From the US and UK to China, Emirati artists have been displaying their work in a varied range of venues, from major museums and galleries to biennales and public spaces. The art ranges from responses to pertinent issues including technology and environmental damage to abstraction and reflections on the region’s rich heritage.
The exhibitions include major group surveys at New York’s Guggenheim and MoMA PS1, an installation in the Saudi desert and a sculpture on a British university campus. While not exhaustive, this rolling list will be updated regularly throughout the year.
1. Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim and Farah Al Qasimi: New York
Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim and Farah Al Qasimi are included in the second half of the Guggenheim exhibition, which traces pop art from the 1960s to the present.
Ibrahim’s Bearer (2020) combines paperboard, jute, papier-mache and paint. Al Qasimi’s Woman in Leopard Print (2019) is an evocative photograph of a woman wearing a leopard-print headscarf.
Running until January 10, 2027 at the Guggenheim Museum, New York
2. Hassan Sharif: Doha
Originally created for Mathaf’s inaugural programme in 2010, Cow Belly by the late Hassan Sharif returns for the museum’s 15th anniversary. Its critique of industrial production, consumerism and environmental damage has become more urgent since it was first shown.
Running until August 8 at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha
3. Hassan Sharif: London
Sharif produced Funnelled Paper while studying at London’s Byam Shaw School of Art. The work physically changed as it travelled between Britain and the UAE, connecting it to a show concerned with migration and manufactured goods.
Running until August 8 at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha
4. Farah Al Qasimi: New York
Al Qasimi is among 53 artists and collectives examining surveillance, accelerating technology, economic uncertainty and other pressures shaping life in New York for MoMA PS1’s five-yearly survey.
Running until August 17, 2026 at MoMA PS1, New York
5. Mohamed Yousif and Hassan Sharif: Guangzhou
More than 70 pieces by 28 artists make this the largest international showing of the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection staged in Asia. Across three galleries at the Aranya Art Centre, the selection examines how artists from West Asia, South Asia, Africa and their diasporas approach land, memory and belonging.
Yousif’s Black Works comprises six distorted steel bicycles resembling dancing bodies. The bicycles represent women carrying generations, while their wheels suggest continuity and renewal.
Desert – A and Desert – B by Sharif is two pale paintings using zinc and boiled linseed oil on canvas. Their near-monochrome surfaces evoke the desert through texture.
Running until August 30 at Aranya Art Centre, Guangzhou
6. Alaa Edris, Lamya Gargash and Farah Al Qasimi: Venice
The three Emirati artists present work in Washwasha, the title of which comes from the Arabic word for whispering, at the National Pavilion UAE exhibition at the Venice Biennale.
Al Qasimi’s The Curse (2026) considers children’s understanding of guilt and attempts to communicate across barriers. Edris uses Emirati dialect in Wiswas (2026) to explore interference and the noise of contemporary life. Gargash’s photographic series Majlis (2009) presents the majlis as a place for listening, celebration, grieving and collective problem-solving.
Running until November 22 at National Pavilion UAE, Venice
7. Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim: AlUla
Across the desert floor, 320 brightly coloured sculptural forms are scattered as though they have fallen from the surrounding sandstone cliffs. Ibrahim created Falling Stones Garden for Desert X AlUla in 2020, drawing on the colours of rocky landscapes and his relationship with his native Khor Fakkan.
The Royal Commission for AlUla later acquired the installation, which remains within the grounds of the resort Our Habitas AlUla.
On long-term display at Our Habitas AlUla, Saudi Arabia
8. Shaikha Al Mazrou: Birmingham
Made of fibreglass and resin, Red Stack consists of six red forms shaped like pillows and arranged at precarious angles. First unveiled at Frieze Sculpture in London in 2022, the sculpture was acquired by the University of Birmingham and installed beside its historic red-brick buildings in 2025.
On permanent public display at the University of Birmingham, Birmingham
