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

Joy to the world: The Arts Center’s new season

2 September 2026

Bill Bragin is back from Edinburgh. He saw 45 shows there in two weeks (he says he’s slowing down – a few years ago he was managing 8 or 9 per day). It’s partly pleasure, partly work; on his visit [ … more]

Hollywood heavyweights consider AI: who owns the IP?

28 August 2026

A series of conversations about the use of AI in Hollywood started in 2023, informal but high-powered. They were organised by Susan Ruskin, dean of the American Film Institute, and top producer Kathleen Kennedy (whose CV includes dozens of major [ … more]

Frieze Abu Dhabi lists its galleries: less is more

28 August 2026

The inaugural Frieze Abu Dhabi, which runs 19–22 November at Manarat Al Saadiyat, will have 84 galleries from a total of 36 countries in its two commercial sections and two further selection-by-curator areas. That’s a lot less than the last Abu Dhabi Art, which [ … more]

SAT03: redefining architecture?

29 July 2026

The theme and participants for the third Sharjah Architectural Triennial (14 November 2026 to 14 April 2027) have been published, and they both look a meaty counterpoint to the more usual design/technology-led architectural get-together. That theme for SAT03 is ‘Architecture [ … more]

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi gets its opening date: 11 December 2026

28 July 2026

It may have taken 20 years, but at last we have a firm opening date for Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. On 11 December it joins New York, Venice and Bilbao in the Guggenheim Foundation’s desire to bring post-1960s art to the [ … more]

magpie Weekly issue 7.39 / 23 July 2026

23 July 2026

This week’s editorial musings from magpie’s nest The quote: It’s only words – unless they’re true | David Mamet … Frieze filling out Frieze Abu Dhabi (19-22 Nov at Manarat Al Saadiyat) will have two new curated sections – Frieze Masters Abu Dhabi, [ … more]

magpie Weekly issue 7.38 / 16 July 2026

16 July 2026

This week’s editorial musings from magpie’s nest The quote: If you resolve to give up smoking, drinking and loving, you don’t actually live longer; it just seems longer | Clement Freud … More books for Sharjah Pushing ahead with its image-building in [ … more]

magpie Weekly issue 7.37 / 9 July 2026

9 July 2026

This week’s editorial musings from magpie’s nest The quote: Art galleries should hang terrible paintings from the same period as their masterpieces so that visitors can realise quite how amazing the good paintings are | James Marriott … Dubai’s cultural sector [ … more]

magpie Weekly issue 7.36 / 2 July 2026

2 July 2026

This week’s editorial musings from magpie’s nest The quote: Theatre is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place | Martha Graham … Gone, won’t be forgotten “It’s a big day today, as I close [ … more]

Abu Dhabi to get its performing arts centre

30 June 2026

Some official information has been announced for the long-rumoured performing arts centre for Saadiyat Island. Designed by the late Frank Gehry (and nothing like his Guggenheim, now nearing completion on another part of the island), Dar al Funoon – literally, [ … more]