Freshest news from the region, straight to your screens
١. Remember the Future — Anuar Khalifi at The Third Line
A soft time warp, dipped in pinks and intuition. At The Third Line — a space that’s hosted everyone from Hassan Hajjaj and Hayv Kahraman to Farah Al Qasimi and Slavs and Tatars — Anuar Khalifi returns with Remember the Future, a solo show that feels both tender and uncanny. Large-scale paintings and works on paper drift between lived memory and imagined scenes, where chairs, vessels and bodies become symbols rather than fixed answers. Drawing from magical realism, poetry and art history, Khalifi paints reality as something porous — shaped by both presence and imagination. No identity boxes, no geographic shortcuts: just time, intimacy, spirituality, life and death, unfolding with a childlike clarity that’s anything but naive. A must-see for those who like their painting open-ended, contemporary, and charged.
The Third Line, Al Quoz 3, Dubai
17 January – 1 March 2026
٢. Gentle Monster Reopens Its Reimagined Flagship at Dubai Mall
Gentle Monster kicks off 2026 by reopening its newly reimagined flagship at Dubai Mall — less a store than a full-scale sensory moment. Designed as a surreal collision of art, technology and emotion, the space pushes the brand’s cult universe further into immersive territory. On entry, visitors are met by the Giant Head Kinetic Object: three monumental, hyper-realistic faces locked in slow, shifting expressions that feel equal parts sci-fi and introspective, mirroring the quiet intensity of the human psyche. Thought-provoking without trying too hard, the reopened flagship sets the tone for the year ahead — imaginative, immersive, and unmistakably cool.
٣. Pandora x Bridgerton: Rules to Love By
With Bridgerton returning for its fourth season this January, Pandora taps straight into the cultural moment with Rules to Love By, a jewellery collection that blends Regency fantasy with modern-day playfulness. Far from stiff period codes, the 14-piece drop leans into what fans actually love: romance, drama and a wink of irreverence — think pearl-petaled bee rings, bow-accented ear climbers and a gem-studded teabag charm nodding to Lady Whistledown. Fronted by Hannah Dodd and Claudia Jessie, and with select pieces set to appear on-screen later in the season, the collaboration lands right on time. Crafted from recycled sterling silver with 14k gold plating, pearls and crystal details, the collection launches in the UAE on 15 January 2026, perfectly synced with Netflix’s two-part premiere. Chic, referential, and made for modern-day devotees rather than debutantes.
٤. 421 Arts Campus Unveils Winter 2026 Season for Its 10-Year Anniversary
Marking a decade of shaping Abu Dhabi’s independent arts scene, 421 Arts Campus launches its Winter 2026 season as part of its 10-year anniversary program. Running from 15 January to 12 March, the season expands beyond exhibition-making into a dense program of talks, workshops, studio sessions and community gatherings that foreground process, participation and shared learning. Anchored in Rays, Ripples, Residue — the ongoing group exhibition curated by Munira Al Sayegh, Nadine Khalil and Murtaza Vali — the winter program shifts the lens from retrospection to collective futures. Highlights include The Localized Futures: Conversations by 421 x afikra, a four-part public series unpacking culture, cities, education and the arts through a distinctly regional perspective, alongside family days, educators’ sessions and Ramadan suhoors for writers and image-makers. Thoughtful, generous and deeply rooted, the season reads less like a schedule and more like an invitation to think, gather and build — together.
٥. I Am Not What I Am, I Become — Group Exhibition at ATHR Gallery
ATHR Gallery in Jeddah has kicked off its 2026 program with I Am Not What I Am, I Become — a group exhibition curated by Afia Bin Taleb that opened on 7 January 2026. The show brings together works by a new generation of Saudi and regional artists who explore identity as process, transformation and becoming rather than fixed state — a fitting push at a moment when Saudi art is rapidly expanding its global footprint. Featured artists include Sara Abdu, Dalal Al-Obaidi and Dania AlSaleh, among others working across painting, installation and textural, idea-driven approaches that foreground fluidity, contradiction and self-making.
Taking place at ATHR Gallery’s flagship space in Serafi Mega Mall, the exhibition aligns with the gallery’s broader mission of showcasing contemporary Arab artistic voices and supporting boundary-pushing practices from the Kingdom and beyond.
٦. A$AP Rocky’s Punk Rocky — The New Era Opener
A$AP Rocky has kicked off 2026 with Punk Rocky, the lead single (and video) from his long-anticipated fourth album Don’t Be Dumb, dropping 16 January 2026 — his first full LP in nearly eight years. The track leans into psychedelic/indie-rock-tinged energy that feels off-kilter and defiantly experimental for a hip-hop lead single, setting the tone for a genre-blurring new chapter. The surreal, star-studded video — co-directed by Rocky — features Winona Ryderas his quirky neighbour along with Danny Elfman, Thundercat and A$AP Nast, and showcases five of Rocky’s alter egos in a chaotic garage band scenario that’s part punk rebellion, part cinematic fever dream. With its unexpected sound and visual ambition, Punk Rocky isn’t just a song — it’s the statement that Don’t Be Dumb could be the defining Rocky era.
٧. Freedom for Sudan: When the Global Creative Scene Mobilizes
Founded by writer Amel Albaqir Mukhtar, Freedom for Sudan is a global online charity auction running from January 6 at 11 a.m. GMT to January 12 at 11 p.m. GMT, 2026, designed to raise urgent funds and awareness for humanitarian needs in Sudan amid ongoing conflict. The event brings together a wide array of high-profile artists and creatives offering exclusive items and once-in-a-lifetime experiences — including SZA (one-on-one hangouts and signed merch), The Weeknd (premium tour tickets), Olivia Rodrigo (signed vinyl), PinkPantheress (custom portrait), Central Cee (meet-and-greet), Kelela, MIKE, Dave, 2hollis, keiyaA, and filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr. — all to benefit Sudanese-led non-profits providing medical aid, food assistance, emergency relief and grassroots support.
٨. The Comeback of the Icon: Saint Laurent’s Mombasa Bag Returns in 2026
Paris fashion houses are leaning hard into nostalgia with purpose this year — and Saint Laurent’s iconic Mombasa bag is leading the charge. Originally launched in Spring/Summer 2002 under Tom Ford and instantly beloved for its sculptural, slouchy silhouette and distinctive handle, the Mombasa has officially been revived for Spring/Summer 2026under creative director Anthony Vaccarello, complete with a fresh campaign starring Bella Hadid and shot by Glen Luchford. True to its Y2K roots yet subtly updated for modern wear, the bag now comes in three sizes — small, medium and large — and a chic palette of black, rouge cabernet, santal and dark oat leathers, combining everyday versatility with vintage allure. Its relaxed shoulder carry and refined materials make it both a coveted it-bag and a celebration of heritage, proving that retro cool is still the chicest kind of cool right now.
٩. Elements of Light: A Luminous Year-End Constellation in Dubai
Opening at JD Malat Gallery Dubai from 10 December 2025 to 31 January 2026, Elements of Light is a landmark group exhibition bringing together thirteen leading local and international artists in a shared meditation on illumination, perception and contemporary expression. Spanning abstraction, figuration, conceptual minimalism and sculpture, the show reflects on light as atmosphere, rhythm, memory and emotional charge — gliding across metal, vibrating through colour fields or piercing gestural surfaces. Featuring works by Casper Brindle, Foad Hamzeh, Santiago Parra, Katrin Fridriks, Zhang Ji, Masayoshi Nojo, Gary Lang, Conrad Jon Godly, Andy Moses, Ed Moses, RETNA, Richard Hudson and Sophie-Yen Bretez, the exhibition reads as both a culmination of the gallery’s 2025 programme and a poetic threshold into the year ahead. Installed in Act 2 Tower, Downtown Dubai, Elements of Light offers a moment of stillness and sensory clarity, where diverse artistic languages converge around the ineffable power of light.
١٠. Heartbeat of Africa: A Cultural Kick-Off for AFCON 2025
Heartbeat of Africa is a pan-African cultural and photographic exhibition launching in Rabat, Morocco during the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), running as a flagship moment of the tournament’s cultural programme. Positioned at the Institut Français de Rabat and presented in partnership with Point Synergie Groupe and Proturf, the exhibition brings together the work of 22 African photographers and artists from across the continent and its diaspora, using documentary and artistic photography to explore football as a shared language of identity, pride and collective memory — from iconic stadium moments to unseen street-level stories that map the game’s cultural pulse. Curated by a collective of pan-African creative leaders including Lamia Kleiche, Océane Voltat, Thanya Ockot and Fadhila Chikh, Heartbeat of Africa extends beyond the gallery with related initiatives — including conferences on football’s social impact and multidisciplinary events blending music and performance — positioning culture, sport and social engagement as powerful drivers of youth empowerment and continental unity during AFCON 2025.
