Something feels slightly different about Dubai’s usual art season rhythm, right? Normally, April is the month that wraps up most of the big cultural events and art fairs. But somehow, the relationship with art now stretches well into May — and honestly, we aren't complaining.

Alongside the highly anticipated Art Dubai, there is another event that deserves every art lover’s attention: Art Seeding Festival. And this isn't the kind of exhibition where artworks arrive carefully transported in giant cars only to end up hanging quietly on white gallery walls.

Art Seeding is built around the process itself. You literally get to watch artists creating in real time. While most people are heading to their offices this week, artists are heading to Al Khayat Avenue to paint murals, build installations, and slowly transform the entire space around them — all before the final presentation fully opens from May 19 to 21.

But that is enough spoilers for now.

Let’s properly dive into it — from the practical questions like where and when it is happening, to the more interesting ones: who is behind the festival, and what actually deserves your attention once you get there.

The core idea of the festival is actually hidden directly within its name. Art Seeding quite literally revolves around artists “seeding” their work across Al Khayat Avenue — one of Dubai’s emerging cultural districts that many creative communities have already started casually calling “the second Alserkal”.

But unlike traditional exhibitions, the focus here isn't only on the final artwork. The entire festival is built around the process itself. From May 11 and onwards, artists begin taking over different parts of the avenue — painting murals, building installations, and slowly transforming the industrial space with the boring grey walls around into the ture piece of arts them before the full opening from May 19 to 21.

Street art sits at the centre of the festival, though the programme stretches far beyond murals alone. Installations, site-specific works, performances, and large-scale public talks all become part of the experience, turning the avenue itself into something between an open-air exhibition and a live creative playground.

And an important little clarification here: while most of us automatically associate street art with being fully outdoors under the Dubai heat, Art Seeding is actually a mix of both indoor and outdoor spaces. So yes, some of the installations — thankfully — remain safely inside air-conditioned indoor spaces.

The festival runs alongside Art Dubai as part of the wider Art Dubai Week energy, though it was created independently by curators Sofia Tkach and Dmitry Melnikov, with support from Dubai’s wider cultural ecosystem and institutions.

Cultural shifts never arrive politely or one by one. They all crash into each other at the same time — and the art world is going through exactly that right now. This small creative revolution comes with one clear idea: quiet white galleries are no longer enough. People want to feel closer to the work they are looking at — and even closer to the person creating it.

Watching an artwork appear live in front of you simply hits differently. The rough sketches, paint stains, mistakes, experimentation — all the parts usually hidden from the audience suddenly become the most interesting thing in the room. And honestly, the timing makes perfect sense. We live in a moment where images are becoming incredibly easy to generate, which is exactly why witnessing a real artistic process suddenly feels so valuable again.

So, is the rest of the world moving in the same direction? Absolutely.

During Art Basel Miami Beach, entire neighbourhoods basically turn into giant open-air studios, with artists painting murals live throughout the festival.

MURAL Festival in Montreal carries a very similar energy: huge murals appear across the city while people drift between talks and workshops. Even the bigger art-world giants like Documenta and the Venice Biennale are slowly moving away from the idea of silent rooms with artworks hanging untouched on walls and lean into performances and immersive experiences people can actually move through and interact with.

And while the Middle East has already experimented with parts of this format through different festivals and public art projects, Art Seeding pushes the idea further — turning the creative process itself into the main attraction.

On this scale, and done this openly, it still feels very fresh for the region.

The official dates of the festival run from May 11 to 21.

But this is where things get slightly tricky — because Art Seeding doesn't really work like a standard exhibition where everything looks exactly the same every day. Coming on May 13, 19, or 21 will give you completely different experiences of the festival.

Probably the most unique part of the whole festival. This is when artists are actively working within the space itself, so visitors can't only watch the artworks slowly come together live, but also speak directly with the artists while they work. Usually, this side of art stays hidden behind studio doors or random progress photos on Instagram. Here, it becomes part of the exhibition itself.

There will also be several public talks during these days, including Street Art vs Gallery Art — Shifting Boundaries on May 15, a discussion around Olivia Laing’s The Lonely City on May 16, and Art in the City — Social Value & Urban Impact on May 17.

This is the main festival date and the point by which most of the artworks are expected to be finished. But the opening itself is far from just a quiet presentation of completed works. The day also includes workshops, guided tours, public activities, and a large evening performance Ode to the World combining opera, contemporary dance, and live music.

One of the most interesting parts of the day is the Open Wall for Emerging Artists, where around 100 students from Beyond Architecture Studio will spend three hours collectively creating one shared artwork live in front of visitors.

These are the days when the festival can really be experienced in full — with the murals, installations, performances, and wider programme all properly coming together.

Important note: while many of the works are murals that will naturally stay on the walls long after 21 May, not every artwork is designed to survive Dubai’s climate long-term. Some installations are temporary by nature, so if you want to catch the festival exactly as it was meant to look, better not postpone the visit.

Location: Al Khayat Avenue, Dubai

The core of the festival is built around 10 international artists selected through an open call by the curators to make sure their works actually align with the idea and overall visual direction of the festival. And honestly, the geography alone already says a lot: Argentina, UAE, Oman, Poland, Russia and beyond — all temporarily landing in Dubai and turning Al Khayat Avenue into one giant creative meeting point.

But the interesting part isn't only where the artists come from — it is how differently they see the world. Some lean into hyperrealism, others into architecture, street art, photography, graphic systems, or almost cinematic storytelling. Which means walking through the festival feels a little like constantly switching between different visual realities every few steps.

So who exactly is behind all of this? Some names worth paying attention to:

And a little reminder: apart from the 10 main artists, Art Seeding will also bring together around 100 art students from Beyond Architecture Studio, who will be creating their own works during the opening day — adding a much more collaborative and community-driven energy to the whole festival.

When I said 19 May would be the special day full of surprises, I actually skipped one thing on purpose — simply because it deserves a separate moment of attention. Now it is time.

Apart from everything already mentioned above, the day will also mark the launch of the new HESTIA Gallery exhibition, presented as part of the wider Art Seeding programme. And unlike the festival itself, the exhibition will remain open until June 19.

The exhibition brings together artists from Dubai and France, with the whole concept revolving around porcelain, enamel, ceramics, and collectible design. But don't imagine ordinary decorative objects or plates you casually eat from at home. And definitely not the type of vase you throw flowers into without thinking twice. These are the kinds of works you instinctively start looking at very carefully the moment you walk closer.

The entire exhibition is built around craftsmanship and detail. Colours are carefully mixed, surfaces almost glow under the light, and even the shapes that look soft and intuitive at first glance feel incredibly precise once you properly look at them.

Among the artists featured are Rawa Al Mahdawe — a Dubai-based ceramic artist known for her sculptural works shaped through a very intuitive relationship with clay — and Michael Rice, an Irish ceramic artist currently based in Dubai, recognised for his colourful sculptural pieces and collectible ceramic objects.

Art Seeding is conceived as a long-term initiative, with each new chapter introducing a different curatorial theme responding to the evolving identity of Al Khayat Avenue.

But honestly, my suggestion would be: don't wait for next year to finally check it out. Better experience the first edition now — because once you see the scale and the atmosphere of the whole thing in real life, next year’s edition will probably already end up on your calendar automatically.