Alserkal Art Month, a new programme platforming public art and community-led initiatives across Alserkal Avenue, will run from Saturday until May 18, the Dubai-born arts and culture enterprise has announced. The month-long event will serve as an expansion of its annual Art Week.
Artists, curators and multidisciplinary collectives from across the UAE and the wider region will come together over five weeks, with a shared focus on sustaining cultural engagement and dialogue.
As part of the opening weekend, 16 exhibitions will open in galleries in the avenue, alongside a wider programme of workshops, performances and public interventions.
The closing programme will align with Art Dubai, which has been rescheduled to start from May 14 to 17 at Madinat Jumeirah. Originally planned for April, the fair was moved following regional disruptions, with organisers citing the need to maintain support for galleries, artists and institutions.
Marking its 20th event, Art Dubai will return in a revised format combining presentations, collaborations and public programming. It remains a central fixture in the Gulf’s cultural calendar and is a key driver of the region’s commercial art infrastructure.
Alserkal Art Month’s closing week will feature commissions and moving image works presented in partnership with the fair.
A central strand of the programme is Still A Sky We Hold, a newly commissioned public artwork by Shilpa Gupta, which underpins the month’s thematic focus on shared experience and resilience.
Highlights also include Deja vu, a group exhibition at Concrete opening on April 25, bringing together artists from 18 UAE galleries. Exploring repetition and recurrence, the show will be accompanied by a Majlis Talks series curated by Nadine Khalil.
Beyond exhibitions, the programme includes workshops, performances, poetry readings and slow walks, as well as projects led by participants in the Blank Space initiative, which supports emerging creative collectives.
Alserkal Arts Foundation will host reading groups, open studios and performances, alongside grants of up to Dh10,000 for research-led projects. It has also focused in recent weeks on supporting practitioners facing challenges in continuing their work.
On May 16, Alserkal Advisory will convene stakeholders from across the UAE for a round table on strengthening the role of arts institutions within communities.
“Alserkal Art Month is a tribute to the resilience and fortitude of the UAE’s arts ecosystem, and to the people who sustain it,” said Vilma Jurkute, executive director of Alserkal.
