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Articles

Dubai · United Arab Emirates

Emaar Reopens Burj Khalifa Open Call, Inviting Artists Worldwide to Light Up the World's Tallest Building

This year's projection design competition drops the AED 100,000 cash prize of 2025 in favour of a longer, fully global submission window — and rules out any AI-generated entries.

Emaar has reopened its Burj Khalifa Open Call, inviting artists, designers and creatives from the UAE and around the world to submit original audio-visual projections for a chance to see their work displayed on the facade of the world's tallest building. Submissions close on 18 August 2026.

Cairo · Egypt

Byzantine Treasures Unearthed at Dakhleh Oasis: Coins and Inscribed Pottery Reveal Desert Life

Egyptian excavations uncover rare gold currency and hundreds of ancient texts at the 'Ain al-Sebil settlement

Archaeologists have revealed a remarkably preserved mud-brick settlement dating to Egypt's Byzantine period, containing unusual coinage and over 200 inscribed pottery fragments that illuminate everyday existence in this remote desert community.

Abu Dhabi · United Arab Emirates

Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial Returns to the Capital This Autumn

The second edition of the emirate-wide public art event opens in Al Ain in October and Abu Dhabi in November, led by former MACBA director Elvira Dyangani Ose under the theme "Home: A Glossary for a Communal Sense of Place."

The second edition of the Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial opens in Al Ain on 23 October 2026 and in the capital on 15 November, running into February 2027. Curated by former MACBA director Elvira Dyangani Ose under the theme "Home: A Glossary for a Communal Sense of Place," the free, citywide programme builds on the acclaimed inaugural edition, several of whose works have since become permanent public installations.

Riyadh · Saudi Arabia

The Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale: A Visitor and Context Guide

An in-depth look at the curators, scenography, and regional commissions shaping Saudi Arabia’s premier international contemporary art platform.

Explore the third edition of the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, "In Interludes and Transitions". Our comprehensive visitor guide covers the co-curators' vision, Formafantasma's industrial scenography, major commissions, and practical tips for navigating the JAX District with Exhibo.

Abu Dhabi · United Arab Emirates

Human in the Loop: A New Sound-and-String Exhibition Opens in Abu Dhabi

At 421 Arts Campus, Emirati robotics engineer Dr Ahmad AlAttar turns the gallery into a field of sound and strings you have to play — his first institutional solo show, on until 13 September.

A field of coloured ropes hangs from the ceiling at 421 Arts Campus, each one wired to respond to touch with sound. Human in the Loop, the first institutional solo show by Emirati robotics engineer and artist Dr Ahmad AlAttar, turns the gallery into a game of hide-and-seek with an unseen algorithm — on until 13 September.

Editorial

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

Six Landmark Cultural Projects Set to Reshape the UAE's Museum and Performing Arts Scene

From a Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim on Saadiyat Island to a floating art museum on Dubai Creek, six major institutions are set to redraw the country's cultural map over the coming years.

The UAE's museum and performing arts landscape is entering one of its most ambitious build-out phases yet, with six major cultural institutions — spanning Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah — currently in development. From the long-awaited Guggenheim Abu Dhabi to a floating art museum on Dubai Creek, here is what is coming and when.

Dubai · United Arab Emirates

Museum of the Future Opens Global Call for Ideas Ahead of Fifth Anniversary

Chairman Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi says transformative ideas "may come from anyone, anywhere in the world" as Dubai's landmark institution invites public submissions for its next generation of experiences.

Dubai's Museum of the Future has launched an international open call inviting residents of the UAE and the public worldwide to submit ideas for its next generation of exhibitions, timed to coincide with the institution's approaching fifth anniversary.

Tunis · Tunisia

Becoming the Ocean: BIM'26 Opens Within Jaou Tunis

Sixteen newly commissioned works confront the collapse of inherited orders at the Biennale de l'Image en Mouvement

Curated by Lina Lazaar and Andrea Bellini, the eighth edition of the Biennale de l'Image en Mouvement unfolds at the Caserne El Attarine in Tunis, asking what it means to think from interdependence rather than separation.

Dubai · United Arab Emirates

Opening a Gallery in Dubai: What It Actually Takes

This guide is the honest version of what it takes.

Opening a gallery in Dubai is easier to license and harder to sustain than most people expect. Here is the honest version — what the licence really costs, where to set up, how the consignment model works, what customs and the freeport change, and the market reality you are walking into in 2026.

Editorial

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.

Editorial

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.