Quoz Arts Fest 2025: Everything we know about the 12th edition
Quoz Arts Fest is back and better than ever…
One of the city’s most beloved celebrations of art and culture is coming back for another electrifying season. Quoz Arts Fest is all about spotlighting the very best of the arts in the region, and the programme this year reflects just that with creativity, community and belonging being the primary themes.
Set to run from Saturday and Sunday, January 25 and 26, 2025, the festival, in its 12th edition, has host of public art installations, exhibitions, live performances, workshops, conversations, creative pop-ups and a dedicated kids’ programme – a little something for everyone.
The location is Alserkal Avenue, as always, the most fitting one being the most vibrant and pumping cultural district of the city. The festival will also expand into the wider Quoz Creative Zone and is slated to showcase the best of regional and international talent housed in these lanes.
The highlights…
A standout highlight of the festival is Forest Dancer and the Path to Pure Creation by Australia’s ENESS at Concrete. This immersive installation blends light, sound, and movement to create a space that emulates the feeling of stepping into unhindered creative flow.
On another corner, Emirati artist Lamya Gargash presents her large-scale commission—the enlarged photograph, A Corridor of Books. Gargash is known for her exploration of identity through both lived and abandoned spaces and turns to the private library of a prominent collector and patron of the arts in the UAE. The centre of the picture is a golden fabric draped through his library, guided by the Qibla—a compass pointing towards prayer.
In the headliners, Syrian rapper, poet, and storyteller Omar Offendum will be showcasing stories of immigration, Tunisian singer and songwriter Emel Mathlouthi, renowned for her soaring voice and fusion of traditional Arabic music with contemporary influences, will be performing, and London-based Indian musician Sarathy Korwar will collaborate with poet and writer Zia Ahmed to explore spoken word poetry with contemporary compositions.
There will also be loads of in-house gallery exhibitions across the avenue, Stage 2.0 with emerging UAE-based artists and talent making their debut, alongside afikra conversations with artists, the Reel Palestine Film Festival at Cinema Akil and a dedicated Kids Lane offering interactive art workshops, reading sessions, and community activations led by Artful Minds, Wisdom Warehouse, The Junction, thejamjar, and The Happy Studio.
In terms of food and dining, the culinary experiences will be curated by What The Food by Alserkal, featuring the city’s most loved chefs, artisanal producers, and food entrepreneurs.
Quoz Arts Fest, Alserkal Avenue, Jan 25 and 26, 2025, @quozartsfest
Images: Supplied
