As the year draws to a close, the Gulf’s cultural landscape remains vibrant and full of events, so today we present our top 10 exhibitions on view in December. From intimate explorations of gesture to bold encounters with technology and time, these shows offer a dynamic snapshot of the artistic energy shaping the final month of 2025.
1. Riposte by Tor Seidel
XVA Gallery is currently home to Riposte, a solo exhibition by German artist and curator Tor Seidel. It examines the wave of environmental activists’ interventions in museums, tracing how acts of vandalism evolve into staged protest and unexpected performance. Through a series of triptychs, Seidel reflects on the ways these brief moments irrevocably shift the interpretation and cultural weight of classical artworks. The exhibition will run through 11 December 2025.
2. Restless Circle by Afra Al Dhaheri
At Sharjah Art Foundation, Emirati artist Afra Al Dhaheri presents a body of work shaped by nearly a decade of material investigation. Restless Circle examines tension, repetition, and duration through sculptural gestures that expose the physical and mental labour embedded in making. The show will end on 14 December 2025.
3. 3MERSIVE: Three Artists, One Journey
Until 20 December 2025, kanvas Dubai is hosting 3MERSIVE: Three Artists, One Journey, an immersive digital art experience that features acclaimed creatives Kati Katona, Kristel Bechara, and András Nagy. The mesmerising exhibition navigates perception, nature, and transformation, highlighting the relationship between human emotion and digital expression.
4. Refracted Life by Hussain Jamil
This exhibition at Oblong Contemporary Gallery displays acclaimed artist Hussain Jamil’s new works in which he reflects on how surfaces shift and quietly change through touch and time. The show, on view until 20 December 2025, brings together polished steel, woven metal, and reflective forms to attune viewers to distortions, subtle movements, and shifting viewpoints.
5. Self Care by Rami Farook
In Abu Dhabi, Iyad Qanazea Gallery presents Self Care, a rare look into fourteen years of Emirati interdisciplinary artist Rami Farook’s practice. About forty works on paper, created with ink, pastel, charcoal, and lead, offer a tender exploration of instinct, gesture, image, and text. The exhibition will remain open until 23 December 2025.
6. Louvre Abu Dhabi: Art Here 2025
The fifth edition of Art Here, staged under the breathtaking dome of Louvre Abu Dhabi and developed in collaboration with Richard Mille, unfolds under the theme Shadows. Curated by Sophie Mayuko Arni, the exhibition brings together seven artists whose works meditate on light, absence, identity, and memory, creating an interplay of architecture, philosophy, and artistic expression. One will be able to visit the show until 28 December 2025.
7. Everything Comes to an End: A Reflection on Finitude, Transition, and Renewal
At Foundry Downtown Dubai, Everything Comes to an End, presented by Inloco Gallery, gathers ten artists whose works rethink endings not as conclusions but as thresholds into new states. Addressing personal, social, natural, and urban transformation, the exhibition traces the complex processes of change and emergence. It will be open to the public until 13 December 2025.
8. Portals in Flux: Artist in Residence 9 Exhibition
Fire Station has organised Portals in Flux as part of the 9th edition of its Artist-in-Residence programme. On view until 31 December 2025, this exhibition features works by 15 Qatar-based artists who recently completed this nine-month residency and examines ideas of movement, transition, and crossing thresholds. Each art piece becomes an opening into another mode of perception or existence.
9. ATHR: Afterschool
Meanwhile, ATHR Gallery is hosting Afterschool, a group exhibition curated by Rania Majinyan. On display are diverse artworks by five notable creatives that evoke feelings of solitude, community, curiosity, slowness, and playfulness. Open until 8 January 2026, the show proposes a space to pause, look inward, and reflect on the past.
10. Moments of Hope by Besher Koushaji
Firetti Contemporary invites everyone to explore Moments of Hope, a poignant solo exhibition by Syrian artist Besher Koushaji. Rooted in histories of displacement, conflict, and uncertainty, the showcased art pieces meditate on fragility and endurance while turning toward resilience and the quiet persistence of hope. The exhibition will end on 12 January 2026.
Additionally, you might be interested in visiting Memememememe at the Media Majlis Museum and Prix Pictet: Storm. We also recommend that you read our article about four places in Dubai which are a must-visit for digital art lovers.
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