Art Spaces Opening In the MENA Region in 2025

New galleries and museums to visit this year

The art scene in the MENA region is rapidly evolving. This year in particular has been a busy one on the fair and biennial front, rocked by the news of Art Basel coming to Qatar in 2026, but there have also been a number of institutions announcing openings too. Keep reading to learn about some of the new art spaces that you’ll be able to visit by the time the year is out.

teamLab Phenomena

TeamLab Phenomena opened in a new purpose-built space in April in Abu Dhabi. The immersive space is located in the Saadiyat Cultural District, featuring a constantly transforming art experience unique to the UAE. The non-static art changes in response to how the viewer interacts with the work, being sensitive to light, air and temperature. Excitingly, the Tokyo-based artists worked with local MZ Architects to create teamLab’s largest museum to date.

Ibraaz

London is set to see the opening of a physical space by Ibraaz, an online literary platform focused on artistic and cultural voices from the MENA region founded in 2011. Ibraaz is an initiative of the Tunisian Kamel Lazaar Foundation. The space - which will launch in October - will focus on showcasing culture from what they refer to as the “Global Majority”. Its first exhibition will be called Parliament of Ghosts and will present work by Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama.

Zayed National Museum

The UAE’s national museum, the Zayed National Museum, will open in Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Cultural District in December. The Museum will highlight the UAE’s cultural heritage and rich history, celebrating the vision of the Founding Father of the UAE, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The space’s falcon-inspired architecture is designed by Foster + Partners, referencing the UAE’s widely practiced art of falconry.

Grand Egyptian Museum

The opening of Cairo’s Grand Egyptian Museum was set to take place in July, but has now been postponed to the end of 2025 due to developments in the region. That said, the soft opening has already taken place. The new museum is geometrically aligned with the Pyramids of Giza, while the middle section, northern and southern walls are aligned with the Pyramids of Khafre, Khufu and Menkaure. The museum will house over 100,000 ancient Egyptian artefacts with over 110,000 square meters of gardens and open spaces in addition to the gallery spaces.

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