LEBANON
Nabil Kanso: Darkness and Light (Part II) (30 July – 25 September 2026) opens this week at the Dalloul Art Foundation, completing the first major presentation of the late artist’s work in his native Lebanon. Following the monumental canvases shown at the Dalloul Artist Collective, the second chapter brings together Leaves from the Theater of War (1980–1992), Kanso’s complete series of 242 ink drawings, exhibited in full for the first time. Created over twelve years, the sequence traces recurring cycles of violence, memory and power, drawing connections between conflicts across generations. Seen alongside the paintings, the drawings reveal another dimension of Kanso’s practice, offering a more intimate encounter with an artist whose work continues to resonate with pressing contemporary realities.
We Design Beirut announces its third edition set on from 26 to 30 May 2027, transforming heritage buildings and cultural spaces across the city into a platform for contemporary design. Under the theme Love on the Mediterranean, the programme explores the region’s shared histories of exchange through exhibitions, installations, talks, workshops, tours and open studios spanning architecture, craft, product and interior design. Highlights include The Shape of Wonder at the newly opened Maison Tabet, What Remains of Summer, which revisits Lebanon’s mouneh traditions through contemporary design, Alfred Tarazi’s archival installation La Mer, and Licensed to Forget, a student-led exhibition examining Beirut’s architectural heritage. Excursions to Rachana, modernist landmarks and Lebanon’s northern coastline further extend the programme beyond the exhibition spaces, reinforcing Beirut’s position as a growing centre for regional design dialogue.
Suni‘a Bisihrika – Made With Your Magic (30 July – 25 October 2026) opens its Beirut chapter at Beirut Art Center, continuing an evolving regional project conceived by Tarek Abou El Fetouh that began in Tunis and will travel to Damascus, Jeddah and Baghdad. Bringing together thirty-two artists, including Aref El Rayess, Alia Farid, Etel Adnan, Omar Onsi, Walid Raad, Ala Younis, and Mounira Al Solh, the exhibition presents newly commissioned works alongside earlier commissions and selected pieces from the Saradar Collection and the Dalloul Art Foundation, creating a dialogue across generations of Arab artistic practice. Borrowing its title from a mnemonic for the eight principal Arabic maqāms, the exhibition reflects on shared cultural histories, identity, territory and belonging through contemporary art. Accompanied by a twelve-week public programme and the participatory Molo Café, the project positions art as a space for listening, exchange and collective imagination amid a rapidly changing region.
KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA
A closing gathering in Riyadh marked the conclusion of the Visual Arts Commission’s Art Bridges 2025–2026 programme, bringing together all four participant cohorts to reflect on a year of international exchange. The initiative connected 40 Saudi and Saudi-based artists, curators, cultural practitioners and creative professionals with peers, institutions and creative communities abroad, fostering dialogue and long-term collaboration. Across four international programmes, participants explored topics including audience engagement, cultural heritage, artist support and sustainable creative careers, while sharing perspectives on Saudi Arabia’s rapidly evolving visual arts landscape. The initiative forms part of the Commission’s broader efforts to strengthen professional development and international cultural exchange in support of Saudi Vision 2030.
THE WORLD
Mohamed Melehi’s Composition (1976) features in Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica (on view until 6 September 2026) at London’s Barbican Centre, a major exhibition examining the influence of Pan-African thought on artistic production across the twentieth century and beyond. Bringing together more than 300 works from Africa and its diasporas, the exhibition traces histories of solidarity, cultural exchange and self-determination. A leading figure of Moroccan modernism and the Casablanca Art School, Melehi is represented by Composition, a work from his celebrated wave series. Through its rhythmic abstraction, the painting reflects his vision of modernism rooted in local visual traditions while engaging broader conversations around identity, liberation and cultural renewal.
Youssef Nabil’s To Dream Again (19 May – 13 September 2026) is on view at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, marking a significant milestone as the museum’s first solo exhibition by an Arab artist and its first dedicated to an African artist. Curated by Sylvain Amic and Nicolas Gausserand, the exhibition traces the evolution of Nabil’s practice through photography and film while reflecting on exile, memory and belonging. Installed within the museum’s Orientalist galleries, his hand-coloured silver gelatin prints enter into dialogue with nineteenth-century masters who shaped his artistic imagination. Spanning five thematic chapters, To Dream Again reconsiders inherited narratives of the Orient through a deeply personal and poetic visual language.
Swiss-Egyptian artist and photographer Marwan Bassiouni joins Backyard Biennial: East (15 July – 6 September 2026), Whitechapel Gallery’s summer festival celebrating the cultural, social and creative histories of East London. Presented across venues throughout the city, the community-led programme brings together exhibitions, performances and public events exploring migration, belonging and place. Bassiouni contributes works from his ongoing series New British Views, in which landscapes are photographed from within mosques, reframing familiar urban and rural settings through windows and architectural openings. Rather than focusing on the mosque itself, the photographs consider how perspective shapes our understanding of landscape, identity and belonging, offering quietly nuanced reflections on contemporary Britain and the multiplicity of experiences that define it.
