UAE Art Season Opens: Ten Must-See Exhibitions Across Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah

Galleries and cultural institutions across Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah are ushering in the new art season with a compelling lineup of exhibitions. Spanning photography, painting, sculpture, textiles, moving image, and installation, these showcases explore urban life, cultural memory, ecology, and play.

Here are ten notable exhibitions to visit across the UAE:

1. Precarious Beings at Tashkeel

Hamad Al Muzaini’s first solo exhibition examines how people adapt to cities and the everyday behaviors that shape their living spaces. Presented at Tashkeel Nad Al Sheba, the exhibition emerged from Al Muzaini’s participation in Tashkeel’s Critical Practice Programme. Trained as an architect, the Kuwaiti artist uses photography, drawing, and sculpture to question how and why built environments take shape, exploring the mundane details of urban navigation. Until October 11; Dubai.

2. Unseen Script at Rizq Art Initiative

Curated by Meena Vari, Unseen Script brings together works by 10 artists—Najat Makki, Nujoom Alghanem, Nasir Nasrallah, Abdulla PA, Ana Escobar Saavedra, Fadi Balhawan, Ismail Al Rifai, Joanna Barakat, Neveen Abu Samra, and Simrin Mehra Agarwal—to explore patterns formed through repetition. Spanning painting, sculpture, assemblage, and mixed media, the exhibition focuses on subjective experience, memory, and observation. Until October 28; Abu Dhabi.

3. Taking Form at The Third Line

Rana Begum’s fifth solo exhibition at The Third Line explores color, geometry, and material through large wool tapestries, diluted acrylic on linen, and works on paper and wood. The exhibition introduces a softer feel to her practice while retaining her signature geometric abstraction. Until November 10; Dubai.

4 & 5. Between Land and Sea, and Between a Fold and a Memory at Leila Heller Gallery

Leila Heller Gallery presents two exhibitions considering Emirati identity and heritage. Azza Al Qubaisi’s Between Land and Sea, curated by Aysha Al Hemeiri, spans intimate jewelry and large-scale public works using natural resources. Meanwhile, Karima Al Shomely’s Between a Fold and a Memory uses photography, sculpture, textile, and video to explore clothing and traditional objects like the burqa. Until November 10; Dubai.

6. Sojourner: The Difference is the Same at Efie Gallery

Kenyan artist Maggie Otieno transforms reclaimed materials, including 150-year-old railway sleepers and wooden canoe fragments, into vessels of memory in her first solo exhibition with Efie Gallery. Until November 13; Dubai.

7. The Horizon We Inherit at Iris Projects

Emirati artist Eman Al Hashemi examines the changing rhythms of urban life through ceramics, printmaking, and mixed media at Iris Projects. The exhibition highlights familiar UAE cityscape features like street lights and roundabouts, reflecting on memory and urban redevelopment. September 26 to November 26; Abu Dhabi.

8. Vantage Point 13 at Sharjah Art Foundation

Marking a new chapter in its dedicated photography gallery, Sharjah Art Foundation presents commissioned series by Adam Rouhana, Guanyu Xu, Latifa AlBokhari, Luisa Dorr, Maheder Haileselassie, and Sathish Kumar. Selected via an international open call, the works showcase the breadth of contemporary photography. Until November 29; Sharjah.

9. The Sky Held It, The Earth Remembered at Ishara Art Foundation

Shahana Rajani, Rohini Devasher, and Sarker Protick explore how land, water, and the cosmos act as archives of memory and ecological change. Bringing together perspectives from Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, the exhibition addresses displacement and environmental resilience. Until December 15; Dubai.

10. A Board Game Adventure at Louvre Abu Dhabi

Transforming the museum into a giant playground, A Board Game Adventure traces the history of games like chess, Mancala, Ludo, and Carrom. Featuring rare artefacts from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Iran, and India alongside interactive displays, the exhibition highlights games as vital cultural objects. Until April 25, 2027