Editorial

Petra Beyond Indiana Jones

The 1989 film gave Petra a façade and invented everything behind it. The real story is in the water systems, the aniconic sculpture, the painter who framed your photograph in 1839 and the families moved out so the world could come in.

Spielberg's crew filmed the Treasury's façade in Jordan, then built the Grail chamber on a soundstage in Hertfordshire — because the real interior of Al-Khazneh is a plain, undecorated room. It's a perfect miniature of how Petra is understood: one wall, photographed a million times a year, standing in for a city that is mostly still unexcavated.

Dubai · United Arab Emirates

Mission Impossible and the Burj Khalifa

What the world's most famous building stunt tells you about everything it was filmed on

A film crew drilled into the world's tallest building to hang a man off the side of it. Behind that decision sits wind physics, a hundred-year-old cooling technology, a height race Dubai has quietly stepped away from, and an art scene older than the tower.

Abu Dhabi · United Arab Emirates

The Rub' al Khali: Inside the Real Desert Where Dune Was Filmed

How the Liwa desert — the Empty Quarter's northern edge, and the real Arrakis — became one of the most filmed, least understood landscapes on Earth.

Denis Villeneuve filmed Dune in Liwa, on the rim of the Rub' al Khali — the largest sand sea on the planet. A desert that has been an ocean, birthed a nation, and is only now being discovered as a subject for art.

Understanding Calligraphy and Hurufiyya in Arab Modernism

A deep look into the mid-century art movement that liberated the Arabic letter, fusing traditional script with modern abstraction.

The Hurufiyya movement stands as one of the most significant developments in twentieth-century Arab art. Discover how modernist pioneers deconstructed traditional Arabic calligraphy to assert a post-colonial cultural identity, and learn where to experience these works today using Exhibo.

A First-Timer's Guide to Navigating Any Art Fair

A step-by-step handbook for surviving the sensory overload of contemporary art fairs, engaging with dealers, and finding your first piece.

Stepping into a massive contemporary art fair can be intimidating. Learn how to set a realistic budget, use the "two-pass" strategy, ask dealers the right questions, and use Exhibo's discovery platform to plan your route.

Jeddah · Saudi Arabia

AlUla: How the Desert Became a Contemporary Art Destination

A comprehensive guide to Saudi Arabia's desert art revolution, mapping the permanent and temporary masterworks of the AlUla oasis.

Discover how AlUla transformed from an ancient trade route into a leading destination for contemporary land art. Explore the curatorial vision behind Desert X 2026, the permanent monumentality of Wadi AlFann, and the upcoming Contemporary Art Museum partnered with Paris's Centre Pompidou.

Riyadh · Saudi Arabia

The Riyadh Art Guide: JAX District and the Contemporary Scene

An insider's directory to navigating the capital's changing creative spaces, from transformed industrial warehouses to central gallery hubs.

Riyadh's contemporary art scene is expanding at an extraordinary pace. Discover the city's essential creative hubs, from the monumental converted warehouses of the JAX District to the bustling commercial galleries of Al Olaya, with Exhibo's comprehensive cultural guide.

Dubai · United Arab Emirates

The Pioneers of Emirati Art: Hassan Sharif and After

How Hassan Sharif and the artists known as "the Five" built conceptual art in the UAE from nothing

Before the Louvre came to Abu Dhabi and Alserkal filled with galleries, a small group of artists made conceptual art in the UAE with almost no audience and a great deal of ridicule. This is the story of Hassan Sharif and the pioneers who built a scene from nothing — and why their work still anchors Emirati art today.

Jeddah · Saudi Arabia

How Vision 2030 Rewired Saudi Arabia's Art World

In a single decade, the Kingdom built a contemporary art ecosystem from almost nothing — ministries, biennials, museums, a market. Here is how it happened, what it has produced, and the questions that remain.

Vision 2030 did not simply fund some exhibitions; it rewired the institutional plumbing of an entire art world, and did so fast enough to unsettle the assumptions on which the Gulf's art map had been drawn.

Abu Dhabi · United Arab Emirates

Louvre Abu Dhabi Unveils Its 2026–2027 Season: Four Exhibitions Spanning Antiquity to the Contemporary

The Saadiyat Island museum announces a year-long programme that moves from ancient board games and Indian Ocean trade routes to conflict-zone heritage preservation and a first-ever GCC–India contemporary art prize.

Louvre Abu Dhabi has announced four major exhibitions for its 2026–2027 season, tracing a single curatorial thread — exchange, movement, and cultural resilience — across ancient board games, Indian Ocean maritime history, a landmark GCC–India contemporary art prize, and heritage preservation in conflict zones.

Dubai · United Arab Emirates

Inside Alserkal Avenue: A Guide to Dubai's Art District

How a row of Al Quoz warehouses became the most serious address in Gulf contemporary art — and how to navigate its galleries, foundations and programme.

Alserkal Avenue sits in Al Quoz Industrial Area 1 — a grid of concrete warehouses and marble workshops wedged between Sheikh Zayed Road and Al Khail Road — and it is, improbably, the most culturally credible square kilometre in the Gulf.

Dubai · United Arab Emirates

The Civilisation That Bought Itself Back: A Field Guide to Collecting Arab Art

A field guide to collecting Arab and Middle Eastern art — who buys, what it costs, why prices lag cultural significance, and where collectors are looking now.

How the Arab world went from selling its art history to the West to building the fastest-growing market for Middle Eastern art on earth — who buys, why, what it costs, and where the smart money is looking now