling-with-performance sort of thing. This time it's a coming-of-age tale of a young boy in the late 19th century; [ ... ]

    AED 120
  • LAST CHANCE Areej Rajab: Interwoven

    Mestaria Gallery Unit 35, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    New work by the Bahraini artist, based on an interplay of colours and emotions where the intricate patterns of human behaviour are delicately overlapped with the rhythms of nature: "she reveals the intricate beauty of natural forms and how they [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Alymamah Rashed: Mirrors from the Sidewalk

    Tabari Artspace Gate Village Level 2, DIFC, Dubai

    A solo exhibition of Alymamah Rashed’s latest work. A new series of large-scale watercolour and acrylic canvases, it's shaped by the belief that bodily connection to specific environments and elements can facilitate spiritual awakening. Rashed reflects on the immersion of [ ... ]

    Free
  • Pina: dir Wim Wenders (2011)

    Alliance Française Auditorium Oud Metha, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    A captivating dance documentary that celebrates the life and work of the world-renowned choreographer Pina Bausch. During the preparations for the film in 2009, Bausch died suddenly; the dancers of Bausch's company, Tanztheater Wuppertal, convinced him to proceed as a [ ... ]

    Free
  • Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige: The Vertiginous Story of Orthosia

    Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

    A second performance for Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige's speculative performance about the lost Roman city of Orthosia. buried beneath the Nahr al Bared refugee camp in north Lebanon. The ruins of the ancient city of Orthosia, lost since being [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Wissam Shawkat: Calligraformism

    Mestaria Gallery Unit 35, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    The Iraqi artist and calligrapher introduces the latest examples of his signature style, merging the beauty of classical Arabic scripts with modern design principles; Calligraforms transforms Thuluth script lettering into abstract, fluid forms that are removed their textual meaning and [ ... ]

    Free
  • Bigger Than Us: dir Flore Vasseur (2021)

    Jardins Germaine Tillion Hazza Bin Zayed St, Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    When she was 12 years old, Melati Wijsen started a campaign to ban single-use plastic in Indonesia. Now 18, she decides to travel the globe seeking to connect with fellow young activists who are committed to making their world a [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Niki Mukhi featuring Vanraj Shastri

    The Fridge Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Niki Mukhi (guitar) and his quartet (Rami Lakkis, bass: Arindam Chakravarty, tabla: Ratish Chadha, drums) are joined by Vanraj Shastri (sarangi and vocals) for an evening of jazz, flamenco and Indian classical music.

  • Steven Naifeh: Art, Writing, and Passion for Art Collection

    Richelieu Amphitheatre Hazza Bin Zayed St, Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    The artist, writer, art historian and collector Steven Naifeh will discuss his work, currently featured in a solo exhibition at Artbooth Gallery and at Abu Dhabi Art; his writing, notably his biography of Vincent van Gogh; and his collection of [ ... ]

    Free
  • Khalif Tahir Thompson / Summer Wheat: Jewels

    Sotheby’s Dubai DIFC Gate Village Building No3, Unit 01, Level B2, Dubai

    The first in The Gallery Collective, a series of sort-of gallery takeovers whereby Sotheby's Dubai is giving its DIFC exhibition space over to a series of local galleries in a two-year run starting in November. Every six to eight weeks, [ ... ]

    Free
  • Dancing Pina: dir Florian Heinzen-Ziob (2022)

    Cinema Akil in 25hours Hotel Trade Center St, Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Two spectacular dance projects show how a young generation of dancers from all over the world are rediscovering Pina Bausch's choreography: the Semperoper Ballet Company in Dresden rehearses her dance opera Iphigenia in Tauris, and dancers from all over Africa [ ... ]

    Free
  • More Than Honey: dir Markus Imhoof (2012)

    Alliance Française Dubai Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    "If the bee disappears from the surface of the Earth," said Albert Einstein, "man would have no more than four years left to live". That's because without the bees' pollinating work, agriculture could collapse and with it our ability to [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Dans la brume: dir Daniel Roby (2018)

    Jardins Germaine Tillion Hazza Bin Zayed St, Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Daniel Roby's film has a Parisian couple whose daughter suffers from an incurable disease that forces her to live in a hermetically sealed glass bubble. Then a mysterious toxic fog begins to spread in the Parisian streets, killing anyone who [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Comedy Night @ Ting Irie

    Ting Irie, Mamsga al Saadiyat Mamsha Al Saadiyat, Cultural District, Abu Dhabi

    "Hilarious live performances by up-and-coming stand-up comedians" at Ting Irie Abu Dhabi every other Tuesday (best to check their Instagram account @tingirieauh just to be sure). It's hosted by Funeral Home Comedy; the Jamaican vibe is always great, irrespective of [ ... ]

    AED 95
  • Sunset Soirée

    Bla Bla Dubai The Beach, Dubai

    An early-evening open mic gig for local musicians in Bla Bla's Backroom.

    Free (we think)
  • Hard Shell Soft Shell | Fragile: dir Emma Benestan (2021)

    Cinema Akil in 25hours Hotel Trade Center St, Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    A handsome oyster farmer from the Mediterranean port town of Sète vows to win back his actress girlfriend after a botched proposal involving a ring hidden in an oyster shell. Fortunately, his friends are ready to do anything to help [ ... ]

    Free
  • Animal: dir Cyril Dion (2021)

    Jardins Germaine Tillion Hazza Bin Zayed St, Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    16-year-old Bella and Vipulan are part of a generation that knows its very future is at risk – between climate change and the mass extinction of wildlife, their world could well be inhabitable 50 years from now. At the instigation [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE Artist’s Rooms: Amba Sayal-Bennett

    Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

    Works spanning the last eight years of the artist’s practice that critically engage with the socio-political contexts of architectural heritage and modernist ideologies and aesthetics. Drawing is at the centre of Amba Sayal-Bennett’s practice, expanding across works on paper, projections [ ... ]

    Free
  • Thaier Helal: Navigating Through Nothing

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

    A solo exhibition featuring Helal’s most recent body of work and a pivotal moment in the artist’s evolution, a more straightforward yet deeply expressive style without the constraints of his previous methods. The new approach, characterized by loose, dynamic strokes, [ ... ]

    Free
  • Edgar Orlaineta: What We See of Things is the Things

    CARBON 12 17th Street, Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    A solo show for the Mexican artist whose practice focuses on hybrid sculptural forms that draw inspiration from modernism, popular culture, and specific historic moments. In particular, Orlaineta explores post-war design and architecture, generally depicting biomorphic shapes with a strong [ ... ]

    Free
  • Chaouki Choukini: Citadelles of Today

    Green Art Gallery Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    New work by the Lebanese-born Paris-based sculptor. Working mainly in wood but occasionally in marble or stone, Choukini's aethetic may appear somewhat primitivist; in fact his sculptures exhibit a sophisticated interrogation of organic and mechanical worlds. To 20 January.

    Free
  • Eman Alhashemi: Superficial Transactions

    Aisha Alabbar Gallery Warehouse C19, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    Alhashemi's second solo exhibition at the gallery is her first after returning from the States with a Master’s in Fine Arts. Curated by Nasser Abdullah, this exhibition presents a series of works that build on her previous experiences, "appearing as [ ... ]

    Free
  • 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
  • Negin Fallah, Mai Al Remeithi, Annie Kurkdjian: Contours of Belonging

    Firetti Contemporary Unit 29, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    A group show for three female artists whose backgrounds, experiences, and practices converge in a shared exploration of cultural heritage, personal memory, and emotional landscapes. Negin Fallah examines the intersection of tradition and transformation, where echoes of Iranian illuminated manuscripts [ ... ]

    Free
  • Chinar Farooqui: ⁠Injiri (Real India)

    Total Arts at the Courtyard Al Quoz, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    An intimate look at the creative journey of the founder of the Injari contemporary clothing brand, Chinar Farooqui, and the narratives woven into each piece produced by Injiri, its dedication to traditional craftsmanship, and its emphasis on sustainable practices. To [ ... ]

    Free