Quoz Arts Fest is back in 2026, and this year it’s turning Al Quoz into one big, walkable arts playground for a full weekend. The 14th edition of the festival will take place on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 January 2026 across Alserkal Avenue and the wider Al Quoz Creative Zone, with installations, live music, performances, exhibitions, workshops, family activities and food pop-ups threaded through warehouses and lanes.
What to Expect
TAPE Dubai by Numen/For Use
At the centre of the line-up is TAPE Dubai by Numen/For Use, arriving in the city for the first time. The internationally recognised art collective is known for its large-scale interventions that sit somewhere between sculpture and architecture. For Quoz Arts Fest, they will transform Concrete into a cocoon-like world built entirely from layers of clear tape, stretched and wrapped into an organic structure that visitors can enter and move through. The installation will also host performances, turning the space into a living stage rather than a static artwork.
Festival Music & Performance Highlights: DAM, Yasmine Hamdan & More
Music carries a strong regional pulse this year. Palestinian hip-hop group DAM and Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan top the bill, bringing sets shaped by their own long-standing musical histories. They are joined by TootArd and Gayathri Krishnan, whose performances draw on Levantine rhythms, desert blues and South Asian influences, adding different textures across the two days. A new collaborative piece, From the Lips to the Moon, created by Pouya Ehsaei and Tara Fatehi, will unfold as a spoken-word and music journey that invites listeners into an evolving soundscape. French artist Jean-Baptiste André’s project Floe, built around a visual environment by Vincent Lamouroux, will layer performance and installation into a roaming work that moves through the site.
Alongside the headline sets, Stage 2.0 returns as a platform for emerging musicians and performers. Across the weekend it will host UAE-based and regional artists, giving newer names room to test out material, collaborate and meet audiences beyond the standard concert format.
Community & Cultural Programme
Film and community programming are once again a major part of the festival. Reel Palestine comes back in partnership with Cinema Akil, bringing a weekend of independent Palestinian cinema to Warehouse 67, paired with a souk of more than fifty vendors offering crafts, design objects and food rooted in Palestinian traditions. The area is set up as a place to wander, talk and spend time, rather than simply watch a film and leave.
Families will find a dedicated, sensory-led environment in Jossa Warehouse 45 in Lane 3, where children can move through soft structures, tactile installations and activity zones built for play and imagination. The space is conceived as a calm corner of the festival, giving parents and younger visitors a place to pause while still being part of the day.
A multimedia presentation by Mawaheb will bring works by adults of determination into the programme, in line with the festival’s ongoing focus on accessibility and inclusive practice. Across the lanes, pop-ups, warehouse takeovers and neighbourhood food concepts will serve everything from morning coffee and family-friendly bites to late-night snacks between performances.
Speaking about this year’s edition, Basmah El Bittar, Director of Alserkal Avenue, notes that Quoz Arts Fest has grown alongside Dubai’s creative community, creating a place where artists, neighbours and visitors can move, gather and explore new ways of connecting. The 2026 programme leans into that spirit, bringing together artists whose work reflects the energy and point of view of the region, as well as local makers whose craft and cooking give the festival its familiar neighbourhood feel.
Tickets & Access
Tickets for Quoz Arts Fest 2026 are available via Platinumlist. Entry is free, with registration, for visitors under 18 and over 60, while an AED 100 day pass applies to all other guests. Strategic partners for this edition include Dubai Culture and Arts Authority and Al Quoz Creative Zone in association with Dubai Calendar, with MINI AGMC as Lead Partner, Jotun as Colour Partner, and Emirates NBD and Fujifilm as Supporting Partners.
Now in its fourteenth year, Quoz Arts Fest remains one of the clearest reflection of how Dubai’s creative scene thinks, plays and spends time together.
