10 Exhibitions to See in the MENA Region this Spring

The must see shows this season

Spring is when the art world starts to wake up fully with festivals, art fairs, and the prelude to the summer season upon us. As well as Art Dubai, Qatar’s Tasweer Festival and Riyadh’s debut art week, there are a number of must-see exhibitions to see happening across the region. So, here are just ten shows you should see across the MENA sphere in Spring 2025.

A Radical Intimacy of Hanging Out at Aisha Alabbar in Dubai

This group exhibition features Emirati artists Asma Khoory, Taqwa Alnaqbi, and Sultan Al Remeithi. Curated by Salem AlSuwaidi. It explores the paradox of ‘killing time’ as both a gentle and subversive act, reflecting on how mundane interactions can become profound gestures of intimacy and collective potential. The exhibition explores how the Gulf’s landscapes have recalibrated at breakneck speed and ponders the expression “to kill time”, a phrase at once violent and tender, implying destruction while paradoxically emphasising care for oneself. The show invites viewers to consider how time is exchanged, shared, or withheld, and whether reclaiming it can lead to a more profound reckoning with what it means to linger in an age of velocity. It runs until May 23.

Tears of Fog at Le 18 in Marrakech

Tears of Fog delves into memories of water and the evocative and political potentials of fog as a matter and metaphor for imagining alternative worlds. The project emerged through an artistic encounter between Nicola Baratto and the decades-long anthropological work of Jamila Bargach, founder of Dar Si Hmad (Sidi Ifni, Morocco), which composes an enchanting picture of fog as an alternative water source and a material of imagination, rooted in scientific, anthropological, and meteorological principles, as well as socio-political potential. It is also hosted with 18 Derb El Ferrane in Marrakech and includes the work of a number of artists including Rim Mejdi, Khalid Bouaalam and Yasmine Benabdallah. It runs until April 30.

On Fallen Lands at Gypsum Gallery in Cairo

This is the first solo exhibition of Esraa Elfeky. It presents taxonomic drawings of hybrid creatures envisioning microscopic cross-sections of a range of organisms. They are drawn with a selection of scales, close-ups and colour coding. Through scientific research, visual storytelling and artistic exploration, her work tells stories of survival and seeks to create an interpretive archive for environments and animals under threat of extinction. It runs until May 14.

Someone Chewing at Sfeir Semler in Beirut

Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s upcoming solo exhibition at Sfeir Semler uses the idea of noise as an aggregator. He believes that “power resides with those who define what constitutes noise”, looking at the urban noise-scape of Cairo in the post 2013 military coup to the Syrian Golan Heights occupied territories. He recently witnessed political unrest brought about by the planned installation of wind turbines in proximity to people’s homes. He has also developed a video game with fellow researchers based on the sound recordings of similar turbines in Gaildorf, Germany and recordings of ambient noise captured in the Golan Heights. The installation mimics the style of streamers, showing a recording of the game commented by the artist. It runs until August 1.

Ya'aburnee at Selma Feriani in Tunis

This solo exhibition by Monia Ben Hamouda is titled after the Arabic concept that translates as “you bury me”, reflecting the selfless wish for a loved one to outlive oneself. The show explores the complex ideas of language, history and understanding through an installation that spans the three floors of the gallery, combining painting, sculpture and sound pieces, blurring our relationship with space. Recordings from two mosques create a haunting landscape that blends religious calls to prayer with urgent public announcements, transforming the sounds of the call to prayer into an alarming melody, reflecting a complex interplay between spirituality and the pressing need for information in times of crisis. It runs until April 19.

Under Fire at Darat Al Funun in Amman

Under Fire presents the work of Basil Al Maqousi, Majed Shala, Raed Issa and Sohail Salem, drawings by four artists in Gaza. Under daily bombardments and forced displacement, artists in Gaza did not stop drawing, with dry ball point pens on school notebooks, medical packages, old paper, using natural dyes, tea pomegranates, and karkade. These artists bear witness to the genocidal war they are living, with no end in sight. It runs until April 30.

Memory of Clay at Naila Art Gallery in Riyadh

This solo show by Saudi artist Fatima Al Nimer is a reflection on heritage, memory and transformation through the timeless medium of clay. Originally presented during Art Week Riyadh, the exhibition blends tradition with contemporary expression, inviting viewers into a sensory dialogue between past and present. It runs until April 30.

Sites of Imagination at Mathaf in Doha

This exhibition looks at the 40 year career of the late Qatari artist Wafa al-Hamad (1964-2012) through 23 works in the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art collection. al-Hamad’s work integrates calligraphy, optical illusions, abstraction, and three-dimensional designs, crafting dreamlike realms where ancestral references intertwine with contemporary expressions. The exhibition delves into the global influences of modern art and abstraction that informed al-Hamad's vision. It also examines the Qatari and Gulf traditions that shaped the artist’s practice, highlighting her unique aesthetic philosophy. It runs until August 9.

Gaza Habibti at Cap Kuwait in Kuwait

Gaza Habibti is a group exhibition organized by Yura and Untold Palestine, in partnership with Palestine Film Festival Kuwait and Jump Kuwait. The photography exhibition brings together the work of 22 photographers to amplify the stories of Palestine. It runs until April 12.

Sites of Memory, Sites of Amnesia at Warehouse 421 in Abu Dhabi

Abdullah Al Saadi’s solo show features ten works, offering a reflection on his decades-long artistic practice. Expanding on the work initially presented in the UAE National Pavilion at the Biennale di Venezia in 2024, the exhibition is designed to show his prolific work in the UAE. In his practice, Al Saadi embodies a wanderer, chronicler, cartographer, poet, decipherer, memory carrier, and storyteller. This exhibition includes works that were produced on his journeys in the wilderness, and invites viewers to explore his creative process in relation to the practices of Arab poets from centuries ago. It runs until May 4.