Manar Abu Dhabi 2025 Returns With Dazzling Light Art Installations, Desert Trails And More

Manar Abu Dhabi 2025 is here, and this year’s edition feels bigger, brighter, and far more ambitious. If you enjoy citywide art events that take over beaches, oases, and neighbourhoods you’ve probably never visited at night, this one deserves a spot on your calendar. Think of it as Abu Dhabi’s open-air gallery, only swapped with glowing sculptures, projections, and installations that play with your senses.

Manar Abu Dhabi 2025: From Installations To How To Reach, All About The Art Exhibition

 

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From 15 November to 4 January 2026, the capital lights up with 23 artworks created by artists from 10 countries. According to AD Middle East, the theme this year is “The Light Compass,” which looks at the Gulf’s age-old relationship with light, something anyone who has lived here through a summer can relate to.

Three Locations, Three Moods

Jubail Island Installations

• Eden by Pamela Poh: steel-and-glass sculpture with a floating, ethereal feel
  
• Unfold by DRIFT: transforms visitor biometric data into flowers and sound
  
• Contingent Object by Shaikha Al Mazrou: 30-metre circular installation shaped by crystallising saltwater
  Works by:
  
  • Ezequiel Pini (Six N. Five)
  • Christian Brinkmann
  • Kirsten Berg
  • Encor Studio
  • Lachlan Turczan
  • Iregular (digital art studio)

Al Qattara Oasis Installations

• Translation Stream by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, drifting letters formed from Emirati poetry
• Pulse Canopy: a light canopy that responds to your heartbeat
• Sadu Red Carpet by Khalid Shafar: glowing, pixel-style reinterpretation of traditional Sadu weaving

Al Jimi Oasis Installations

• Cycle of Circles by Ammar Al Attar: a photography series captured while cycling in loops
• Breath of the Same Place by Maitha Hamdan: light installations inspired by the local environment
• Guiding Drapes by Abdulla Al Mulla: installation inspired by Emirati wedding-night traditions
• Floral Resonance by Christian Brinkmann: reacts to visitors’ interactions with a live plant

The Crowd-Puller at Souq Al Mina

KAWS fans, this one’s for you. His massive reclining sculpture, lit moon in hand, has landed at Souq Al Mina after touring Shanghai. It’s bold, playful, and guaranteed to flood your camera roll.

Talks, Beats, And Hands-On Workshops

The programming goes beyond glowing artworks. Expect performances by artists like:

Bedouin Burger: Arab folk x jazz x electronic
Haepaary: Korean Confucian melodies transformed with electronic sound
Tarek Yamani: Afro-Tarab Jazz Conceptions
Love and Revenge: “Agmal layali” tribute to Umm Kulthum
Fourmanos
Amjad Shakir
Shilpa Ananth x Beatbox Ray

Also Read: Abu Dhabi Art 2025 Is Returning On This Date In November, So Mark Your Calendars

For workshops, kids get glow-in-the-dark slime sessions, while adults can join Fujifilm’s photography sessions.

If you needed a reason to wander after dark this season, Manar Abu Dhabi 2025 delivers plenty.

Cover Image Courtesy: PAAD.ae/Website