This week’s editorial musings
from magpie’s nest
The quote: We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light Plato …
And … we’re back Belated new year greetings to all readers old and new …
Odedra dances Aakash Odedra has one of the most distinctive dance styles of our time, contemporary dance merged with kathak. He also loves Abu Dhabi, where he’s premiered two works (including one in The Arts Center’s first season) and performed another four. His new work Songs of the Bulbul has a single performance there this weekend; we saw it earlier in its tour, and it’s achingly beautiful – with great music and great staging, too. Booking info is here, and here’s our longer take on it …
Last chance for Short+Sweet Registrations close at midnight tonight (15 January) for the revamped Short+Sweet Dubai 2026 – no longer associated with the Junction, the festival of 10-minute plays is now under direct management and performances will be at New Covent Garden Theatre (4 April to 9 May) “with a stronger artist experience, a bigger stage for the Gala Final, and a wave of new opportunities flowing from the launch of Short+Sweet’s regional headquarters in Dubai”. Here’s the link to register if you’re an actor, director, theatre group or backstage crew …
Tech art now Submissions are now open for two of the biggest, best and longest-established tech art prizes – deadline for both is 4 March. Prix Ars Electronica is accepting entries in the categories Digital Humanity, Interactive Art +, New Animation Art, and u19 / create your world. There’s no entry fee, artists and creators from any country and region can enter, and the four winners get prize money of up to €10,000. Info is here …
The other is the S+T+ARTS Prize for “innovative projects at the nexus of science, technology and the arts that have what it takes to make a significant impact on economic and social innovation”. Two winners each get €20,000. Info is here …
Closer to home, the upcoming NVDIA Studio Nights 6 (15 Feb) is inviting entries for a Creative Challenge – categories for 3D/CGI, interior design, short films, photography, and digital fashion. Entrants have to be using an NVDIA product and submissions must reflect the event’s theme, which somewhat lumpenly is just ‘Museum of the Future, Dubai’. There will be “exciting” prizes and trophies, plus recognition on NVIDIA’s social channels; the deadline for entries is 25 January. More details and the entry form are here …
Laugh at home If you can’t get enough standup comedy, check out
Ali Al Sayed’s Crowd Work Special on his YouTube channel – an hour of fully improvised chat with and riffing off the crowd as an impromptu encore to a full stand-up show. There’s a bit of over-sensitive censorship on compan y names and the like; but it’s amiable, a good vibe, and makes you wish you could’ve been there
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Butterfly minds Butterfly Gardens, directly in front of Abu Dhabi’s National Aquarium, is a stunner: more than 10,000 butterflies (all ethically sourced) in a climate-controlled world “designed to feel uplifting and inviting, a place where people can disconnect from the pace of the city and connect with something real and beautiful”. Tickets are AED 55 (or AED 150 for combined entry with the Aquarium. Info here …
Here for two weeks Tourism now accounts for around 14% of the UAE’s GDP, worth around $70 billion in 2025. For most countries with a significant tourist trade it’s less than 10%, though Spain clocks 14.7%. Hotels recorded a record 23m guest nights in the first nine months of the year …
Grok off If you still use X and your timeline is full of Grok posts, try the Un-Grok extension – you can browse X as usual, but all tweets mentioning @GROK will be removed from your feed. Chrome only, sadly, but check it out here …
Buy now Betterhomes’ Dubai Residential Market Report for 2025 reports the strongest year ever for residential sales: 203,000 transactions (up 20%) that sold for a total of AED 547 billion (up 28%), which we reckon makes the average sale about AED 2.7m. “Liquidity was broad, repeatable and focused on segments where both end-users and investors continue to transact with confidence” said the man. Indulge yourself in the full report here …
Festival time The Ras Al Khaimah Art Festival opens 16 Jan. Earlier iterations tried to be a bit all-things-to-all-RAKfolk, but it’s been getting better and more focused: this opening weekend mixes exhibitions with performances, workshops and more. And admission is free …
Abu Dhabi’s Al Hosn Festival, always worth a visit, opens 17 Jan. It’s all about heritage – so traditional souks, performances (lots of ayyalah), food, coffee, kids’ workshops and more. Entrance is a modest AED 35 …
And LitFest is back at the InterCon Festival City from a week from 21 January with 150+ wordish events – many of which get booked up quickly, so move fast …
Tonight’s the night The UAE National Orchestra opens its inaugural concert series, the first with its full ensemble of 70 musicians and 30 choir, at Emirates Palace. Oud virtuoso Naseer Shamma guests … The Laughter Factory’s January tour looks like one of the best bills yet. Tonight it’s at Al Hamra Golf Club in RAK; the two final dates are in Dubai tomorrow and Saturday … Yuyu Zhitong’s solo show at Volery Gallery opens in a blaze of colour …
Useful app of the week Duplicate Word Finder is a simple browser tool that does exactly what it promises – it highlights repeated words in your text so you can spot and fix overuse to make your writing cleaner. Check it out here …
Something for the weekend Update your knowledge of the world with Dataguessr, one quiz at a time – it uses data to give you a better understanding of the state of the world. Try it here …
Things we didn’t know no.94 First names affect how you are perceived at work. So Anna and Joseph are consistently considered trustworthy, honest and reliable; Victoria and Ryan are considered competitive, ambitious and extrovert …
Earworm of the week Imarhan : Derhan N’Oulhine
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