SHARES

This year, Manar Abu Dhabi ventures beyond its coastal origins and journeys inland to Al Ain, the city of oases, where art, heritage, and light converge in a poetic celebration of place and meaning.
Under the theme “The Light Compass,” the festival transforms the Al Jimi and Al Qattara Oases into radiant open-air galleries, where contemporary installations invite visitors to navigate between darkness and illumination, tradition and innovation.

A Journey from Coast to Oasis

After captivating Abu Dhabi’s waterfronts and islands in its 2023 debut, Manar’s new edition explores a different rhythm — the quiet pulse of the desert. Moving from saltwater to freshwater, from the coast to the heartland, the curators envisioned an artistic map guided not by geography but by emotion, memory, and the light that connects people to their environment.

Here, light becomes more than spectacle. It becomes language — revealing the delicate harmony between the natural world and human creativity. The installations interact with palm trees, falaj water channels, and historic mud-brick houses, each site chosen carefully to preserve its heritage while embracing modern artistic expression.

Artworks and Highlights

  • Sadu Red Carpet by Khalid Shafar reinterprets the traditional Emirati weaving art of sadu through a glowing red pathway that feels ceremonial yet intimate. Visitors walk over this “carpet of light” like honored guests, surrounded by the stillness of the oasis night.

  • Breath of the Same Place by Maitha Hamdan wraps a solitary ghaf tree in a delicate network of luminescent wiring. As the colors shift, the tree seems to breathe — a symbol of unity, resilience, and coexistence with nature.

  • Cycle of Circles by Ammar Al Attar features five sequential photographs of the artist drawing circles while cycling, expressing life’s repetitive cycles and the need to move forward despite returning to familiar points.

  • Floral Resonance by Christian Brinkmann invites interaction: a glowing flower pot responds to human proximity and touch, projecting abstract floral patterns that bloom with every gesture.

  • Guiding Drapes by Abdalla Almulla and interactive light compositions by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer extend this dialogue with the stars and the unseen energies of space.

Each work uses light as both a guide and a mirror — inviting reflection on how people once navigated deserts by the stars and how art continues that same search for orientation and meaning.

A Celebration of Heritage and Innovation

Installing contemporary art in UNESCO-listed sites required precision and sensitivity. Curators worked with archaeologists to ensure the artworks blended with the oasis ecosystems rather than disturbed them. The result is a landscape subtly transformed — a place where history and imagination coexist.

This curatorial philosophy defines Manar Abu Dhabi’s identity: to make public art an experience of belonging. It encourages visitors to slow down, to wander, to see familiar places anew through light and emotion.

Beyond Viewing: A Living Experience

Manar Abu Dhabi 2025 extends beyond the visual. Visitors can take guided tours, photography and night-sky workshops, and enjoy pop-up cafés and food stalls designed to build community. Families, artists, and students walk side by side under the palms, discussing what each installation means to them — turning art into conversation.

Why It Matters

By expanding into Al Ain, Manar Abu Dhabi bridges two essential aspects of Emirati identity: the sea and the desert, modernity and memory. The festival shows that cultural innovation thrives when rooted in heritage, and that art can illuminate not only places but also perspectives.

As night falls, Al Ain’s oases shimmer with quiet light. Palm fronds ripple in color; water channels glimmer softly; and pathways lead visitors through spaces that have held life for centuries.
In this harmony of past and present, light becomes a compass — not for direction, but for connection.