Art & Culture

A Guide to All the Upcoming Art and Design Fairs in the Region

BYMille Team

September 14, 2026

November is shaping up to be a very busy month for anyone with even a passing interest in art and design. Over the span of a few weeks, the region will host some of its biggest fairs, biennials, and design weeks, with Dubai, Dhahran, Doha, Abu Dhabi, and Cairo all taking their turn in the spotlight. The calendar kicks off with Amman Design Week before moving almost immediately into Dubai Design Week, followed by a particularly packed few days in Abu Dhabi, where NOMAD and the inaugural Frieze Abu Dhabi will overlap. Cairo Design Week rounds things out with ten days of programming across the Egyptian capital. Basically, if you’ve been meaning to get more cultured, November has already made the plans for you.

Amman Design Week (Oct. 2–17)

After a seven-year hiatus, Amman Design Week is finally back. Returning for its fourth edition from Oct. 2–17, the biennial design platform will bring together more than 110 designers and collectives across Ras El Ain, Jabal Al Lweibdeh, and Iraq Al Amir, with additional programming extending all the way to Aqaba. This year’s theme, Accumulations, looks at the layers of materials, memories, knowledge and everyday practices that build up over time and eventually shape how and what we design. Curated by Faysal Tabbarah and Khaled Al-Bashir, the programme spans exhibitions, installations, workshops, talks, performances, residencies, and open studios, including a new cross-border residency pairing emerging designers from Jordan and Saudi Arabia. After such a long absence, its return also offers a chance to see how Jordan’s design scene has changed since we last checked in.

Dubai Design Week (Nov. 3-8)

For six days this November, Dubai Design District (d3) will once again become one very large playground for anyone who cares about how things look, work, and take up space. Returning for its 12th edition, Dubai Design Week (DDW) brings together designers, architects, artists, studios, and brands for exhibitions, installations, talks, workshops, and public commissions spread throughout d3. This year’s programme includes the return of Abwab, which will explore language, translation, and communication through visual, spatial, and sonic design, while Urban Commissions turns its attention to the relationship between people, space and sensory experience.

Downtown Design, the region’s leading contemporary design fair, also returns from Nov. 4–8 with furniture, interiors, collectible pieces, and new launches from regional and international names. If you want a fairly comprehensive snapshot of where design in the Middle East is heading, this is probably the easiest place to start.

Art D’Égypte Forever Is Now (Nov. 4–28)

There are art-world backdrops, and then there are the Pyramids of Giza. Art D’Égypte’s Forever Is Now returns for its sixth edition this November, once again bringing contemporary art to the 4,500-year-old archaeological site for an exhibition that puts artists from Egypt and around the world in conversation with one of history’s most recognizable monuments. This year marks something of a shift, with the exhibition led primarily by women artists who will respond to the pyramids through their own practices and perspectives. Founded by Egyptian-French curator Nadine Abdel Ghaffar, Forever Is Now has become one of Egypt’s most internationally visible contemporary art events, commissioning large-scale and site-specific works that make particularly good use of a setting few exhibitions could ever compete with. It runs from Nov. 4–28, meaning anyone heading to Cairo Design Week later in the month can very conveniently make a two-for-one art trip out of it.

Design Doha Biennial (Nov. 5- Dec. 31)

After making its debut in 2024, Design Doha returns for its second edition on Nov. 5 with an even broader look at what contemporary design from the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia can actually encompass. Led by director Fahad Al Obaidly and artistic director Glenn Adamson, the biennial will unfold across museums, cultural venues, and public spaces throughout Doha, spanning everything from architecture and furniture to craft, textiles, and public design. At its center is Arab Design Now, curated by Noura Al Sayeh, which brings together 81 designers alongside 78 newly commissioned works and 16 films examining the people, materials, and processes behind the finished objects. The exhibitions remain open through Dec. 31, giving you considerably more than an opening weekend to see everything.

Ithra Design Week (Nov. 16-21)

Saudi Arabia’s design calendar is getting a new addition this November as Ithra transforms its long-running Tanween programme into the inaugural Ithra Design Week. Taking over the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Dhahran, the six-day event will bring together designers, architects, creatives, and students from Saudi Arabia and beyond for exhibitions, installations, talks, workshops, and masterclasses. This year’s theme, Redesigning the Default, asks participants to reconsider the systems, objects, and conventions we tend to accept as given, with a programme spanning multiple areas of contemporary design. It also arrives at an interesting moment for Saudi Arabia’s creative scene, as a growing generation of local designers moves from emerging talent to a much more established presence both at home and internationally. For anyone looking beyond Riyadh and Jeddah to see what else is happening across the Kingdom, Dhahran might be worth the detour this November.

Nomad Abu Dhabi (Nov. 18-22)

NOMAD is returning to Abu Dhabi for round two, once again taking over Terminal 1 at the Old Abu Dhabi International Airport, the Paul Andreu-designed landmark that makes a pretty spectacular backdrop for collectible design. This year’s edition expands on its 2025 debut with more galleries, institutional partnerships and site-specific commissions, including newcomers Maison Intègre from Burkina Faso, Seoul’s Vein and Mumbai’s ÆQUŌ Gallery, alongside international names such as Nilufar, Gallery FUMI and Carpenters Workshop Gallery. There is also a stronger focus on Emirati craft, with projects from House of Artisans and Irthi, plus a new collaboration between House of Artisans and Paris’ Institut du Monde Arabe. For its first commission, designer Abdel Al Tayeb will work with Emirati master artisans on a large-scale installation created specifically for the fair. Beyond Terminal 1, ERTH Abu Dhabi will become the NOMAD Hub for the week, hosting dinners, conversations and gatherings, while also running the fair’s pop-up restaurant.

Frieze Abu Dhabi (Nov. 19-22)

Abu Dhabi Art is getting a very big rebrand this year. After 17 editions, the longstanding fair is evolving into Frieze Abu Dhabi, bringing one of the art world’s most recognizable names to the region for the first time. Its inaugural edition will take over Manarat Al Saadiyat with 84 galleries from 64 cities across 37 countries and regions, presenting work that stretches from antiquity and the 20th century through to contemporary art. The fair is being shaped with particular attention to the UAE and the wider West Asia, North Africa, and South Asia region, while still pulling in major international galleries through Frieze’s global network. With NOMAD happening almost simultaneously nearby, Nov. 19–22 is shaping up to be a particularly good weekend to be in Abu Dhabi with an empty itinerary and, ideally, a very generous art budget.

Cairo Design Week (Nov. 19-28)

If Dubai and Doha offer the polished design-fair experience, Cairo Design Week (CDW) has an entire city to work with. Returning for its fourth edition, the ten-day event will spread across Zamalek, Downtown Cairo, and Heliopolis, using three neighborhoods with very different architectural identities as the backdrop for exhibitions, installations, talks, and creative programming. Last year’s edition brought together more than 100 designers, 150 exhibitors, and 80 speakers, while 2026 is expanding its international presence further. Among the projects already announced is TheMENAEdit, a cross-border initiative pairing creatives from Egypt with designers from across the Gulf, Levant, and North Africa to develop limited-edition objects together. It makes Cairo Design Week particularly interesting this year.

A Guide to All the Upcoming Art and Design Fairs in the Region

Amman Design Week (Oct. 2–17)

Dubai Design Week (Nov. 3-8)

Art D’Égypte Forever Is Now (Nov. 4–28)

Design Doha Biennial (Nov. 5- Dec. 31)

Ithra Design Week (Nov. 16-21)

Nomad Abu Dhabi (Nov. 18-22)

Frieze Abu Dhabi (Nov. 19-22)

Cairo Design Week (Nov. 19-28)

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