There is a certain energy in the air as the year comes to a close — the kind that makes you want to slow down, look around and soak up everything unfolding across the UAE before stepping into the next chapter. From the quiet light-and-shadow worlds opening at Louvre Abu Dhabi, to intimate storytelling in Dubai’s galleries, to Sharjah’s meditative installations that pull you inward, December is full of moments that ask you to pause and feel.

And then there is the other side of the month — the weekends that stretch late into the night with Sole DXB’s four stages, cinema nights dedicated to legends, and the kind of live music that can take you all the way into the new year. So let’s take a look at what’s worth catching before the year wraps up.

Where? Louvre Abu Dhabi

Until December 28, 2025, you can catch Art Here 2025: Shadows at Louvre Abu Dhabi, and it is definitely worth putting on your list.

This year’s edition, created in collaboration with Richard Mille, brings together seven artists, seven completely different perspectives, and one shared exploration of how light and shadow shape the way we see the world. Under the museum’s iconic dome, their works turn the space into moments of reflection, memory, and quiet transformation.

Here are the artists you will meet:

Jumairy — His piece Echo is a still, intimate pool with a narcissus flower. It feels like stepping into someone’s inner landscape — full of childhood memories, shadows, and those soft thoughts that surface in solitude.

Ahmad Alaqra — In I remember. a light., he plays with memory, light, and fragments of urban architecture, creating a piece that draws you in with its subtle warmth.

Hamra Abbas — With her multidisciplinary background, she adds a textured layer to the show, blending themes of memory, identity, and place.

Ryoichi Kurokawa — Expect that signature Japanese sensitivity to shadow, sound, structure, and movement — minimal but powerful.

Rintaro Fuse — A cross-cultural voice exploring perception and identity through a lens that feels both personal and universal.

YOKOMAE et BOUAYAD — A collaborative duo diving into darkness, form, and space, weaving together influences from different cultural backgrounds.

Where? Bayt AlMamzar, Dubai

Hunna Art and Bayt AlMamzar invite everyone to explore Girl Parts — a solo exhibition by Aliyah Alawadhi, curated by Océane Saill. It runs until 4 January 2026.

Aliyah Alawadhi is an Abu Dhabi–based artist, writer, and curator whose work blends intimacy and raw energy. Painting and video become her tools to explore girlhood, adolescence, the body and femininity through a lens of memory, fantasy and rebellion. In her world, a kitchen can feel like a stage, a solarium — like a dream, and everyday gestures turn into magical rituals.

If you are curious about fresh voices in the region or simply want to experience art that is honest, bold and deeply emotional — Girl Parts is a show to see.

Where? Sharjah Art Foundation, Gallery 6, Al Mureijah Square, Sharjah

If you are around Sharjah before 14 December, make sure to stop by Afra Al Dhaheri’s Restless Circle at Gallery 6 in Al Mureijah Square. It is a quiet, beautifully thoughtful show that looks at tension, repetition and the way time shapes us. The exhibition is curated by May Alqaydi for Sharjah Art Foundation.

Afra works with materials like cotton rope, fabric, cement and even hair — and there is something almost meditative in the slow, intentional movements behind each piece. The new installation, Restless Circle, takes inspiration from desert plants that trace spirals in the sand as they are carried by the wind — a gentle metaphor for mental fatigue and that familiar feeling of being pushed to keep going without pause.

Where? Cinema Akil, Alserkal Avenue, Al Quoz, Dubai

This December, Cinema Akil is bringing a lot to the screen, and one of the highlights is El Set, a beautifully crafted film about the legendary Oum Kalthoum.

The story follows her from her early days in a small village to her move to Cairo, where her love for music, her celestial voice and her fierce determination carry her through more than seven decades of success. Her journey eventually crowns her as the greatest Arab singer of all time — the one and only Voice of the Arab World.

Directed by Marwan Hamed, the film offers an intimate look at the woman behind the icon and the world that shaped her.

Where? Etihad Museum, 1 Jumeirah Road, Dubai

Observers of Change is another exhibition to put on your radar. Organised by Dubai Culture in collaboration with the Barjeel Art Foundation, it traces how the UAE’s artistic identity has evolved since the country’s formation in 1971.

The show brings together a cross-generational mix of Emirati artists and creatives from around the Arab world, featuring paintings, photographs, and installations that move through early landscape works, abstraction, Arabic calligraphy, urban scenes, and shifting ideas of national identity and memory.

Where? Lawrie Shabibi, Unit 21, Alserkal Avenue, Al-Quoz 1, Dubai

Movement of All Things | بِإيقاعِ كُلِّ شيئ is curated by Hamzeh Alfarahneh and brings together an incredible group of artists — Igshaan Adams, Hamra Abbas, Diana Al-Hadid, James Webb, Bronwyn Katz, Timo Nasseri and Moshekwa Langa — each exploring abstraction in their own deeply personal way.

Inspired by a line from Aimé Césaire’s Notebook of a Return to My Native Land, the exhibition looks at art as something alive — something that shifts, teaches, and echoes our own experiences. Instead of focusing on fixed narratives, it opens up a space where movement, memory and knowledge feel interconnected.

Alfarahneh continues his exploration of Global Majority abstraction, this time through what he calls “structures of knowledge” — a way of thinking about wisdoms and ways of knowing that exist outside the traditional canon. The show gently asks how we learn, how we remember, and how creative practices carry stories through gesture, lineage and embodied memory.

Where? Dubai Design District (d3)

Sole DXB is coming back this December — and the 2025 edition feels bigger, wilder and more layered than ever. For three days (December 12–14), Dubai Design District (d3) turns into a full cultural arena, where music, fashion, art, sport and food blend into one long, late-night, only-in-Dubai weekend.

Across the whole festival, expect a mix of exclusive previews, brand-new drops, collabs debuting on-site, and experiences you literally won’t find anywhere else. This year, the hours run from 4 pm all the way to 2:30 am.

Music is at the heart of Sole, and 2025 brings a lineup that moves across genres and continents: the Main Stage with headline acts across R&B, electronic, afrobeats and hip-hop; Stage Two powered by Sole Sound System expanding into dance, world, indie, jazz, hip-hop and soul; La Hacienda hosting 15 regional artists blending disco edits, Middle Eastern electronica, deep house and African-inspired sets; and the PowerHorse Stage bringing a high-energy mix of DJs including Zeemuffin, Lush Lata, MadStarBase, Boxout FM and more.

And yes — the festival’s big names are confirmed: Kaytranada, Miguel, Tyla, Lil Yachty, Zeyne, KR$NA, Raftaar, Tinariwen, Naïka, Shabjdeed & Al Nather, Loyle Carner, Venna and others.

And because Sole is never just about the music, the fashion scene is equally strong: exclusive releases, limited-edition drops, live customisations and a Marketplace full of emerging designers and niche brands give the festival its signature streetwear pulse. The food offerings keep the pace, too — three zones filled with local favourites and new concepts, including The Maine, Eleven Green, Varak and Mama Fri, making it easy to refuel before diving back into the next set.

Where? Atlantis The Palm, Dubai

Ring in the new year with Maroon 5 as they take over Atlantis The Palm on December 31 for a massive New Year’s Eve concert. Think fireworks, the beach, the Palm skyline — and a full live set packed with the hits everyone knows by heart: Sugar, Memories, Girls Like You, Sugar, Moves Like Jagger and more.

Where? Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi

Alicia Keys returns to the UAE for a special performance — an intimate, soulful evening built around her unmistakable voice and piano. Expect a journey through the songs that shaped entire generations: Fallin’, If I Ain’t Got You, No One, Un-thinkable, alongside new work and improvised moments she’s loved for years.