Take a trip with Whitewall to a riveting art week in Dubai, where gripping exhibitions meditate on technology, ecology, and humanity, offering a poetic and collaged point of view on all aspects of contemporary life in the Middle East and beyond.
Sama Alshaibi
Ayyam Gallery
Alserkal Avenue
Sama Alshaibi, “Flags,” 2025, Mixed media collage, 57 x 76 cm; Courtesy of the artist and Ayyam Gallery.
A new solo presentation by artist Sama Alshaibi at Ayyam Gallery immerses visitors in cinematic, mixed-media collages, as well as captivating video art. Titled طرس (Tterss), echoing a palimpsest, Alshaibi investigates the nuanced evolutions of Baghdad, both heavy with complexity and radiant with potential. In a skillful symphony of elements focused on materiality, technology, and space itself, the artist imparts a visceral and tender chronicle for international audiences in Dubai.
What we love: The exhibition marks a defining moment for Alshaibi who is reacquainting herself with Baghdad and its communities after a long time separation, thus a historical and imaginative chronicle unfolds.
Sama Alshaibi at Ayyam Gallery
April 15 – May 30, 2025
Shilpa Gupta
Ishara Art Foundation
Alserkal Avenue
Shilpa Gupta, “There is No Border Here,” (2005–06). Wall drawing with self-adhesive tapes, 300 x 300 cm; Courtesy of the artist and Ishara Art Foundation.
Artist Shilpa Gupta brings “Lines of Flight” to Ishara Art Foundation this season, embracing multi-faceted artworks ranging from 2006 to today. A sensorial presentation, viewers can look forward to a sound installation, bespoke activations, and thought-provoking drawings, sculptures, videos, and prints. Centering on themes of control, mobility, and acts of resilience, Gupta’s latest show urges viewers to fully engage with the artworks in a gentle yet powerful fashion.
What we love: The exhibition honors the artist’s dedication to lines throughout her career, from exploring the ways in which contemporary power systems rely on linear structures, to voyaging deeply through bloodlines, national borders, and more.
Shilpa Gupta at Ishara Art Foundation
January 18 – May 31, 2025
Michael Sailstorfer
Carbon.12
Alserkal Avenue
Installation view of Michael Sailstorfer’s “AIR ELECTRIC” at Carbon.12; Courtesy of the artist and Carbon.12.
This April, artist Michael Sailstorfer unveils “AIR ELECTRIC” at Carbon.12 in a momentous fourth solo show. Three compelling series intertwine throughout the exhibition, delving into energy in all its magnificent forms. A lyrical series titled C-Batterie pays respect to Joseph Beuys, experimenting within spheres of classical sculpture. Five bronze casts atop white pedestals question energies driven toward the eternal and the precious.
What we love: AIR ELECTRIC, the newest creative series by Sailstorfer, probes landscape painting with industrial materials, utilizing electricity to fervent proportions.
Michael Sailstorfer at Carbon.12
April 15 – May 23, 2025
Elias Sime
Lawrie Shabibi
Alserkal Avenue
Installation view of Elias Sime, “Through the Window – በመስኮቱ ውስጥ.” Photography by Ismail Noor of Seeing Things. Courtesy of the artist, James Cohan and Lawrie Shabibi.
“Through the Window – በመስኮቱ ውስጥ” is the inaugural solo exhibition in the Middle East of Elias Sime, unfolding at Lawrie Shabibi. Here, visitors will have the opportunity to take a closer look at the artist’s tremendous use of circuit boards, prismatic wires, and additional electronic elements in wondrous works of art. Mother Nature interfaces with digital spaces and indistinct forms, offering a poetic and collaged point of view on all aspects of life.
What we love: Sime took notable part in the 59th Venice Biennale within Cecilia Alemani’s “The Milk of Dreams,” showcasing the soaring Tightrope series which fused complexities of sustainability and technology.
Elias Sime at Lawrie Shabibi
April 16 – May 24, 2025
Maryam Hoseini
Green Art Gallery
Alserkal Avenue
Maryam Hoseini,
“Bruised Cosmos,” detail, 2025, Oil, acrylic, ink and color pencil on wood panel, 121.9 x 91.4 x 3.8 cm, 48 x 36 x 1 1/2 in;
Photo by Sebastian Bach
Courtesy the Artist and Green Art Gallery, Dubai.
Iran-born, New York-based artist Maryam Hoseini whisks us away with “SWELLS” at Green Art Gallery in a tremendous second solo show. Colorful new paintings voyage through human interiority, with an abstract, melodic dance of the body’s miraculous elements. Echoing the motifs and molds of our surrounding environment, each work is at once delicate and ravenous. The human figure becomes a vista in itself, solidified in wood enhanced by shellac, acrylics, gold leaf, metal powders, and more.
What we love: With a purely innovative show, the artist leans into her bold and meticulous practice which tributes mesmeric Persian textiles and tile work.
Maryam Hoseini at Green Art Gallery
April 15 – May 24, 2025
“Maydan: A Living Agora”
Zaal Art Gallery x Leila Heller Gallery at A1 Space
Alserkal Avenue
Fereydoun Ave, “Untitled,” mixed media on canvas, 95 x 145 cm; Courtesy of the artist, Zaal Art Gallery and Leila Heller Gallery.
Unfolding this season at A1 Space in Alserkal Avenue is a commanding collaborative presentation with Leila Heller Gallery of Dubai and Zaal Art Gallery of Toronto. Perceptively curated by Behrang Samadzadegan, a cross-cultural conversation ensues with “Maydan: A Living Agora,” uniting a myriad of passionate artists. Beginning with the concept of Maydan, a meaningful gathering space, visionaries such as Jehangir Vazifdar, Ali Beheshti, Sahand Hesamiyan, Andisheh Avini, Mehrdad Mohebali, Farah Ossouli, Fereydoun Ave, and more speak to heritage, mythology, and humanity.
What we love: Three enthralling sections underpin the exhibition: Geometry & Spatial Constructs, Monumentality & Collective Memory, and Cultural Narratives & Figurative Storytelling.
“Maydan: A Living Agora” with Zaal Art Gallery x Leila Heller Gallery at A1 Space
April 14 – April 20, 2025
Thomas Lélu
Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery
Jumeirah
Installation view of Thomas Lélu’s “Calm Down It’s Just Art” at Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery; Courtesy of the artist and
Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery.
French artist Thomas Lélu gifts “Calm Down It’s Just Art” to visitors of Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery in Dubai. Showcased through June 14, the artist’s multi-disciplinary practice in the realms of installation art, photography, and text extends here into forceful sentiments in stark black and white. Exuding both visual simplicity and street-inspired embellishment, Lélu brings a new poetic form of protest and affirmation into the gallery sphere.
What we love: Pieces such as “We are only a moment,” and “Offline is the new luxury,” echo a collective disillusionment and desire to connect with our living and breathing environment.
Thomas Lélu at Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery
April 17 – June 14, 2025
