Now that the weather has finally decided to be on our side (cool, breezy, and actually pleasant), weekends are once again meant to be spent outdoors. This weekend, Al Quoz Arts Fest returns for its 14th edition from Jan. 24 and 25, transforming Alserkal Avenue into a buzzing playground of art, music, film, and performance. From live sets and cinema screenings to large scale installations and pop up activations, the annual festival brings the city’s creative community out into the open. Read on for the can’t miss performances, artworks, and moments worth planning your weekend around.
TAPE Dubai by Numen/For Use
The original idea behind TAPE came from a performance set design, where dancers moved between pillars, stretching tape as they went. The structure wasn’t pre planned. It quite literally took shape through movement, with the tape acting as a physical record of choreography in motion. That instinctive process eventually evolved into what has become one of Numen/For Use’s most recognizable works: sprawling, spiderweb like installations that feel equal parts organic and architectural. After traveling to cities like Paris, Tokyo, Milan, and Moscow, now, TAPE Dubai lands at Concrete in Alserkal Avenue for the first time. Created by Austrian Croatian design collective Numen/For Use, the installation wraps the space in a cocoon of tape that visitors are encouraged to walk through, climb into, and experience from the inside.
Shabab Takeover
This weekend, Shabab takes over Stage 2 with a tightly curated run of live sets that feel very on brand for the label. The lineup brings together electronic DJ and Analog Room resident Bazzzuk, genre bending selector Cyrill Reaidy, Dubai based, Amman born DJ and producer Zenim, alongside Artifact Sun, promising an afternoon that moves comfortably between sounds and scenes. Performances run from 3PM to 6PM on both Saturday and Sunday, turning the stage into a steady pulse of energy across the weekend. Can’t make it in person? The sets will be broadcast live via UAE based online community radio ARABICBYNIGHT.RADIO. And once the music winds down, the experience continues at the Shabab Laboratory, the label’s Alserkal store and hangout space, where you can browse their latest graphic tees, hoodies, bowling shirts, hats, and more.
Reel Palestine
The Reel Palestine film festival is back for its 12th edition, running from Jan. 23 to Feb. 1 at Cinema Akil. This year’s programme includes 11 feature-length films, 5 short films, and 29 screenings, alongside filmmaker Q&As, workshops, and two weekends of the Reel Palestine Souk. The festival will kick things off with the UAE premiere of Once Upon A Time in Gaza, the award-winning western comedy written and directed by Tarzan and Arab Nasser and starring Issaq Elias, Nader Abd Alhay, Ramzi Maqdisi, and Majd Eid, who will be present at the screening. On the 24th and 25th during the Al Quoz Arts Fest, cinephiles can catch Abdulrahman Sabbah’s The Clown of Gaza, documentary Palestine Comedy Club, Put Your Soul in Your Hand and Walk directed by Sepideh Farsi, Ahmed Al Danaf and Mai Saad’s One More Show, All That’s Left of You by Cherien Dabis, and Annemarie Jacir’s Oscar-shortlisted Palestine 36.
Vinyl Souk
The platform behind Dubai’s vinyl revival will be taking over Al Quoz Arts Fest with a two-day event curated for music lovers and crate diggers from across Dubai. Founded by Jayesh Veralkar, Vinyl Souk is a community-driven platform intended to celebrate experimental music and analog culture. During Jan. 24 and 25, Vinyl Souk will transform AlSerkal Avenue into a hub for alternative music with live vinyl sets by Kamelia and James Kelly, as well as a live performance from DJ Spiky Flave, Tribezman, and Youssef Sayouf.
Dream City

‘Aichoucha’ by Khalil Hentati
Founded in 2007 by choreographers Selma and Sofiane Ouissi, the Dream City festival was conceived as an experiment in bringing contemporary art into public space at a time when creative expression was still tightly controlled. Nearly two decades on, it has grown into one of North Africa’s most important artistic gatherings. Now, for the first time, Dream City makes its way to Dubai, produced by L’Art Rue and accompanied by a lineup of artists that reflect the festival’s roots in experimentation, movement, and storytelling.
One of the works traveling with the festival is Aichoucha, an immersive audiovisual performance by composer and musician Khalil Hentati, also known as EPI. Co produced and premiered at Dream City 2023, the piece blends electronic soundscapes with video footage captured during Hentati’s journey across different regions of Tunisia. On stage, he performs live alongside the film, responding to its rhythms and imagery in real time, turning the work into a living conversation with Tunisia’s rich and varied musical heritage.
Meanwhile, WEBS is a performance by renowned dancer, choreographer, and storyteller Faustin Linyekula, presented in collaboration with Dream City. Developed during his residency with the festival in 2023, the work marks the beginning of a longer creative process that will continue to evolve toward Dream City 2027.
Rounding out the program is Floe, a guest project from Dream City 2023 by Jean Baptiste André. Part visual installation, part choreographed performance, the piece unfolds on a sculptural stage designed by Vincent Lamouroux, blurring the line between artwork and performance space.
Performances
Speaking of performances, the 2026 Al Quoz Arts Fest doesn’t disappoint. Visitors can expect live concerts from the likes of Lebanese singer and songwriter Yasmine Hamdan, Palestinian band DAM, who is performing in Dubai for the first time; the genre-fluid duo blending disco and dance, TootARD; LA-based Indian singer Gayathri Krishnan; From the Lips to the Moon, created by Pouya Ehsaei and Tara Fatehi that combines live electronics, poetry, and immersive visuals for a genre-blurring performance; and Gaya, a Dubai-bred, Mumbai-based artist who blending Carnatic and Hindustani roots with soul, pop, and gospel.