Spring in the Gulf in 2025: the region comes alive with arts & culture

A key moment in Dubai’s cultural calendar, the week of Art Dubai, also known as ‘Art Week’, sees the whole of the UAE art scene come to life. Year on year, the week’s impact has grown, expanding beyond the fair and the city of Dubai, reaching across the Gulf. Amidst unprecedented growth in the region, the scene is developing larger events and projects, along with thoughtful development of initiatives and connections that contribute to a rich and dynamic cultural landscape.

To better navigate the weeks’ events, the Art Dubai VIP team puts together special programming for the fair and its home city of Dubai, as well offering tailored advice on itineraries and facilitating access to cultural experience across the region.

Debashish Paul_Art Dubai 2024 — Performance by Debashish Paul at Art Dubai 2024

sharjah Biennial — Sharjah Biennial 2023

Spring of 2025 is a particularly important moment in the region’s cultural calendar and the ideal time for international visitors to connect with the arts and cultural movements that are rapidly evolving here. Notably, the Sharjah Biennial, a dynamic platform that has consistently enriched global contemporary art discourse, will host its 16th edition. Under the direction of Sharjah Art Foundation’s director, Sheika Hoor Al Qasimi-recently named number 1 on the Art Review Power100 list, the 2025 Biennial will follow the thematic ‘to carry,’ set by its five independent curators, and international institutional directors, Natasha Ginwala, Amal Khalaf, Zeynep Öz, Alia Swastika, and Megan Tamati-Quennell. The Biennial will present 80 new commissions, installations, and curatorial projects activating venues across the emirate. The Art Dubai team recommends seeing the new commission by Kate Newby, who will have a solo presentation with Art: Concept at Art Dubai 2025 within the fair’s curated Bawwaba section.

Louvre-Abu-Dhabi_sito — Louvre Abu Dhabi

Across permanent institutions in the UAE, you will also see major exhibitions being developed during this time. The Louvre Abu Dhabi continues to present world-class exhibitions, bridging Eastern and Western artistic traditions. Its 2025 programme starts with a new exhibition exploring the cultural significance of the African kings and queens who shaped the African continent, and whose legacy we see throughout contemporary African art.

In Dubai, a few minutes’ drive from Art Dubai is the cultural district Alserkal Avenue, where you can explore a host of the city’s commercial galleries within walking distance of each other. Jameel Arts Centre on the Jaddaf Waterfront, known for the intellectual rigour of its exhibitions and its community-focused programming, presents narratives and discourses from across South and West Asia and North Africa. The outdoor sculpture park and open-access research library gives further opportunity to dive deeper into artists and cultural movements of the region through contemporary perspectives.

Alserkal Avenue_webstory — Alserkal Avenue. Image credit: Alserkal Avenue

Islamic Art Biennale. Image credit: Wallpaper — Islamic Art Biennial

A short flight away from the UAE is Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which will host the second iteration of the Islamic Art Biennale coinciding with Art Dubai. Organised by The Diriyah Biennale Foundation, the Biennale runs from January to May, at the Western Hajj Terminal of the King Abdulaziz Airport. Titled “And All That Is In-Between” this edition will delve into how faith is experienced, expressed, and celebrated through emotions, beliefs, and creative works. Led by esteemed artistic directors, including artist Muhannad Shono, who represented Saudi Arabia in the 2022 Venice Biennale, and Julian Raby, a distinguished scholar, former lecturer in Islamic art and architecture at the University of Oxford, the event will bring together more than 30 global institutions.

As well as highlighting some of the more established cultural institutions, the Art Dubai VIP programme also gives access to a number of smaller art spaces and initiatives that equally add to the region’s cultural fabric – these include curatorial projects hidden in old villas, artist studio spaces, libraries and research-led foundations.

For more information on any of the cultural programming taking place during Art Dubai, and to make the most of your time in the Gulf, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Art Dubai VIP team.