First-time director Usman Riaz embraces the old-fashioned star-crossed romance with a beautifully animated film about a young glassblowing artist and his lost love. At the same time it's a truly humanist, demonstrating how art and creativity can provide solace and [... more]
The second chapter in Sergio Leone’s epic Dollars Trilogy ups the ante with more tension, more grit, and a bigger budget thanks the success of the first outing for the Man With No Name. This time around two rival bounty [... more]
Vladimir Sorokin's 1983 has been described as "a bizarrely funny saga of a quintessential Russian institution, the interminably long line". Perhaps you might go for "avant-garde" rather than bizarre; the book is solely snatches of dialogue, the voices of people [... more]
When allied with wit and accuracy, the implicit cruelty of the newly-popular 'roast' format can be more just an excuse for snide insults or another culture war salvo. We hope for the best from Abz Ali, who is known for his [... more]
Described by the gallery as "a significant new exhibition" and "a return to the essential experience of art as presence, encounter, and shared space", this show features a curated selection of 50 newly arrived 2D and 3D works by Annalù, [... more]
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 [... more]
This is the MFA thesis exhbiition from six graduating students, presenting the culmination of their research and work – "informed by a deep commitment to risky multi-media exploration The works are by Maha Alasker, Yuehan Dai, Nour Elbery, Almaha Jaralla, [... more]
Hasan Hadi's debut feature is a beautiful tale of love, friendship and resilience told from the perspective of a child growing up under Saddam Hussein’s oppressive regime. It was the first Iraqi film to feature at the Cannes Film Festival, [... more]
“What is the ultimate goal of a city?” asks architect/artist Hamad Almuzaini: “Governance and the streamlining of lived experience – an impossible task – or something more open, broken, and constantly reinvented?” He says these questions guide his work across [... more]
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", this one with an early start (7pm not 9pm).
An exhibition featuring more than 40 works by 16 photographers (of different nationalities, but all based in the UAE) that seek to find beauty and meaning in the small moments of everyday life, personal rituals, routines, brief encounters, simple gestures [... more]
A group show of new and archival works on paper selected by Judy Karkour that brings together 14 artists with distinct material and artistic backgrounds – Sarah Almehairi, Faris Alshafar, Olaf Breuning, Bernhard Buhmann, André Butzer, Nadine Ghandour, Monika Grabuschnigg, [... more]
The Gulf String Quartet present an hour of arrangements of Piaf favourites – by candlelight, of course. Ticket holders can get 5% off à la carte menus (including drinks) at Shangri-La Dubai's bars and dining venues, before or after the [... more]
A chance to hear the Canadian Arabic Orchestra, an ensemble that fuses the traditions of Western and Arabic music. This programme promises "a soul-stirring journey through the vibrant crossroads of culture and innovation" that honours the rich heritage of Palestinian [... more]
A terrific start to the new season at The Arts Center – a high-octane double bill featuring two bands, both making their Gulf debuts, who really know how to deliver. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band (above) is the pioneering group [... more]
The Vivaldi favourite was written as concerti for violin and orchestra, but it's often arranged for a quartet and this is what we'll be getting here, performed by the Gulf String Quartet. The ambiance is (non-flammable) candlelight, of course. The [... more]
Comedy from two very sharp standups who work really well together. From first dates to ghosting, situationships to heartbreak stories, Noha Bashir and Denise Alexe address the struggles of dating life via sharp humour, relatable stories, and a brilliant chemistry [... more]
This group show is the culmination of the second edition of NIKA Project Space's Open Studio programme: four artists based in the UAE were invited to develop new bodies of work in dialogue with the space, one another, and the [... more]
The first Somali film to be featured at the Cannes Film Festival (in 2024), The Village Next to Paradise tells the story of Mamargrade who is struggling to raise his son Cigaal in their rural Somali village amidst conflict, natural [... more]
Award-winning contemporary dance from Aotearoa/New Zealand, one of the hits of Edinburgh 2025. Created by Oli Mathiesen with Lucy Lynch and Sharvon Mortimer and inspired by the energy and emotion of rave culture, it's a spectacle of stamina, sweat, and [... more]
It looks like this night of improvisational comedy has been so successful that progenitors Tall Tales Productions and The Junction will be running it regularly. As before, it's a show created on the fly from audience suggestions; it's inspired by [... more]
A stand-up show that delves into "life, travel, identity, and the everyday struggles we all face". Abdi is definitely an engaging storyteller, so this should be a good night ...
First of half a dozen Pepp shows where the Egyptian-American standup, actor, TV host, and former cardiothoracic surgeon tries out new material. He's been a comedy success for 15 years, so he knows how to do comedy; it will be [... more]
Second of three performances for this award-winning contemporary dance from Aotearoa/New Zealand. Created by Oli Mathiesen with Lucy Lynch and Sharvon Mortimer and inspired by the energy and emotion of rave culture, it's a spectacle of stamina, sweat, and sheer [... more]
Second of half a dozen Pepp shows where the Egyptian-American standup, actor, TV host, and former cardiothoracic surgeon tries out new material. He's on at 7 and 9pm on 12 and 13 September.
The audience for this show has been called for jury duty. As the story proceeds you hear the testimony, analyse the evidence, and ultimately decide whether the accused is guilty or not ... It's a courtroom drama where you get [... more]
Third of half a dozen Pepp shows where the Egyptian-American standup, actor, TV host, and former cardiothoracic surgeon tries out new material. He's on again at 9pm and at 7 and 9pm on 13 September.
The final performance of this award-winning contemporary dance from Aotearoa/New Zealand. Created by Oli Mathiesen with Lucy Lynch and Sharvon Mortimer and inspired by the energy and emotion of rave culture, it's a spectacle of stamina, sweat, and sheer willpower [... more]
Dubai Opera marks its 10th birthday with a black-tie gala featuring soprano Fatma Said, performing with the UAE National Orchestra under the baton of Ahmed Farag and the Festival Chorus. We're promised "a curated gala of operatic and orchestral works [... more]
A group exhibition based around site-specific installations and considering ecological, feminist, philosophical, and postcolonial concerns. The core inspiration however is “philosophical reflections of time as growth rather than movement ... Time, as humans experience it, is inseparable from the vegetal. [... more]
A solo show featuring works that Petr Kirusha developed during his residency at Dom Art Projects. At a time of heightened geopolitical tension between the US and Iran, Kirusha documented the landscapes of Al Quoz and the rapidly changing cityscape [... more]
Selected works from the Farjam Collection. Through a refined language of Minimalist abstraction, the London-based artist blurs the boundaries between sculpture, painting and architecture – "bringing together works that explore light, colour, perception, and spatial experience, the exhibition reflects Rana [... more]
Human in the Loop is a sound-based interactive installation that takes the form of a game of hide-and-seek between visitors and an unseen algorithm. Hanging ropes are suspended from the ceiling and visitors are invited to pull on them; each [... more]
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]
First of two final shows where the Egyptian-American standup, actor, TV host, and former cardiothoracic surgeon tries out new material. He's on again at 9pm.
A concert with a difference – venue is absolutely dark, and each audience member dons a light-blocking mask. The idea of course is that without visual perception your full attention is on the sound: "the most subtle musical nuances, delicate [... more]
Last of a run of six shows with the Egyptian-American standup, actor, TV host, and former cardiothoracic surgeon trying out new material – he'll probably have honed it by now, so this is probably the one to catch.
A grad show for Base39’s first accelerator cohort of designers. An evening of celebration, connection, and emerging design talent is promised. RSVP through this link.
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]
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 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]
“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]
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]
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]
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.
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]
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]
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 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]
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]
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]
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]
Maktaba is 421’s monthly gathering dedicated to collective reading, viewing, and discussion across disciplines. This session discusses theatre-making as a practice of solidarity, exploring how performance builds connections across geographies, identities, and movements. Facilitated by artist and theatre-maker Maitha Ali, [... more]
Founded by Emirati filmmaker and curator Nawaf Al Janahi in 2020, Cineolio‘s mission is focused on promoting short films and expanding their audience reach internationally. Its Cinenights screening series presents a diverse selection of short films on the big screen, [... more]
“Dubai’s hottest comedy night” (aka the Mad Cat team) come to the moodily-lit speakeasy style bar in DIFC for what looks like a regular every-other-Thursday gig. The door price includes one drink.
One of the most consistently funny of the Courtyard’s classic improv gigs: the speakers have to give a presentation on a slide deck they’ve never seen before, with the topic determined at random by the Wheel of Destiny. Each presentation [... more]
How could this stage adaptation of the near legendary Graham Linehan / Arthur Mathews TV series not be seriously funny? Dubai Drama Group says "the show captures everything fans adore about the cult classic: razor-sharp dialogue, joyfully absurd situations, and [... more]
Two further performances for this stage adaptation of the near legendary Graham Linehan / Arthur Mathews TV series. Dubai Drama Group says "the show captures everything fans adore about the cult classic: razor-sharp dialogue, joyfully absurd situations, and characters who [... more]
Al Hashemi’s practice examines what it means to remain human within increasingly automated systems of production and consumption – especiallyy seen through urban life in the Emirates. Al Hashemi works across ceramics, printmaking and painting, “investigating the systems through which [... more]
Barcelona Flamenco Ballet does exactly what the name says – applies the style of flamenco in dance and music to create spectacular and passionate performances, typically by reinterpreting iconic works. This one is described as BFB's "most ambitious and revolutionary [... 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.
An exhibition featuring more than 40 works by 16 photographers (of different nationalities, but all based in the UAE) that seek to find beauty and meaning in the small moments of everyday life, personal rituals, routines, brief encounters, simple gestures [... more]
Dubomedy’s main man is always good value, though the ticket price here does reflect his growing stature. Expect an evening of probably inappropriate jokes, lots of banter with the audience, and a general feel-good vibe. All seats must be pre-booked [... more]
A Dubai date to follow its Abu Dhabi opener for the exciting Barcelona Flamenco Ballet – the iconic Prokofiev ballet reinterpreted as flamenco. This show is described as BFB’s “most ambitious and revolutionary project” to date, addressing universal themes like [... more]
In a cotton-farming village in Sudan, teenage Nafisa is raised on heroic tales of British colonisers. But when a young businessman arrives from abroad with a new development plan and genetically engineered cotton, Nafisa becomes the centre of a power [... 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]
Two interconnected exhibitions, both curated by Mo Reda and supported by the Department of Painting and Printmaking at VCUarts Qatar. Together, The Ongoing Performance of Melancholia and Songs in Solitude mark the culmination of a two-month residency at Bayt AlMamzar; [... more]