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Dubai: 5 art experiences to catch during Alserkal Art Month’s final week
If you’ve been meaning to go but haven’t yet made it to Alserkal Avenue, this is the chance to step in
- PUBLISHED: Tue 12 May 2026, 12:36 PM UPDATED: Tue 12 May 2026, 2:53 PM
As Alserkal Art Month enters its final week, Al Quoz’s creative district is in full bloom. What began as an expanded version of Alserkal Art Week has grown into a five‑week experiment in how a city can think, make and gather together around art, bringing galleries, foundations, collectives and audiences into one shared ecosystem.
"The closing weekend has a rich programme of talks, workshops and exhibitions, which is easily accessible via QR codes placed at key points across the Avenue," says Vilma Jurkute, executive director, Alserkal. "Our only suggestion is that you aim to end your time in The Yard because Moving, which will be presented on The Yard Screens, is best viewed after sunset.
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So, if you’ve been meaning to go but haven’t yet made it to the Avenue, this is the chance to step in. From slow, meditative moving images to live performances and a cult classic screening, here are five things to catch before Alserkal Art Month signs off on May 18.
Video art at The Yards Screen
On May 14, The Yard Screens hosts Moving, a 90‑minute video art programme co-presented by Art Dubai and Alserkal, that distills the crux of Art Month’s core ideas in a darkened room.
The co‑curated commissioning project brings together artists represented by Alserkal Avenue galleries who are also showing at Art Dubai, extending the fair beyond its halls and into the city.
'This Will Only Take a Minute'
Running from May 16–17 between 12pm and 8pm at Jossa in Alserkal Avenue, this playful interactive experience invites visitors to reflect on how they engage with the district and what they want more of from Dubai’s wider cultural scene.
Through life-sized prompts, questions and activities, the installation gathers audience thoughts and aspirations in a setting that feels more social than survey-like, with DJ sets, snacks and artistic interventions throughout the space.
Experience the body as archive
On May 16 at 6pm, ‘Body Archive: Nothing Resonates’ by Asareh Ebrahimpour takes over Project Space WH51 for one of the week’s most intimate live moments.
An Iranian interdisciplinary artist based in Dubai, Ebrahimpour will combine visual art, physical theatre, dance and somatic practices, treating the body as both recording device and living document.
Watch a cult classic in Cinema Akil
If you prefer your moving images with a dose of film history, The Color of Pomegranates screening in Cinema Akil offers a completely different but no less powerful experience. Sergei Parajanov’s 1969 masterpiece has long been a reference point for artists and filmmakers for its poetic tableaux, saturated colour and icon-like compositions.
To watch it outdoors at Alserkal, surrounded by art and artists, is to feel its imagery crack open in new ways: an old world myth reimagined in a very contemporary city. A reminder that today’s visual culture is always in dialogue with what came before.
Take a slower walk through open studios
Between the timed screenings and scheduled performances, leave room for slower encounters. Rather than looking at Alserkal Avenue simply as a collection of galleries, the Slow Art Walk repositions the district as a living, working ecosystem shaped by hidden logistical networks, environmental systems and the everyday grind of art production.
Throughout the experience, the walk offers a different lens through which to experience Alserkal, delving into its interconnected framework where art, creativity and culinary practices constantly overlap.
Around it, Alserkal Arts Foundation continues to host reading groups and performances by locally based artists, alongside a grants programme supporting research-led projects with awards of up to Dh10,000.
So, drop into a studio, join a conversation or simply walk around the Avenue before the month-long celebration of the arts draws its curtains.
