Creative workshops, short courses, exhibitions and screenings…

With a brand new month comes brand new events to check out and, arts and culture fans, we’ve rounded up plenty to keep you busy this August.

Here are six cool cultural events to check out this month.

Exhibition: Reframed

Artworks and themes from the past year’s schedule at XVA Gallery are gathered together for a new exhibition to provide new context. Called Reframed, it challenges the viewer to think about how art relates to its environment, and how the environment relates to art. Spot the bronze-cast pair of underpants as well as drawings and paintings that are simultaneously humourous as well as subversive.

XVA Gallery, Bur Dubai, Dubai, Sat to Thurs 10am to 12.30pm. Tel: (04) 353 5383. xvagallery.com

Exhibition: Lite Brite

Named after the retro Hasbro toy that featured in the top 100 toys of all time by Time magazine, this exhibition explores the impact of our innate reactions to colour. The conscious and unconscious choices of the viewer are based on their responses to colour which are represented through different media in this group show. Artists include Iranian talents Mohsen Jamali Neek, Habib Farajabadi and Reza Bangiz, plus Iranian artist and curator Fereydoun Ave, who helped promote contemporary art in post-revolutionary Tehran in the 1980s and continues to champion Iranian artists around the world.

Total Arts at The Courtyard, Al Quoz, Dubai, Sat to Thurs, 10am to 6pm, until August 31. Tel: (04) 347 5050. courtyard-uae.com

Screening: Custody

Starring Viola Davis (from TV show How To Get Away With Murder) as an embattled family court judge with a fraught marriage of her own, this si a courtroom drama that reveals the story of a bitter custody case. A single mother at the centre of the battle risks losing her two children over an ill-timed argument and a young lawyer struggles to defend her.

A4 Space, Alserkal Avenue, Street 8, Al Quoz 1, Dubai, 7pm to 9pm, Saturday August 11, free. Tel: (050) 556 9797. cinemaakil.com

Short Course: Intro To The Darkroom

Have you always been intrigued by the world of analogue and black and white? This summer you can learn to go retro on this two-part introductory short course in the black and white darkroom. it is designed especially for beginners to acquaint themselves with analogue film processing and photo printing. If you are interested, you should shoo a roll of black and white prior o the workshop, which you pick up after registering for the event.

Tashkeel, Nad Al Sheba, Dubai, 10am to 4pm, August 4 and 11, Dhs1,000 (including materials and lunch). Tel: (04) 336 3313. tashkeel.org

Event: Visions

The cuboid area in the centre of DIFC’s Central Park Tower is transformed into an art-filled space for this ongoing event inspired by the work of Dubai-based artist Kimberley McGowan. She explores the art of Arabesque patterns and ancient Middle Eastern symbology in the context of universal spirituality.

The Cube, Central Park Towers, DIFC, Dubai, until October. Tel: (04) 373 8933. centralparktowers.ae

Workshop: Collage

As part of an open studio series with Dubai-based artist Jessica Watson-Thorpe, this is an insight into part of her practice that uses layering technique to build up a composition on canvas. She takes participants through the process of tinting tissues, exploring creativity through colour and texture and varnishing the final product.

JWT Studio, behind Box Park, Al Wasl Road, Dubai, 8.30am to 1.30pm, August 30. Dhs500. Tel: (055) 446 8017. jessicawatsonthorp.com

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