We all know that summer in the UAE tends to move at a slightly slower pace. Fair enough — when stepping outside feels like opening an oven door, staying in an air-conditioned apartment suddenly becomes very appealing. But every now and then, even the most dedicated pool-and-pilates routine starts to feel a little repetitive.

And that is where these events come in. Because while the city may be quieter during the summer months, it certainly isn't asleep. So, if you happen to wake up one Saturday morning and realise you have had enough of another coffee, pilates and pool day, here are a few art-filled alternatives worth leaving the house for.

Alserkal has officially launched its Summer Weekends programme. What does that actually mean? Simply put, if you decide to visit Alserkal this summer, you won't find yourself wandering around the yard, pulling on gallery doors and wondering what is open. Many of Alserkal's galleries have adjusted their schedules and prepared a programme of exhibitions specifically for the quieter months.

Dates vary by exhibition

Leila Heller Gallery currently has three exhibitions on view, and it is genuinely difficult to choose just one — all three deserve your attention.

First is The Echoes of Silent Bells by Kevork Mourad, on view until July 5.

His works sit somewhere between memory and history, blending personal experiences with stories that have travelled across generations. Born in Syria to an Armenian family and now based in the United States, Mourad draws on different cultures, places and experiences to create works that somehow feel familiar, regardless of where you are from. Through intricate lines and layered materials, he builds dreamlike worlds shaped by memory and storytelling.

The highlight of the exhibition is Tower, and if you have visited Art Dubai 2026, chances are you have already seen it . The installation seems almost too large and intricate to have been made by hand. And the longer you look, the stranger it gets: new details keep appearing from seemingly nowhere, making it one of those rare works that genuinely rewards curiosity.

The second exhibition, All in the Family, also runs until July 5 and brings together Farshid Shafiey, Atieh Sohrabi and Baran Shafiey. The artists weren’t chosen at random. The exhibition explores what happens when art runs in the family, looking at how shared histories and personal memories shape three very different creative practices.

The third exhibition, The Blue Note by Sultan Bin Fahad, remains on view until September 13. And yes, it is about jazz — but not in the way you might expect. Rather than focusing on the music itself, Bin Fahad traces the history behind it, looking at how jazz became connected to faith, identity, resistance and community.

Familiar names such as Yusef Lateef, Dizzy Gillespie, Etta James and John Coltrane appear throughout the exhibition, while the artist's distinctive beadworks add another layer to the story. And even if you aren't a jazz person, there is enough history, research and storytelling here to keep you engaged

June 4 – September 5

Until September 5, Carbon 12 is hosting The Two Walks, a group exhibition curated by Judy Karkour that brings together new and archival works on paper by 14 artists.

Most of us think of paper as the place where an artwork starts — a sketch, a note, a rough idea before something bigger comes along. The Two Walks takes the opposite approach. Here, paper isn't a stepping stone to the final work; it is the final work.

What makes the exhibition particularly enjoyable is that there is no single theme tying everything together. Instead, 14 artists with completely different practices use the same material to explore very different ideas. As you move through the show, you will come across works touching on memory, cities, ecology, identity, personal histories and much more.

In a way, that is what makes the exhibition work. You leave with a renewed appreciation for just how much can be done with something as simple and familiar as a sheet of paper.

June 4 – September 15

Until September 15, Gallery Isabelle is presenting In Plain Sight, a solo exhibition by Alia Zaal.

And a small warning before heading there: if you are expecting sweeping landscapes and dramatic desert vistas, this isn't quite that. Instead, Zaal turns her attention to the details most of us would probably walk past without a second glance — a branch, a cluster of leaves or a patch of mangroves.

There is a reason for that. Zaal's approach is partly inspired by the 11th-century scholar Ibn al-Haytham, who believed that seeing isn't simply about looking. In other words, what we see is shaped by experience and context as much as by the object itself.

That is exactly what Zaal does with the landscapes of Al Khawaneej and Abu Dhabi's coastline. Instead of painting the whole view, she focuses on the details that stayed with her. Proof that sometimes a single branch can tell you more about a place than an entire panorama.

May 16 — September 17

Until the middle of summer, Efie Gallery is presenting In Abstracto, In Concreto, a group exhibition bringing together four artists whose works move between personal experience and cultural heritage. Sounds intimidating, I know. Let me explain. The title hints at what lies inside. Bringing together four artists shaped by the experience of diaspora, the exhibition explores the space between what we inherit and what we become — family history, ancestry and cultural memory on one side; personal experience and individual identity on the other.

The interesting part is how differently the artists approach that idea. Tunji Adeniyi-Jones draws on Yoruba mythology and spirituality, creating vibrant worlds that feel suspended between past and present. Luke Agada explores what it means to live between places, cultures and systems. Ludovic Nkoth turns something as ordinary as a cigarette break into a reflection on belonging and community, while Naïla Opiangah creates dreamlike figures that seem to appear and disappear before your eyes.

What makes the exhibition work is that none of the artists arrive at the same answer. And honestly, that is the point — every version deserves to exist.

For the summer, Jameel Arts Centre has prepared something a little different. Something cultural, entertaining, and, perhaps most importantly, something that allows you to sit down rather than spend the evening walking through galleries (those who survived leg day at the gym will appreciate this part).

I am talking about Jameel's Summer Cinema, organised in collaboration with The Culturist Film Club. Taking place on alternate Saturdays from June 20 to August 15, the programme brings together five films that are anything but ordinary.

And if cinema isn't enough, Jameel Arts Centre has one more thing to offer. There is also Global Positioning Systems, on view until October 2. Dedicated to mapping, navigation and the many ways people move through the world, the exhibition jumps between fast cars and donkeys, spinning globes and street barricades, cosmic highways and broken bridges. Bringing together more than 40 artists across Art Jameel's centres, it explores how we navigate not only space, but distance itself.

June 11 – July 1

Some exhibitions come together in a few weeks. This one took more than eight months.

The reason? More than 300 artists submitted their work, leaving the jury with the rather unenviable task of choosing just seven. By their own admission, it wasn't an easy decision.

The final selection brings together artists of Palestinian, Egyptian, Palestinian, Iranian, Pakistani, Russian, Sudanese and Emirati backgrounds, working across painting, sculpture and mixed media. Different styles, different stories and different approaches, all sharing the same gallery space. One small warning: if you want to catch it, don't leave it too long. The exhibition is only on view until July 1.

May 15 – June 26

Just two weeks remain to catch Unfolding, Moza Al Falasi's solo exhibition.

At its heart, the exhibition is about memory, grief and the strange way places continue to live inside us long after we leave them.

Working across photography, painting, fabric, plaster and sound, Al Falasi transforms the idea of a house from a physical structure into something much more emotional. The exhibition is built around the idea of presence in absence: how something can be gone and yet still feel incredibly close.

In simple terms, Unfolding asks a question most of us have probably experienced at some point: what happens when a home no longer exists as a place but continues to exist as a memory? Al Falasi's answer is that places don't end when we leave them. They simply take on a different form.

June 13 – September 20

If you thought everything art-related was happening in Dubai this summer, Sharjah would like a word.

One of the latest openings is Body Quotidian, a dialogue between recent sculptures, photographs and paintings by Emirati artist Laila Majid and Pakistani artist Inaam Zafar. At its core, the exhibition asks a simple question: what does it mean to have a body in a world increasingly shaped by technology, beauty standards and digital images?

To explore that idea, the two artists focus on the parts of bodily experience we rarely stop to think about — sweating, ageing, desiring, resting, moving through domestic spaces and simply existing. That said, don't expect obvious depictions of the body everywhere you look. The exhibition works through metaphors and small overlooked details, allowing ordinary moments to tell a much larger story.

And one quick note before you leave Sharjah: if you are visiting before June 21, make time for Jorge Tacla's Time the Destroyer, Time the Preserver, which we wrote about earlier. It is well worth adding to the same trip.

June 21 – September 20

AI has become that one guest who never really leaves. It writes our emails, recommends our music, plans our routes and occasionally finishes our sentences before we do. The convenience is undeniable. The relationship, however, is getting complicated.

And that is where the questions begin. How much control do we actually have? And how much are we simply following the systems around us? Rather than offering neat answers, Human in the Loop invites visitors to experience that complexity. In his first solo exhibition, Emirati robotics engineer and researcher Dr Ahmad AlAttar transforms an abstract idea into something surprisingly physical.

Visitors step into a space filled with hanging ropes and a shifting soundscape. By pulling different ropes, they try to locate a hidden algorithm. The closer they get, the more intense and distorted the sounds become. Once they find it, the algorithm immediately moves elsewhere, and the search begins again.

At first, it feels a little like a game of hide-and-seek. Then you realise winning isn't really the point. Just as you think you have figured the system out, the system changes the rules.