magpie – Art Performance Design Words: your guide to culture, design and creativity in the UAE

What matters to galleries

16 October 2026

Artlogic’s Gallery Reports (the third has just been published) poll a selection of art galleries to assess the state of the business, or at least the mood of the people who run them. For the 2026 report some 521 galleries [… more]

magpie Weekly issue 8.07 :: 15 October 2026

15 October 2026

Editorial musings from the nest The quote: I would like my books to say: you are right to be afraid. Be brave, anyway Katherine Rundell … Louvre AD’s new director Congratulations to Souraya Noujaim, named as the next director of the Louvre [… more]

Reflective jazz: Naïssam Jalal and Hazem Shaheen

9 October 2026

The Arts Center at NYUAD likes to give us the unexpected. The UAE debut of Naïssam Jalal and Hazem Shaheen promises just that – an intimate, meditative evening of taqsim and jazz improvisation from two masters of their instruments. The [… more]

magpie Weekly issue 8.06 :: 8 October 2026

8 October 2026

Editorial musings from the nest The quote: For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press three Alice Kahn … ART HERE SOON Louvre Abu Dhabi and Richard Mille have named six shortlisted artists [… more]

Frieze unveils some curation

5 October 2026

The curated (aka non-commercial) programme for the inaugural edition of Frieze Abu Dhabi has been announced. It looks good, as you’d expect; and there are some instructive pointers on the evolution from the Abu Dhabi Art model. At the centre [… more]

magpie Weekly issue 8.05 :: 1 October 2026

2 October 2026

Editorial musings from the nest The quote: A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people Thomas Mann … Frieze framed Details of the Frieze Abu Dhabi programming suggest an approach that is not as busy [… more]

PAAD Biennial: artists and locations