Desert dialogues: Ammar Al Attar’s lens
Building heights and cultural depths: Dubai’s new landmark, artistic reflections and and Sharjah films in India.
Welcome back to Al-Monitor Dubai.
This week, we spotlight a solo show by Emirati artist Ammar Al Attar at Iris Projects in Abu Dhabi; the completion of the world’s tallest hotel in Dubai Marina; the Sharjah Art Foundation’s participation in a film festival in Kolkata; and plans for a second Wynn Resorts casino in the UAE.
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Happy reading,
Rebecca
P.S. Have feedback or tips on Dubai's culture scene? Send them my way at contactus@al-monitor.com.
1. Leading the week: "Silent Residues" by Ammar Al Attar
Ammar Al Attar Untitled, 2025 Oil Pastel on Ink Jet print 110 x 176 cm. (Courtesy of Iris Projects)
In a striking new body of work, Emirati artist Ammar Al Attar engages with abandoned and derelict spaces across the United Arab Emirates. On view in his first solo exhibition at Iris Projects in Abu Dhabi, curated by Nasser Abdullah, the series places Al Attar in front of the lens — rather than behind it — as he engages with these sites in a playful and insightful manner.
Often set in desert landscapes and largely forgotten sites amidst the remnants of human presence and industrial debris, Al Attar performs a series of repetitive physical gestures that he documents in this new body of work. The resulting black-and-white inkjet prints are punctuated with bold, colorful and simplified forms, repetitive in their own right, that heighten the dialogue between the artist and his surroundings.
The works on display showcase an intimate, delicate yet poignant journey through a world plagued by monotony. Al Attar’s works invite the spectator to pose crucial questions on the nature of perseverance and adaptation in a world where individuals are increasingly isolated.
“After a long journey through the world of photography and experimentation in the realm of performance art, Al Attar was led from behind the camera’s lens to becoming the central subject of his own works,” says curator Nasser Abdullah in the opening press release. “He enters a new phase by offering a series of reflections and critical questions on the transformations of the rapidly evolving post-COVID world, highlighting technology, economics and global politics.”
Date: Sep. 19 through Nov. 26
Location: Iris Projects, M_39, MiZa, Abu Dhabi
2. Word on the street: Ciel
A rendering of Ciel, to be completed in the last quarter of 2025. (Courtesy of The First Group)
The world’s tallest hotel is nearing completion and set to open before the end of 2025. Ciel, located in Dubai Marina, will tower over the district at a height of 365 meters with 82 stories. Developed by UAE-based property developer The First Group, Ciel will boast Dubai’s highest rooftop infinity pool, overlooking Palm Jumeirah and Arabian Gulf; a 360-degree glass observation deck; world-class dining options; a rooftop lounge and club; a luxury spa; and over 1,000 guestrooms and suites.
Operated by The First Group Hospitality, Ciel will be part of IHG’s Vignette Collection, a renowned global portfolio of unique hotels known for their offering of memorable, design-led experiences.
Location: Dubai Marina
Find more information here.
3. Dubai diary
Yasmin Al Awa. Veiled in Translation. 2025. Oil on canvas, 290x240cm. (Courtesy of NIKA Project Space)
- ‘Rooted Echoes’ at NIKA Project Space
This group exhibition at NIKA Project Space brings together the work of Yasmine Al Awa, Ahed Al Kathiri and Zahra Jewanjee, exploring themes of identity, memory and belonging through painting, textiles and sound.
Curated by Nadine Khoury, the exhibition marks the culmination of NIKA Project Space’s summer open studio residency. Yasmine Al Awa’s hyperrealistic paintings capture intimate corners of her paternal grandparents’ home, where furniture, textiles and objects rooted in her Syrian identity unfold as visual narratives of remembrance.
Ahed Al Kathiri weaves together textile, sound and performance to explore her Yemeni heritage, pairing fabrics from Yemen with recordings of her grandmother singing traditional hymns to create an evocative, multisensory experience.
UAE-based Pakistani artist Zahra Jewanjee approaches identity through ecology, centering her research on the Ghaf tree, the UAE’s national tree and a symbol of endurance in the Gulf. Her large, raw and textured canvases prompt viewers to reflect on what it means to be displaced or uprooted and yet still belong.
Together, the works on view preserve cultural heritage through artistic production, demonstrating how memory can be materialized and embodied across diverse media.
Date: Through Nov. 1
Location: NIKA Project Space, Dubai
Find more information here.
- ‘Rumors from the Skies’ by Abdelkader Benchamma
Marking the third solo exhibition of acclaimed French artist Abdelkader Benchamma, “Rumors from the Skies” reveals a new series of delicate ink drawings alongside an immersive wall installation that expands the artist’s continuous exploration of celestial phenomena and the relation to earthly matter.
The title of the exhibition is inspired by “The Comet Book” (“Kometenbuch”), an anonymous 16th-century Flemish treatise with extraordinary depictions of comets and “visions fantastiques.” In the Middle Ages, such celestial phenomena were often interpreted through myths, omens and superstition. Benchamma’s work explores how astronomy, astrology, magic and science continue to intersect, influencing one another and adapting to present times.
Date: Sept. 18 through Nov. 2
Location: Gallery Isabelle, Alserkal Avenue
Find more information here.
- Sharjah Film Platform Montage at Emami Art Experimental Film Festival
Sharjah Art Foundation is participating in the upcoming Emami Art Experimental Film Festival at Emami Art and the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata, India. Titled Sharjah Film Platform Montage (SFP Montage), the program is organized by Emami Art in collaboration with Sharjah Art Foundation and presents a lineup shortlisted for Emani Art, including a collection of short films from Bahrain, Qatar, Yemen and Palestine exploring personal and collective memory through ideas of grief, self-care and resistance. Examples include “Bar Saar” (2023), where a donkey racetrack becomes a site of community and generational tension; “Upshot” (2024), which reflects on familial grief influenced by political exile, and “The Grocery List” (2024), set in a surreal mini-mart, tracing a young man’s quiet defiance against familial and societal expectations.
Date: Through Sep. 14
Location: Emami Art gallery and the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) in Kolkata, India
Find more information here.
4. Book of the week: "The True True Story of Raja the Gullible"
Lebanese American novelist Rabih Alameddine is known for writing stories where Arab storytelling is woven into contemporary realities, often focusing on themes of exile and belonging. In his latest work, “The True True Story of Raja the Gullible,” Alameddine portrays life in Beirut with his idiosyncratic, sarcastic sense of humor. The novel charts the tale of a 63-year-old high school philosopher teacher who lives with his controlling mother in a small Beirut apartment. When Raja is invited to a writing residency in the United States, the timing seems to be perfect as he looks for a way to escape both the national and personal hardships afflicting his life.
5. View from Dubai
A chilly morning in Dubai International Financial District (DIFC), 2013. (Photography by Daniel Cheong)
An evocative rendering of the downtown Dubai skyline with fog seeping through the city’s fantastical skyrises, Daniel Cheong captures the city as it wakes up in the early morning hours with the fog seemingly stretching out across Sheikh Zayed Road, one of the city’s main highways.
See more of Cheong’s work at @danielcheongdubai and on his website.
6. By the numbers
- Wynn Resorts and its partners have designated land for a second integrated resort casino in Ras Al Khaimah, according to a shareholders’ agreement seen by AGBI. The second resort site, according to the agreement, will have a total size of roughly 1.5 million square feet.
- Abu Dhabi will be adding at least four major cultural institutions to its Saadiyat Cultural District by the end of 2025: the Zayed National Museum, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, the teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi and the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi.