Alserkal Avenue announces Uprooted as the theme for its November edition of Alserkal Art Week, a moment that reflects on the displacements shaping contemporary life and the quiet forms of resilience that follow. This iteration turns to the aftermath of rupture; a space where humans and other-than-human beings attempt to reorient, take hold, and form new, interwoven structures within unfamiliar terrains. Set within Dubai’s leading contemporary arts district, the week continues the Avenue’s commitment to foregrounding critical practices across the region and beyond.
The programme unfolds through a series of exhibitions, performances, and public activations. The Alserkal Arts Foundation’s Fall 2025 residency Open Studios introduces three live presentations by Rana Haddad & Pascal Hachem, Abdul Halik Azeez, and Hussein Nassereddine. Their approaches span experimental theatre, speculative storytelling, and sonic explorations rooted in language, each responding to evolving urban and ecological conditions.
In collaboration with Ayyam Gallery, Ali Kaaf presents Scherben Mantra | تسبيح, a video performance where the artist’s hand moves across fractured mirrors, quietly unsettling perception. Outdoors, the Public Art Commissions feature Nujoom Alghanem’s Transitionary Dwellings, a sculptural installation inspired by bird nests, evoking themes of migration, care, and shared habitats. Across the Avenue, more than fifteen gallery exhibitions open to the public, offering wide-ranging perspectives connecting South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
Four guest projects accompany the programme. Prameya Art Foundation presents We Must Therefore Turn Our Attention Skywards, featuring work by Devadeep Gupta that traces the intertwined histories of extraction, ecological change, and Indigenous knowledge in Assam. Serendipity Arts Foundation introduces Departure, a mixed-media exhibition by Shailesh BR that reflects on the moment of pause before movement, alongside Nerpala, a performance by Dileep Chilanka. Visualizing Care, curated by Uzma Z. Rizvi and Sara Eichner, turns towards Mohenjo-Daro, examining how archaeological visualisation can reveal care as both a material and technological practice. Tabari Artspace presents Hujra — حُجرة, an exhibition by Miramar Al Nayyar curated by Abeer Seikaly, exploring how states of consciousness take shape through body, material, and spatial gesture.
Among the galleries participating, Lawrie Shabibi presents By the Movement of All Things, a group exhibition curated by Hamzeh Alfarahneh, featuring works that explore the flows and shifts of contemporary life. Leila Heller Gallery offers The Wild Within, lens-based works by Ryan Koopmans and Alice Wexell that transform abandoned and historic spaces into overgrown, imaginative landscapes. The Third Line marks its 20th anniversary with The Only Way Out Is Through: The Twentieth Line, a retrospective curated by Shumon Basar surveying the gallery’s represented artists and reflecting on two decades of cultural, political, and artistic shifts.
Other highlights include 1X1 Gallery’s A Cage Went in Search of a Bird: Architecture as Metaphor, Aisha Alabbar Gallery’s Marks of Return by Salma Dib, Ayyam Gallery’s The Fire’s Edge by Ali Kaaf, CARBON 12’s centennial exhibition All That is Solid by Gil Heitor Cortesão, and Efie Gallery’s The Shape of Things to Come, a group show addressing the evolving realities of modern life. Meanwhile, Firetti Contemporary, Gallery Isabelle, Grey Noise, Taymour Grahne Projects, Waddington Custot Gallery, Zawyeh Gallery, and Ishara Art Foundation contribute exhibitions spanning photography, performance, and installation, each extending critical conversations across contemporary artistic practice.
Location: Alserkal Avenue, Dubai
Date: from 16 until 23 November 2025