The 35th edition of the book fair is its most festival-looking yet, with more than 1,400 events in total and six stages for sessions alongside 1,350 exhibitors from 95 countries. The programme also brings together winners of this year’s major [... more]
A two-act evening of improvised spells, scenes, and songs, entirely based on audience suggestions and featuring the Courtyard Playhouse’s most experienced improv performers plus guest performer and improv instructor Andrew Gentilli from the UK. After warming up with some games [... more]
A Diarbid show for 35 artists "who explore identity as fluid, layered, and continuously evolving. Through fragmented, distorted, duplicated, and incomplete forms, the works examine how the self is shaped by memory, displacement, shifting environments, and the uncertainties of contemporary [... more]
Stephan Kaluza’s practice is fundamentally concerned with depictions of nature, either as hyper-realistic oils or near-abstract renderings. These two modes of painting should be seen as different stages of the same subject in a process of transformation: disruptions creep in, and [... more]
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.
A descendant of Armenian Genocide survivors and raised in Syria, Mourad approaches his work with a profound sense of responsibility to preserve culture and history; his practice aims to give voice to places that no longer exist, offering an interpretation [... more]
This exhibition by the Saudi artist embraces the experimentation of jazz, commemorating its role as an audiovisual gathering for culture to flourish from and exact its designs on the world as it moved from older models of audiovisual art – [... more]
Rend Beiruti’s research display, sharing insights into her investigation of the baqala neighbourhood grocery store as a vital urban entity in Dubai, exploring its history, its influence on urban development, and its role as a cultural signal. Through photographs, mapping, [... more]
Shamma Al Bastaki – poet, writer, interdisciplinary artist and NYUAD alumna – discusses her latest poetry collection, House to House. Drawing on memories spanning the 1940s to the 1980s, Shamma traces the infra-ordinary details of daily life along the Dubai [... more]
A presentation of Palestinian artistic journeys shaped in Egypt and inspired by its art and culture, featuring works by Nabil Anani, Samira Badran, Tayseer Barakat, Mostafa Al Hallaj, Kamel Al Moghani and Abdul Rahman Al Muzayyen that range from the [... more]
A solo show for the Palestinian-Syrian-Dutch artist that reinterprets celebrated masterpieces from Western art. Diab revisits iconic works by artists including Picasso, van Gogh, Michelangelo and van Dyck, applying his own distinctive visual language to allow the images to speak [... more]
The Ukrainian National Ballet brings its version of The Marriage of Figaro to Dubai as a two-act comic ballet with a libretto by Yaremenko and Yuri Stanishevsky, choreography and staging by Viktor Yaremenko, and musical adaptation and additional composition by [... more]
Mad Cat Comedy’s only open mic night: comedians test new jokes, new performers take the stage, and dog lovers are welcome to come along for a fun evening in JVC. Only 20 seats available. Free entry!
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 [... more]
You don’t see enough ceramic art outside the interiors business, and then it just tends to be bowls; so this show by Double J Collective (“the first project based in Dubai exclusively dedicated to exhibit, promote and sell fine craft [... more]
Agatha Christie's second most successful play (The Mousetrap is probably uncatchable) is a country-house thriller-comedy with clues aplenty and a good helping of plot contrivances – including a most convenient hidden door in the study that of course leads to [... more]
“The music quiz that refuses to take itself seriously.” The Courtyard promises “a night of big tunes, tricky questions and questionable musical knowledge … Grab your team, pick a name and get ready to battle it out for the top [... more]
The Ukrainian National Ballet brings its version of The Marriage of Figaro to Dubai as a two-act comic ballet with a libretto by Yaremenko and Yuri Stanishevsky, choreography and staging by Viktor Yaremenko, and musical adaptation and additional composition by [... more]
Mad Cat Comedy’s regular standup night at Xandros in Signature 1 Hotel, TECOM. The cover charge of AED 80 includes one drink.
Two series of works, Junk Garden and Protective Shield, from the Ramallah-born artist. “The Field of Dreams is an exploration of formations of ‘steel’ in the public space from the perspective of the relationship between the self, the object, and [... more]
Dubai Culture’s Makers Days initiative is back – two days intended to promote creative manufacturing in Dubai by bringing together makers, designers, artists, creative entrepreneurs, manufacturers, and fabricators with a view to promoting new opportunities for SMEs (both manufacturers and [... more]
Rend Beiruti guides visitors through her research display on the baqala as a vital urban entity in Dubai. The tour explores the histories of these neighbourhood grocery stores, tracing how they have shaped and been shaped by the city’s rapid [... more]
An evening of cinema, conversation and discovery, celebrating the richness and diversity of contemporary Emirati filmmaking. The films: Noor dir Carlos Thabit Al Mawaly (2024, 15 min) A young Emirati forms a special bond with a damaged pigeon and discovers [... more]
A second night of performances for Agatha Christie's play. It is a country-house thriller-comedy with clues aplenty and a good helping of plot contrivances – including a most convenient hidden door in the study that of course leads to a [... more]
The Dubai Camerata Singers presents “a musical love letter and tribute to the United Arab Emirates” in the shape of a programme of choral music from different cultures and traditions; the concert aims to reflect the stories of people who [... more]
A "breathtaking" show "through the heart and soul of Ireland". Created by Chris Hannon, former Lord of the Dance Star and also responsible for the global hit Murphy's Celtic Legacy, this performance brings dancers, musicians, and singers together to capture [... more]
A regular Mad Cat Comedy night – “Dubai’s wildest comedy show on Saturday” at “the first purpose built comedy room in the country”. The cover charge of AED 99 includes two F&B coupons.
The final performances for H72 Productions' treatment of the Agatha Christie play – a country-house thriller-comedy with clues aplenty and a good helping of plot contrivances (including a most convenient hidden door in the study that of course leads to [... more]
The final performances of the Ukrainian National Ballet's danced version of The Marriage of Figaro. The story is broadly retained, the major dances and duets deploy the classical ballet vocabulary, and the production uses lavish eighteenth-century costumes and palace settings; [... more]
Shezad Dawood’s 25-year career spans painting, textiles, sculpture, ceramics, film, performance and digital media. Fascinated by ecologies and architecture, his work connects art, science, music, environmentalism and technology to explore both alternative histories and futures, through a process of continuous [... more]
Recent works by Laila Majid and Inaam Zafar that explore the human body and its presence in contemporary life through metaphor and symbolism. In Majid’s practice, sculptural and photographic works unfold through slow revelation; Zafar’s practice explores themes of death and [... more]
A second and final chance to catch this "breathtaking" show that brings dancers, musicians, and singers together to capture "the magic of Ireland ... Prepare to be enchanted".
The Mad Cat team does the rather cool Moon Bar at the Sana Restaurant in Mina Al Salam – a great venue: quite intimate, few distractions. Featuring surprise drop-ins, fresh material, and “the kind of moments that only happen in [... more]
“A journey of ancient tradition and modern innovation” Spirit of the East is a contemporary musical collaboration built around the original compositions of oud maestro and composer Hooman Shirali, bringing together the colors of Eastern music with contemporary sounds, improvisation, [... more]
Ahmed Farag conducts the full UAE National Orchestra and Choir for the start of its second season, a concert programme of three new Emirati compositions that offer a musical journey through the UAE from its founding story and landscapes to [... more]
A solo exhibition by the Syrian artist that includes large-scale portraits, a tile installation, sculptures, artist books, and works on paper. At the centre of Tallaa's practice is the face, not as portrait or likeness, but as witness; this exhibition, curated [... more]
A summer-long group show for Luke Agada, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Ludovic Nkoth, and Naila Opiangah, curated by Brice Arsène Yonkeu – whose curatorial statement defines the show as "an encounter with works on paper and paintings that move between visibility and [... more]
Built from layers of sand collected in the UAE, chalk powder, pigments, and acrylic, the surfaces of Ahmad Tallaa's large-scale portraits at the centre of this show are dense and almost sculptural – as the gallery puts it, "Faces do [... more]
Built from layers of sand collected in the UAE, chalk powder, pigments, and acrylic, the surfaces of Ahmad Tallaa’s large-scale portraits at the centre of this show are dense and almost sculptural – as the gallery puts it, “Faces do [... more]
A two-act evening of improvised spells, scenes, and songs, entirely based on audience suggestions and featuring the Courtyard Playhouse’s most experienced improv performers plus guest performer and improv instructor Andrew Gentilli from the UK. After warming up with some games [... more]
Monaiseer’s solo show examines history through cycles, repetition and flows, while testing the unstable boundary between imagination and reality. The title references the current status of the Doomsday Clock and its measurement of humanity’s proximity to catastrophe; notions of war, [... more]
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
Amir Khojasteh's third solo exhibition with the gallery presents the first body of work he has developed after leaving his home country, Iran. To 5 November. Above: Amir Khojasteh, Garden Landscape #2 (2026)
Sharif’s first solo exhibition in the UAE presents an autobiographical and very personal series of works about the struggles of private and artist life in a closed society – "a vulnerable, nuanced presentation of life”. The Bahraini artist uses colour [... more]
Rana Begum brings her textile works to The Third Line for the first time. Her fifth solo exhibition at the gallery features a new body of large-scale wool tapestries presented alongside works on linen, paper and MDF, all reflecting the [... more]
New works by the Kenyan artist Maggie Otieno, her first solo show here since the gallery began representing her in 2024 . Otieno’s practice centres on the transformation of reclaimed and distressed materials.; working across wood, metal, and mixed media, [... more]
Borrowed from the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, the title of this exhibition by by London-based artist Nada Elkalaawy “speaks to the tension between sensitivity, beauty, and emotional weight”, as the gallery has it. “Across a body of paintings developed through [... more]
Aisha Alabbar Gallery’s newly renovated space reopens with a solo exhibition by the UAE-based French artist that features paintings, screen prints, drawings and textile works. The theme is a pivotal journey to Peru and a renewed engagement with the roots [... more]
A group show for Lulua Alyahya, Rami Farook, Sohrab Hura, and Khaled Jarada that promises to take the viewer into “intimate, elusive worlds … Modest in scale, invite a form of looking that is closer and more inward, creating encounters [... more]
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 [... more]
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