The self-styled "World’s Biggest Book Sale” is returning to Sound Stages, Dubai Studio City, from 26 February to 8 March, open daily 10am to midnight with something like two million titles in various genres on sale with prices from AED [ ... ]
Events
Calendar of Events
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Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
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3 events,
Free The third Third Line solo exhibition by Spanish-Moroccan artist Anuar Khalifi comprises a new body of large-scale paintings and works on paper that represent an evolution in Khalifi’s practice, with increasingly intricate and carefully composed settings expanding the pictorial field. [ ... ]
Free
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Dubomedy's highly successful comedy gig at Hushh in Social Distrikt, later than usual because of Ramadan. "Fantastic lineups, big laughs, and great vibes ... Come hungry, leave happy."
Free, but min spend of one item |
3 events,
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This tour with Dubai Collection Curator Jumanah Abbas of the current exhibition of works from the Collection promises an accessible, close-looking introduction to the exhibition and its key themes. Led through the space with curatorial context, guests will explore how artists [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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Exactly what it says: an evening of scenes, stories and narrative improvisation influenced by audience suggestions and featuring the Courtyard Playhouse's most experienced improv performers plus guests. It's free, but you need to put your name on the guestlist (via [ ... ]
Free |
5 events,
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This conversation brings together Dubai Collection patrons Malini Gulrajani and Jafar Dajani in conversation with Hala Khayat to unpack the role collectors play in shaping artistic legacy. The session looks at how patronage evolves across generations, how collections reflect personal [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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Adina Hempel, Director of Zayed Institute of Architecture, Heritage, and Arts, and art historian Nada Shabout join Myrna Ayad to discuss the methods, ethics, and urgency of preservation – how stories are documented, how histories are recorded, and how archiving [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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Anyone who has read Clark’s sweeping but very accessible vision of cognitive science is free to join this Dubai Bibliophiles Book Club meetup. It’s a great choice: the key takeaway – experience itself is a kind of controlled hallucination because [ ... ]
Free
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![]() Flutist and vocalist Naïssam Jalal and oud master Hazem Shaheen have been friends and collaborators for nearly 20 years, composing and performing an intimate, meditative repertoire that uses just their two instruments and brings together the classical Arabic tradition of [ ... ]
AED 105 |
7 events,![]() "Disorientation does not begin with the wandering mind, but with an excess of questioning," says the gallery in introducing this exhibition of the Syria-born Sharjah-based artist's most recent body of work. "In this context, art is not considered a linear [ ... ]
Free ![]() Without formal art schooling, Nihad Al Turk has developed a distinctive visual language that blends colours, forms, and patterns, "preserving his naïve sensibility while conveying his philosophical outlook and artistic vision". His paintings typically feature anthropomorphic shapes and figures, a [ ... ]
Free
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This tour with Dubai Collection Curator Jumanah Abbas of the current exhibition of works from the Collection promises an accessible, close-looking introduction to the exhibition and its key themes. Led through the space with curatorial context, guests will explore how artists [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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Curator’s Corner offers students, artists, and cultural practitioners a closer look at the research and decision-making behind exhibitions. This session has Suheyla Takesh, Director of Barjeel Art Foundation, and Dubai Collection Curator Jumanah Abbas in conversation about their curatorial practices [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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The Courtyard's popular evening of elimination improv. Ten actors converge for a night of scenes, songs and games based on audience suggestions. After each round you score the players on a scale of 1 to 5, and the one with [ ... ]
Free
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![]() Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania has created a docudrama that reconstructs the horrifying true story of five-year-old Hind Rajab as she is bombarded by the Israeli army in Gaza in 2024. Rajab survived the original assault by the IDF, which [ ... ]
AED 15 |
8 events,Huma Shoaib has always been an interesting, thoughtful artist, creating patterns from sacred geometry and looking for analogies in life and nature. She often uses paper cut silhouettes layered with detailed graphite drawings that typically adds three-dimensional depth to otherwise [ ... ]
Free
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A visit with Hazem Harb in his studio. A multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans painting, collage, and sculpture, Harb explores memory, displacement, and archival histories, often reconstructing fragments of the past into layered compositions. This visit offers a rare chance [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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![]() Bassam Freiha Art Foundation's monthly lecture series, led by Dr Michaela Watrelot, BFAF Curator and Director of Exhibitions, continues with a search for deeper structure, symbolism, and emotional intensity that laid the foundations for modern art. The focus is on [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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A visit to Expo City's cultural platform, House of Arts – "a space that supports artists, welcomes the creative community and activates cultural dialogue" – as part of the Dubai Collection Nights programme.
Free, but pre-register
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"45 minutes of non-stop laughs from four surprise comedians serving up a full-flavoured feast of funny".
AED 100
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A second performance for the UAE National Orchestra concert inspired by the words of Ibn Arabi, the Arab scholar, Sufi mystic, poet, and Muslim philosopher from 12th and 13th century al-Andalus, in the form of a symphonic poem by Nadim [ ... ]
From AED 250 |
8 events,Ramadan Nights returns to the Jameel for a weekend of evening workshops led by local artists, self-guided creative activities and late-night access to the current exhibitions. There will also be the Ramadan Souk’s curated stalls and traditional comestibles, plus a [ ... ]
Free
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A visit with Saif Mhaisen, a Dubai-based artist working primarily in charcoal drawing and large-scale oil painting. Mhaisen’s practice is rooted in slow observation, creating portraits shaped by community, presence, and lived experience. Through an intimate look at his process and [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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An invitation-only private home viewing of The Ghada Kunash & Khaled Abdel Hamid Collection. Hosted by Dubai Collection patrons Ghada Kunash and Khaled Abdel Hamid, this brings guests closer to the personal story of collecting through a curated selection of [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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The Laughter Factory is powering through Ramadan with a decent bill: Andrew Ryan Hard-working Irish standup with a sharp wit, good observational comedy, and a lovely warm voice for telling stories Yash Bhardwaj The Dubai-based Indian comedian is a stalwart [ ... ]
AED 175
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A Flamingo Live standup set featuring "Dubai’s Funniest Comedians" (a hardworking bunch, given that they seem to appear in the promos for every comedy gig). The entry fee includes one house drink.
AED 80
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Second time this week for the Pepp's "45 minutes of non-stop laughs from four surprise comedians serving up a full-flavoured feast of funny".
AED 100 |
5 events,![]() The Dubai-based artist's first solo show aim to capture the essence of Dubai, and of belonging. Says the artist, who is currently Head of Art at Dubai College: "my visual palette and material inspiration are rooted in the streets. I [ ... ]
Free
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![]() A hands-on introduction to using geometry, abstraction, and material exploration to build meaning. Led by Emirati artist Sarah Al Mehairi, whose practice examines language, materiality, and memory through intuitive approaches to narrative and abstraction, the workshop will guide discussions on [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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The Laughter Factory is powering through Ramadan with a decent bill: Andrew Ryan Hard-working Irish standup with a sharp wit, good observational comedy, and a lovely warm voice for telling stories Yash Bhardwaj The Dubai-based Indian comedian is a stalwart [ ... ]
AED 175 |
5 events,![]() The acclaimed Thai artist’s first international large-scale survey exhibition brings together works from the last 45 years alongside new commissions. Including performance, video and installations plus some large-scale sculptures not seen since the 1990s, the exhibition fills the indoor galleries, [ ... ]
Free The fourth edition of Dubai Collection Nights features works from the Dubai Collection that reimagine landscape and invite a slower, more attentive way of seeing.
Free
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4 events,A group show – 27 artists, 35 works – of prints from digital art that represent “a kaleidoscopic range of subjects and sentiments reflecting the complexity and richness of being human today … Rendered through digital tools, in some instances [ ... ]
Free New work by the Spanish artist, which the gallery says marks a pivotal moment in his practice. They were created in his new studio in Cádiz, surrounded by olive, almond, and orange trees, allowing nature to enter physically and psychologically; [ ... ]
Free
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Exactly what it says: an evening of scenes, stories and narrative improvisation influenced by audience suggestions and featuring the Courtyard Playhouse's most experienced improv performers plus guests. It's free, but you need to put your name on the guestlist (via [ ... ]
Free
—
![]() For this Easter Performance the excellent Klimit Quartet is joined by soprano Caterina Di Tonno and mezzo-soprano Rosa Bove for a classic of sacred Baroque music, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. The programme includes "a selection of Easter arias and [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register |
1 event,In this new body of work – paintings, drawings, and sculpture – Alia Lootah continues an exploration of how form moves, shifts, and transforms ("a form is never finished, only paused"). Shapes stretch, collapse, and reappear altered, "existing in a [ ... ]
Free |
1 event,
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The Courtyard's popular evening of elimination improv. Ten actors converge for a night of scenes, songs and games based on audience suggestions. After each round you score the players on a scale of 1 to 5, and the one with [ ... ]
Free |
3 events,![]() A group show for six contemporary artists of Arab descent: Gilbert Halaby, Hanibal Srouji, Hussein Baalbaki, Richard Hearns, Sarah Alagroobi, and Soraya Abu Naba’a. Says the gallery: "At the heart of Memoryscape lies a shared inquiry into how our surroundings [ ... ]
Free
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The Laughter Factory is powering through Ramadan with a decent bill: Andrew Ryan Hard-working Irish standup with a sharp wit, good observational comedy, and a lovely warm voice for telling stories Yash Bhardwaj The Dubai-based Indian comedian is a stalwart [ ... ]
AED 175
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Flamingo Live's comedy club is back at the Coterie pub in Ibn Battuta Mall "with a fresh lineup of comedians bringing the heat" ... The door price includes two drinks (and it's Happy Hour all night).
AED 70 |
3 events,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 [ ... ]
Free ![]() Sara Naim’s fourth solo show at the gallery is also her first public exhibition of paintings, large-scale works produced between 2023 and 2026 that move between figuration and abstraction. The exhibition is accompanied by a new video performance, Mother Practices [ ... ]
Free
—
The Laughter Factory is powering through Ramadan with a decent bill: Andrew Ryan Hard-working Irish standup with a sharp wit, good observational comedy, and a lovely warm voice for telling stories Yash Bhardwaj The Dubai-based Indian comedian is a stalwart [ ... ]
AED 175 |
3 events,![]() Throughout his practice, White approaches sculpture as a kind of material alchemy – discarded substances are reworked forms that appear uncannily animate: industrial debris becomes wave, tree, or cosmic surface, revealing unexpected continuities between natural forces and technological systems. Two [ ... ]
Free
—
The Laughter Factory is powering through Ramadan with a decent bill: Andrew Ryan Hard-working Irish standup with a sharp wit, good observational comedy, and a lovely warm voice for telling stories Yash Bhardwaj The Dubai-based Indian comedian is a stalwart [ ... ]
AED 175
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Well worth the ticket price for an hour of comedy from three genuinely good female Dubai standups – Denise Alexe, Saaniya Abbas and Noha Bashir.
AED 160 |
3 events,![]() A monumental one-room installation that restages the Bangladeshi artist's The River Remembers. Originally commissioned by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation and created in 2023, this large-scale textile work has handcrafted threads mapping the colour of the water of the Teesta and [ ... ]
Free ![]() This one-room installation restages Shadhin’s monumental The River Remembers. In this large-scale textile artwork, handcrafted threads map the colour of the water of the Teesta and the Brahmaputra, two rivers flowing through the Bengal delta. Engraved brass disks convey the [ ... ]
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Flamingo Live's "global comedy adventure without leaving Dubai" – eight standups from around the world. The door price is fully redeemable on food and drinks!
AED 75 |
0 events,
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0 events,
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4 events,New work by Kais Salman, who "places his audience among ruins ... his recent body of work acting as a pile of forgotten images buried beneath decades of historical buildup ... Faces emerge through Salman’s energetic brushwork, only to fade [ ... ] In this new body of work, Nassar reflects on prolonged states of loss, endurance, and moral exhaustion, translating deeply personal and collective experiences across multiple mediums. Says the gallery: "Rather than seeking resolution or catharsis, the works dwell in a [ ... ]
Free This solo show includes works created over several years, using acrylic, pastel, ink, charcoal, and found materials such as wood, fabric, and recycled objects. At the centre of the exhibition is the recurring image of the chair, appearing as a [ ... ]
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The Courtyard's popular evening of elimination improv. Ten actors converge for a night of scenes, songs and games based on audience suggestions. After each round you score the players on a scale of 1 to 5, and the one with [ ... ]
Free |
1 event,
—
MadCat Comedy's regular stop in Silicon Oasis promises "insane laughs every week". The door price of AED 99 includes one drink and popcorn.
AED 99 |
4 events,Set within an environment of visual overload and compulsive accumulation, the work in this third solo exhibition at the gallery for the artist duo centres on the human figure at risk of dissolving into surface, interface, and pattern – a [ ... ]
Free A student-curated exhibition developed by students from the American University of Sharjah under the mentorship of Sheikh Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, Founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation, and drawing on works from Barjeel’s noted collection of modern and contemporary Arab [ ... ]
Free
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![]() An animated fantasy drama with no dialogue that tells the story of a man shipwrecked on an uninhabited island. His attempts to escape are foiled by what turns out to be a giant red hawksbill sea turtle; she turns into [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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"A comedy show where you are the joke." Mad Cat Comedy's main man Miqdaad D pushes the boundaries ... The cover charge of AED 80 includes one drink.
AED 80 |
3 events,
—
Anirban Dasgupta returns to Dubai with his third stand-up special, fresh from its debut last year at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and a successful run at the Soho Theatre in London. Kolkata born and Mumbai based, Anirban Dasgupta comes [ ... ]
tbc
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![]() The razor-sharp Dubai-based comedian with a version of the well-reviewed UK tour that she's just finished, an irreverent exploration of her experiences as a 'cultural Muslim': "My mother always said I’d go to hell, so I figured I might as [ ... ]
AED 125 |
3 events,More than 50 women graduates have contributed their stories and photographs to this oral history project exploring the experiences of women film graduates in India and the “unremembered” stories of women’s labour in film. Surabhi Sharma, NYUAD Associate Dean for [ ... ]
Free
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Dubomedy's highly successful comedy gig at Hushh in Social Distrikt, this time with an Eid focus. "Expect a fantastic lineup of comedians, laughter and levity, and great vibes with your favourite comedy tribe."
Free, but min spend of one item
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![]() Another hit for the Steinway Series bookers, with the exciting French pianist in a programme that pays homage to Haydn via some of the master's own piano works and pieces from composers that he inspired. The programme: George Benjamin Meditation [ ... ]
From AED 250 |
1 event,![]() Gallery Isabelle is celebrating its 20th anniversary, not least with this interesting exhibition that grew out of a conversation with Alexie Glass-Kantor, Curatorial Director at Art Dubai Group, around the notion of accumulation – as both a curatorial method and [ ... ]
Free |
1 event,
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MadCat’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 ...
AED 99 |
1 event,
—
The Courtyard's popular evening of elimination improv. Ten actors converge for a night of scenes, songs and games based on audience suggestions. After each round you score the players on a scale of 1 to 5, and the one with [ ... ]
Free |
6 events,Anahita Razmi's video, installation and performance works usually focus on issues of identity and gender and examine processes of cultural appropriation in which the meanings of existing images, artefacts and thus identities are put into question by situating them in [ ... ]
Free ![]() A retrospective for one of the artists who have played a central role in shaping the UAE’s modern visual identity, featuring work from a career spanning more than five decades. Bridging heritage and modernity with authority, Al Rais’s paintings draw [ ... ]
Free
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![]() The UAE National Orchestra's second concert programme unfolds in three movements: Emerging Love, Passionate Love, and Eternal Love. There's no information about the music, but we're told that "at the heart of this journey, the ney traces a path of [ ... ]
From AED 150
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Flamingo Live's regular comedy club slot at the Coterie pub in Ibn Battuta Mall. The door price includes two drinks (and it's Happy Hour all night).
AED 70
—
![]() The exciting Chinese-born American pianist, known for her magnetic stage presence and stylistic flair as well as her technical proficiency and virtuosic artistry, is giving a recital that mixes piano favourites with some less well known pieces: Mussorgsky Pictures at an [ ... ]
From AED 300
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MadCat Comedy's regular stop in Silicon Oasis promises "insane laughs every week" (and this time it's back to the pre-Ramadan 8pm kick-off) The door price of AED 99 includes one drink and popcorn.
AED 99 |
4 events,Sharjah Art Foundation’s annual convening of artists, curators, scholars and arts practitioners from around the world to discuss issues in contemporary art focuses this time on effective responses to global challenges in social unrest, environmental degradation, systemic erasure and alienation. [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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Jake is a New York novelist with a troubled marriage; he can’t stop talking to other women in his life, some of whom are imaginary, in an attempt to gain some insight on the problem – his daughter Molly, his [ ... ]
AED 120
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Flamingo Live's standup gig in Al Barsha South: we're promised "some of Dubai’s funniest comedians" in "one of Dubai's most exciting comedy shows". The door price includes one drink.
AED 80
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Mad Cat Comedy's regular standup night at Xandros in Signature 1 Hotel, TECOM. The cover charge of AED 80 includes one drink.
AED 80 |
3 events,
—
A second performance for Neil Simon's comedy of relationships. Jake is a New York novelist with a troubled marriage; he can’t stop talking to other women in his life, some of whom are imaginary, in an attempt to gain some [ ... ]
AED 120 |
5 events,![]() Khalaf explores the relationship between self, object, and other through a focus on 'steel' in public spaces: The Field of Dreams, or "dreams as minefields", remind us of the modern structures of unbridled capitalism and the transformative domination of life. [ ... ]
Free
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Dubomedy is hosting a free community comedy workshop designed to help participants release stress, reconnect with laughter, and learn simple humour exercises that calm the mind and shift perspective during uncertain times. Participants will get to work with Dubomedy's Ali [ ... ]
Free, but pre-registrer
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Dubomedy's highly successful comedy gig at Hushh in Social Distrikt. We're promised "a fantastic lineup of comedians, laughter and levity, and great vibes"; and indeed much of that seems to be the case ... It's free, but there's a minimum [ ... ]
Free, but min spend of one item
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Final performance for Neil Simon's comedy of relationships. Jake is a New York novelist with a troubled marriage; he can’t stop talking to other women in his life, some of whom are imaginary, in an attempt to gain some insight [ ... ]
AED 120 |
2 events,The debut exhibition in the UAE by the emerging Egyptian artist draws inspiration from Hawam's hometown of El Mahalla El Kubra in Gharbeya Governorate – its countryside, colours, and the faces of people who shaped his early life. Working in [ ... ]
Free ![]() A group exhibition that reflects on continuity, resilience, and quiet optimism at a time when the world can feel uncertain. Says the gallery: "All at Once speaks to the coexistence of multiple realities – personal and shared, fleeting and enduring, [ ... ]
Free |
2 events,
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A bold claim: "Dubai's first real comedy open mic" – you can WhatsApp organisers Funeral Home Comedy on +971 56 167 1399 if you want to perform. The venue is the rather cool LoLo House in Al Quoz.
AED 25
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MadCat’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 ...
AED 99 |
2 events,![]() A close look at Dubai’s urban fabric through the lens of architect and photographer Robert Powers. The exhibition traces the patterns and repetitions in architecture, streetscapes, industry, and infrastructure that shapes the character of a city; taken between 2013 and [ ... ]
Free
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The Courtyard's popular evening of elimination improv. Ten actors converge for a night of scenes, songs and games based on audience suggestions. After each round you score the players on a scale of 1 to 5, and the one with [ ... ]
Free |
1 event,
—
A discussion of Sophie Kazan Makhlouf's excellent exploration of contemporary art in the Emirates, led by Kutubna's founder and director Shatha Almutawa and Nora Qudah, curator of art exhibitions at Kutubna. Free to members; others pay AED 25.
AED 25 |
3 events,This first solo exhibition in the Middle East for the SF-based Libyan-Yurok artist takes its title from a poem by Joy Harjo, which considers cycles of transformation across land, water, and time, moving from submerged environments to human settlement and industrial [ ... ]
Free
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![]() A group exhibition dedicated to mapping and navigation systems, "telling stories of fast cars and donkeys, spinning globes and street barricades, cosmic highways and broken bridges ..." Curated by Indranjan Banerjee and Lucas Morin, the exhibition presents a wide range [ ... ]
Free
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A lecture-performance with the Firdaus Orchestra that breaks down the music to reveal the hidden stories and craftsmanship behind the Bohemian composer's symphonic poem, a work which aims to evoke the flow of the Vltava River – in German, the [ ... ]
AED 75 |
5 events,The first solo exhibition in the Emirates for the Münster-based Tatar artist Nazilya Nagimova brings together new works created specifically for her solo project at NIKA Project Space, plus selections from earlier projects. Nagimova explores memory, migration, and the search [ ... ]
Free ![]() Elusive Territories is group show for 15 prominent Palestinian artists whose work examines the relationship between exile, memory, and homeland – three dynamics that constantly engage with one another, especially at this critical time. Says the gallery: "Throughout the exhibition, [ ... ]
Free ![]() A group show of works by emerging, mid-career and established artists priced at $3,000 and below, conceived as an accessible entry into collecting "whether you’re just starting or looking to expand your collection with thoughtful additions". The artists: Ahmad Kasha [ ... ]
Free
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An interesting experiment in open-access open-ended performance by The Junction. It's a kind of open mic for any kind of performance: you can pitch for a slot for whatever it is you want to do (anything goes, apparently) – book [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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The Junction does comedy for two consecutive (but not repeated) nights on 4 and 5 April: "Jukebox Junction is where stand-up and improv collide for a night that’s fast, unpredictable, and seriously fun ... Sharp written comedy meets completely unscripted [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register |



























