Jumana Emil Abboud’s first solo exhibition in the Emirates draws on the lineage of Palestinian folktales and their continued resonance in the present – how stories inhabit landscapes, shape personal histories and collective memory, and create an enchanted relationship to [ ... ]
Events
Calendar of Events
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Tuesday |
Wednesday |
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Friday |
Saturday |
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7 events,
Free
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Existential humour and comic absurdity from the Douglas Adams classic. A fun discussion seems guaranteed ...
Free
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Maktaba is 421's monthly gathering dedicated to collective reading, viewing, and discussion across disciplines. For its final iteration this season, researcher and sonic practitioner Safeyya Alblooshi will guide the conversation around sound, soundscapes, and interventions within sound cultures; texts shared [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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The Mad Cat team does the rather cool Moon Bar at the Sana Restaurant in Mina Al Salam. The door price includes one drink.
AED 99
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You can't really go wrong with a classic like Herman Melville's quizzical short story. What exactly is going on here? Of course you could always take refuge in The New York Times summary of "a quintessential New York book" that [ ... ]
Free
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The second edition of this "celebration of musical dialogue, artistic collaboration, and contemporary reinterpretation". Headliner is the Syrian singer-songwriter Faia Younan, known for her cinematic sound and poetic approach to Arabic music and her presenting a special set of her [ ... ]
AED 120 |
0 events,
|
2 events,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
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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 ...
AED 99 |
0 events,
|
1 event,
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Three creative practitioners to talk about what it takes to stay creative when work becomes a business with clients, deadlines, and repetition. The programme: 5-6pm Networking 6-6.30pm Mouza Al Hemrani (illustrator and multimedia artist) What I Do on Purpose to [ ... ]
Free |
2 events,
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The July Laughter Factory tour looks like a good one, the usual mix of international visitors and a local star but with the bar set high for all of them: Josh Baulf – British stand-up comedian hotly tipped for success: [ ... ]
AED 140
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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 |
5 events,Safwan Dahoul’s most recent body of work continues his Dream series – an ongoing body of work investigating the dream state that he began back in the late 1980s, exploring "the physical and psychological effects of alienation, solitude, and longing [ ... ]
Free
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Join a room full of people from different backgrounds and different age groups to learn, rehearse and perform Toto's anthemic Africa in a single day – no auditions, no commitments: just a great song, and the chance to meet and [ ... ]
AED 150
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John Lilly (1915-2001) was a scientist whose adventurous research played out against the backdrops of 1950s Cold War military science, the drug-infused counterculture of the 60s, and the environmental push of the 70s. Narrated by Chloë Sevigny, the documentary tells [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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The July Laughter Factory tour looks like a good one, the usual mix of international visitors and a local star but with the bar set high for all of them: Josh Baulf – British stand-up comedian hotly tipped for success: [ ... ]
AED 140
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A Callback Comedy night promising "raw, unfiltered comedy" from six good local standups plus host.
AED 150 |
2 events,
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This engaging animated feature takes inspiration from the Selkies of Irish folklore, who live as seals in the sea but become humans on land. 10-year-old Ben and his mute little sister Saoirse, the last Seal-child, embark on a fantastic journey [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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The July Laughter Factory tour looks like a good one, the usual mix of international visitors and a local star but with the bar set high for all of them: Josh Baulf – British stand-up comedian hotly tipped for success: [ ... ]
AED 140 |
0 events,
|
1 event,
—
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 ...
AED 99 |
2 events,Ayyam Gallery's summer collective exhibition focuses on the colour orange: "occupying a unique space between intensity and comfort, orange embodies both vitality and reflection. Associated with sunlight, fire, ripened fruit, and shifting horizons, the colour carries a rich spectrum of [ ... ]
Free
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Tom is ten and different from other children: changes unsettle him, loud noises overwhelm him, and he feels most at home in his world of outer space — often dressed in his astronaut suit. When his mother unexpectedly has to [ ... ]
Free |
4 events,A group exhibition featuring works by Wadeei Khaled, Ahmad El Badawi, Bahram Hajou, Hanibal Srouji, Jamal Bassiouni, Rania Amoudi and Yervant Hawarian – an introduction to artists who will be featured in upcoming exhibitions throughout the year, alongside others whose [ ... ]
Free
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Part of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi’s ongoing City Circles programme exploring the connections between architecture, the environment, and urban life, this conversation explores how culture is shaped not only inside museums and galleries but also in the public spaces and gardens where [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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"A welcoming space to write alongside others and find your voice on the page" in the form of a writing seminar led by Sarah Afaneh designed for writers at any stage of their practice. It comprises six sessions held across [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
—
The July Laughter Factory tour looks like a good one, the usual mix of international visitors and a local star but with the bar set high for all of them: Josh Baulf – British stand-up comedian hotly tipped for success: [ ... ]
AED 140 |
2 events,
—
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
—
The July Laughter Factory tour looks like a good one, the usual mix of international visitors and a local star but with the bar set high for all of them: Josh Baulf – British stand-up comedian hotly tipped for success: [ ... ]
AED 140 |
4 events,
—
RF Kuang's 2023 satire of racial diversity, cultural appropriation and plagiarism in the publishing industry garnered some mixed reviews; the Washington Post was particularly critical of the main character (lacked depth) and the depictions of publishing (perfunctory). Our own view [ ... ]
Free
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The July Laughter Factory tour looks like a good one, the usual mix of international visitors and a local star but with the bar set high for all of them. This final pair of dates are both on 11 July, [ ... ]
AED 140
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The first iteration of this improv comedy night at the Junction was sold out and well liked, so Tall Tales Productions and The Junction are coming back with a second. As before, it's a show created on the fly from [ ... ]
AED 89
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The final stop on the July Laughter Factory tour looks like a good one, the usual mix of international visitors and a local star but with the bar set high for all of them. Josh Baulf – British stand-up comedian [ ... ]
AED 140 |
2 events,
—
This slightly trippy animation features two intrepid sisters, four-year-old Juliette and eight-year-old Carmen, who discover a passage into the extraordinary world of their favourite book, Kingdom of the Air Streams. Transformed into cats and separated from each other, the girls [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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His publishers rejected Giovanni's Room as a failure, telling James Baldwin the novel would damage his reputation. Knopf claimed the judgement was nothing to do with the book’s content, but Baldwin was convinced that the publisher didn't want "a story [ ... ]
Free |
0 events,
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2 events,A group exhibition for seven UAE-based artists – Ahmed Emad (UAE/Egypt), Anila Ashraf (Pakistan), Camelia Mohebi (UAE), Elizaveta Pugacheva (Russia), Samo Shalaby (Egypt/Palestine), Sasan Nasernia (Iran) and Yousif Albadi (Sudan) – chosen from more than 300 submissions received through an [ ... ]
Free
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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 ...
AED 99 |
3 events,A group show for three artists whose work here explores the dialogue that emerges between generations of artists, revealing how personal histories, cultural memory, and individual artistic languages intersect. Through painting and illustration, the artists reflect on themes of identity, [ ... ]
Free
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What makes a meaningful artist–curator relationship? Curator and artist Nadine Khoury talks with 𝐑𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐛 𝐓𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐰𝐲, founder of artist collective Studio Thirteen DXB, about curation, collaboration, and navigating today’s contemporary art landscape. This features in the month-long Duette Studio / Public.ae ‘cultural clubhouse’ [ ... ]
Free
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Lea Ypi's colourful, hectic coming-of-age story through the end Communism in the Balkans, published in 1922, has won several awards, made the shortlist for many more, and features on several 'Best Book of the Year' lists. The shock felt by [ ... ]
Free |
1 event,
—
The second of six sessions for this writing seminar led by Sarah Afaneh designed for writers at any stage of their practice. It comprises six sessions held across three months, alternating between guided teaching and communal workshops. In this workshop [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register |
2 events,
—
The Sahab Collective writing group is getting together to produce written materials for possible inclusion in Kutubna’s Documenting Culture in the Gulf in a Time of War exhibition (opens 3 September). The exhibition asks "what does it mean to be [ ... ]
Free
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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 |
2 events,
—
A desktop documentary that critically engages with the historical and digital traces of extremist propaganda, questioning how images of violence circulate, mutate, and persist. The film moves between virtual investigations and real-world encounters with artists, activists, and researchers who seek [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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Iconic rock anthems delivered with raw energy and emotional intensity by powerhouse vocalist Rina Olis and her band – with the backdrop of ToDA’s immersive 360o background visuals.
From AED 180 |
3 events,
—
Animated feature with a story that has a surprising and affecting emotional depth. Four-year-old Kun becomes jealous of his new baby sister Mirai; one day, he storms off into the garden, where he encounters people from the past and future [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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British pianist Ryan Gibb with "an intimate evening of iconic movie love songs, bringing Hollywood's most memorable soundtracks to life through voice and piano” and ToDA’s dramatic 360o background visuals.
From AED 180
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Classical strings meet the rhythms of Latin America – tango, bossa nova, Cuban and Spanish-inspired favourites – with the backdrop of ToDA’s immersive 360o background visuals.
From AED 160 |
0 events,
|
1 event,
—
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 ...
AED 99 |
1 event,
—
Reflective, slightly elegiac documentary on rural French farming life via three visits over 50 years to a family farm in Haute-Savoie. In 1972, the Bertrand dairy farm — run by three brothers and home to a hundred animals — is [ ... ]
Free |
0 events,
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3 events,Developed in relation to the UAE Modern Architectural Heritage Grant, AFTER THE IMAGE transforms a gallery presentation and a room of the XVA Art Hotel into an immersive archive of Dubai’s modern architectural heritage. Through photography, sculpture, textiles, and garments, [ ... ]
Free
—
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
—
Soul, R&B and jazz classics, reimagined by multi-instrumentalist AJAY and his band, supported by ToDA’s immersive 360o visuals.
From AED 180 |
0 events,
|
3 events,
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Subtitled 'An Old Man, A Young Man and Life's Greatest Lesson, this 1997 memoir by the award-winning sports columnist Mitch Albom is based on a series of Tuesday visits he made to his former sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz, as Schwartz [ ... ]
Free
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This Soviet-era silent film was one of the earliest to represent a realistic spaceflight, including weightlessness. It's pitched in the year 1946, with Professor Sedikh, who is planning to lead the first crewed exploration to the Moon, denounced by a [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register
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Another really interesting pick by Book Cellar. The authors – software engineer and writer Kevin Simler and economics professor Robin Hanson – start from the premise that we are often unaware of the real reasons for our behaviours: they go [ ... ]
Free |
0 events,
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2 events,A great idea from Foundry Downtown – a group exhibition featuring artists based in the UAE who are not (currently) represented by galleries. The organisers describe it as “for the first time, a selling exhibition structured around accessibility, discovery, and [ ... ]
Free
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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 ... |
0 events,
|
2 events,In this exhibition of a new body of work, curated by Cima Azzam, Noor Al Suwaidi approaches colour as a field of sensation where form appears and dissolves within shifting tonalities – "figures hover at the edge of abstraction; colour [ ... ]
Free Rooted in her surroundings, the work of Salmah Al Mansoori, an Emirati artist from Abu Dhabi, begins with acts of noticing: fragments, residues, and overlooked materials drawn from everyday life. These are reworked into new forms that carry both personal [ ... ]
Free |
2 events,
—
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
—
“A journey of ancient tradition and modern innovation” delivered by oud maestro and composer Hooman Shirali, tabla master Sandu, and Kadir on saxophone – with the backdrop of ToDA’s immersive 360o background visuals.
From AED 180 |
2 events,
—
Stanislav Fedyuk plays a 60-minute programme of classical piano favourites by the gentle glow of candlelight. The programme: Mozart: Rondo alla Turca from Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major, K 331 Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 12 in F Major, [ ... ]
From AED 150
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A love letter to Beirut in the form of a playful and personal journey through Lebanon’s audiovisual memory – 70 years of film, TV, home videos, and photography, exploring the collective Lebanese psyche and marked by joy and intimacy, destruction [ ... ]
Free, but pre-register |