In Downtown Dubai, just steps from the Burj Khalifa, Dubai Opera stands as a landmark for the performing arts. Designed in the shape of a traditional dhow, the 2,000-seat venue - with VIP box tickets reaching AED 3,000 - has become a regional hub for opera, ballet, classical music, and theatre.

Since its opening in 2016, Dubai Opera has welcomed performances that span the global canon, including Verdi’s La Traviata and exclusive piano recitals by internationally acclaimed artists. According to the venue’s official site, major galas and concerts regularly sell out, drawing an audience that values both the craft of performance and the setting’s acoustical and architectural quality.

The venue’s programming reflects its goal of making world-class productions accessible to a growing audience of music and arts lovers in the UAE. From seasonal festivals to one-night-only events, the opera house continues to strengthen Dubai’s place on the international cultural map.

In a city often known for its ambition, Dubai Opera adds a distinctive voice - one dedicated to artistic excellence and creative diversity.

Photo credits: Visit Dubai. 

Oksana Bozhko

Oksana Bozhko is a Contributor to Dubai Voice.

In Dubai, where the skyline gleams with ambition, the Museum of the Future stands as a testament to the emirate’s relentless pursuit of innovation. Since its opening on February 22, 2022, this torus-shaped architectural marvel, adorned with Arabic calligraphy by Emirati artist Matar Bin Lahej, has captivated global audiences with its vision of a world 50 years hence. In 2025, the museum unveils a suite of new exhibits that seamlessly blend cutting-edge augmented reality (AR) with the UAE’s rich cultural heritage, reinforcing Dubai’s role as a global hub for forward-thinking ideas. These exhibits, curated under the Dubai Future Foundation, have drawn over 1 million visitors since the museum’s inception, with 2025 projections anticipating a 20% increase, fueled by immersive experiences that invite exploration of both tradition and tomorrow. Yet, as the museum dazzles with its futuristic flair, some visitors question the depth of its offerings, prompting curators to refine their approach to balance spectacle with substance.

Designed by Killa Design and engineered by Buro Happold, the Museum of the Future is more than a building; it’s a “living laboratory” that spans seven floors, each dedicated to themes like space exploration, sustainability, and human augmentation. The 2025 exhibits elevate this mission, introducing AR-driven installations that weave UAE’s pearl-diving heritage and Bedouin traditions with speculative visions of 2071. One standout, “Heritage Reimagined,” uses AR to recreate historical UAE trade routes, allowing visitors to “walk” through virtual souks and interact with holographic artisans crafting traditional dhows. Another, “Desert Futures,” merges AI and AR to simulate sustainable desert ecosystems, showcasing innovations like smart irrigation systems inspired by the UAE’s 2050 net-zero goals. These exhibits, launched in February 2025, align with the museum’s ethos of “seeing the future, creating the future,” as articulated by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, whose poetic quotes grace the museum’s stainless-steel facade.

Dubai’s tourism boom—18.7 million visitors in 2024, with 5.31 million in Q1 2025—underscores the museum’s draw, bolstered by its location along Sheikh Zayed Road, accessible via Emirates Towers Metro. The museum’s ability to merge UAE heritage with AR-driven visions of 2071—backed by events like the Dubai FinTech Summit and partnerships with global innovators—positions it as a leader in redefining cultural institutions. As Dubai aims to double its economy under the D33 Agenda, the Museum of the Future’s 2025 exhibits offer a compelling glimpse into a world where tradition and technology converge, inviting visitors to not just witness but shape what lies ahead. 

Photo credits: Museum of the Future. 

Oksana Bozhko

Oksana Bozhko is a Contributor to Dubai Voice.

In the heart of Dubai’s Al Quoz industrial district, where warehouses once stood in quiet utility, Alserkal Avenue has emerged as a vibrant cultural beacon, redefining the city’s identity on the global stage. The 2025 Art Dubai fair, hosted at this dynamic hub, showcased over 400 artists from 40 countries, drawing an impressive 30,000 visitors. With a particular emphasis on emerging talents from the Middle East, including powerful works by Palestinian and Lebanese artists, the fair underscored Dubai’s growing role as a cultural crossroads—a place where diverse voices converge to shape contemporary discourse.

Art Dubai 2025, held from April 18 to 20 at Madinat Jumeirah, was more than an art fair; it was a testament to the city’s ambition to transcend its reputation as a commercial hub and claim a central place in the global cultural narrative. The event’s focus on artists from the Middle East, North Africa, and the Global South highlighted Dubai’s commitment to amplifying underrepresented perspectives. Palestinian and Lebanese works, in particular, brought poignant reflections on identity and resilience, resonating deeply with attendees and reinforcing the fair’s role as a platform for dialogue.

Meanwhile, Dubai’s Museum of the Future, a futuristic architectural marvel, unveiled a groundbreaking 2025 exhibition on AI-driven art, earning international acclaim for its innovative exploration of technology’s intersection with creativity. The exhibit showcased how artificial intelligence can push artistic boundaries, offering immersive experiences that captivated global audiences. This bold venture aligns with Dubai’s broader vision to position itself as a leader in both cultural and technological innovation.

Yet, for all its global reach, Dubai’s cultural scene faces challenges closer to home. Accessibility remains a hurdle for many locals, with high ticket prices and a focus on international audiences sometimes leaving Emirati residents feeling disconnected from the city’s burgeoning art world. While initiatives like the A.R.M. Holding Children’s Programme at Art Dubai aim to engage younger audiences, broader efforts are needed to ensure that the cultural renaissance is inclusive of the local community.

Dubai’s cultural ascent is undeniable. From Alserkal Avenue’s gritty charm to the Museum of the Future’s cutting-edge exhibitions, the city is carving out a space where art, technology, and global perspectives intersect. 

Photo credits: Alserkal Avenue. 

Oksana Bozhko

Oksana Bozhko is a Contributor to Dubai Voice.

In Dubai, where gleaming skyscrapers and manicured boulevards often define the urban landscape, a new exhibition at the Ishara Art Foundation dares to embrace the raw, unpolished pulse of the street. No Trespassing, the foundation’s inaugural summer exhibition, running from July 4 to August 30, 2025, transforms the pristine white cube of the gallery into a dynamic canvas that channels the chaotic, vibrant, and ever-evolving aesthetics of city streets. Curated by Priyanka Mehra, this bold showcase features six UAE-based and South Asian artists—Fatspatrol (Fathima Mohiuddin), H11235 (Kiran Maharjan), Khaled Esguerra, Rami Farook, Salma Dib, and Sara Alahbabi—who engage with the street not merely as a backdrop but as a living medium and subject.

The exhibition resists the temptation to pin down the street’s essence, acknowledging its refusal to be neatly defined. Streets are more than physical spaces; they are tapestries of human experience, woven from the interplay of order and chaos, grit and beauty, spontaneity and structure. The artists capture this fluidity through works that incorporate the ephemera of urban life—signposts, pavements, building materials, street art, and human traces. These elements, often overlooked, become inscriptions of a city’s movement, its constant cycle of deconstruction and reinvention. As Mehra, the Exhibitions Manager and Programmes Curator at Ishara, notes, the street is both shaped by and shapes those who traverse it, a reciprocal dialogue that No Trespassing brings to the fore.

What sets this exhibition apart is its exploration of art’s relationship with the street through on-site interventions. The participating artists “tag” the gallery’s walls and floors, much like street artists mark urban surfaces, challenging the notion that institutionalized art holds greater cultural weight. This act of claiming space within the formal confines of the Ishara Art Foundation blurs the line between the street and the gallery, inviting viewers to reconsider the hierarchies that govern artistic expression. Works like Fatspatrol’s The World Out There (2025) exemplify this approach, transforming the gallery into a site of urban dialogue.

Mehra, whose curatorial vision is informed by her extensive background in design and urban art, brings a unique perspective to No Trespassing. Having worked on public art commissions at Yas Bay in Abu Dhabi, urban regeneration programs in India, and public art masterplans in Saudi Arabia, she has a deep understanding of how art can activate and redefine public spaces. Her experience as project director for the globally renowned site-specific artist Daku and her involvement in large-scale urban art festivals like St+art Delhi underscore her ability to bridge the raw energy of the street with the structured world of institutional art.

Supported generously by reframe, No Trespassing does more than display art; it invites audiences to engage in a conversation about the spaces we inhabit and the marks we leave behind. By bringing the street into the gallery, the exhibition challenges us to see the urban environment not as a mere setting but as a collaborator in the creative process. In doing so, it reimagines how we navigate and claim ownership of the world around us, one tag at a time.

Photo credits: Ishara Art Foundation. 

Oksana Bozhko

Oksana Bozhko is a Contributor to Dubai Voice.

Literary Salon: Book Club column that savors classic works which illuminate history’s lessons while inspiring Dubai’s & World's forward-thinking ethos, curated by actress Vladyslava Garkusha.

Today, we explore Voltaire’s Candide (1759), a piercing satire that dismantles blind optimism with incisive wit. This Enlightenment masterpiece, sharp and timeless, resonates with Dubai’s fusion of historical pragmatism and innovative ambition, offering our book club a lens to reflect on progress in a city that turns vision into reality.

The Piercing Wit of Candide

Published in 1759, Voltaire’s Candide traces the young protagonist’s odyssey through disasters—earthquakes, wars, and the illusory utopia of El Dorado—each undermining his tutor Pangloss’s doctrine that “all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.” Voltaire’s crisp prose delivers lines like, “If this is the best of possible worlds, what are the others like?” By concluding with Candide’s resolve to “cultivate our garden,” the novel champions practical effort over passive hope, a message enduring for its intellectual clarity. Its satirical edge and philosophical depth cement its status as a cornerstone of Western literature, inviting readers to shape their futures with intention.

Historical Context: The Enlightenment’s Rational Surge

Candide emerged during the Enlightenment, when European thinkers championed reason and reform. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, which killed an estimated 30,000–50,000 people, fueled Voltaire’s critique of unwarranted optimism. Global trade routes, connecting Europe to the Arabian Gulf, fostered idea exchange, mirroring Dubai’s role as a 19th-century trading hub along the Creek. This shared spirit of pragmatism links the Enlightenment’s intellectual drive to Dubai’s historical foundations.

Dubai’s Vision: A Sustainable Garden

Candide’s call to “cultivate our garden” finds a parallel in Dubai’s Sustainable City, a net-zero energy community launched in 2015 by Diamond Developers. With 500 villas powered by 10 megawatts of solar panels, it reduces energy consumption—and thus carbon emissions—by approximately 50% compared to traditional urban models. Its recycled water systems and urban farms embody Voltaire’s emphasis on practical progress, blending environmental stewardship with urban innovation. In a city that transformed from a trading port to a global metropolis, the Sustainable City reflects Dubai’s commitment to a future balancing ambition and responsibility.

Photo credits: New York Public Library.

Vladyslava Garkusha

Vladyslava Garkusha is an Actress, TV Host, Model, and Editor-at-Large of Dubai Voice. The People, Dubai, World and Global Perspective.

In a city that thrives on redefining what’s possible, Dubai’s Museum of the Future stands as a bold testament to human imagination. Opened in 2022, this toroidal marvel, soaring 77 meters with a facade of 1,024 Arabic calligraphy panels, is more than a building—it’s a vision. Architect Shaun Killa, who called it “the most beautiful building on Earth,” designed a structure that seems to defy gravity, its gleaming, ring-shaped form evoking a gateway to the unknown. In Dubai, where the skyline is a canvas of ambition, the museum is both a destination and a declaration: the future is not to be predicted but shaped.

Spanning seven floors, the Museum of the Future is a dynamic exploration of what lies ahead. Its interactive exhibits delve into artificial intelligence, sustainability, and space exploration, offering visitors a tactile encounter with innovations that could redefine human existence. One floor envisions cities powered by renewable energy, with holographic displays simulating urban ecosystems. Another probes biotechnology, where visitors can interact with models of lab-grown organs. These are not static displays but invitations to think, question, and dream—a rarity in a world often content with the status quo. Since its opening, the museum has drawn over 1 million visitors, a number reported by its operators, reflecting its magnetic pull for those curious about humanity’s next chapter.

The building itself is a feat of engineering and artistry. Its stainless-steel facade, etched with Arabic calligraphy that doubles as windows, merges cultural heritage with cutting-edge design. The calligraphy, penned by Emirati artist Mattar bin Lahej, forms poetic verses about innovation and progress, illuminated at night to cast a glow over Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road. Constructing this edifice required precision: the void at its center, a symbol of the unknown future, posed challenges that pushed architectural boundaries. Yet, it stands flawless, a monument to Dubai’s ethos of turning the impossible into reality.

What sets the museum apart is its refusal to offer answers. Instead, it poses questions: How will we live sustainably? Can technology harmonize with humanity? These prompts resonate in a world grappling with climate crises and ethical dilemmas around AI. Visitors, from schoolchildren to global leaders, leave not with predictions but with a sense of agency—an urging to shape the future themselves. In 2023, the museum hosted global summits on innovation, cementing its role as a hub for dialogue, not just display.

Dubai’s Museum of the Future is a paradox: a fixed structure that celebrates flux, a local landmark with universal aspirations. It challenges the notion that the future is distant, insisting instead that it begins with every step through its halls. For a city that has long bet on boldness, this museum is both a triumph and a promise—a glimpse of tomorrow, crafted today.

Photo credits: Unsplash. 

Oksana Bozhko

Oksana Bozhko is a Contributor to Dubai Voice.

In the heart of Al Quoz’s industrial sprawl, a cultural renaissance is quietly flourishing. Alserkal Avenue, founded in 2008 by Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, has evolved into Dubai’s leading contemporary arts district, home to more than 70 galleries, studios, and creative spaces spread across 500,000 square feet.

Dubai’s transformation into a global cultural hub is no longer aspirational—it’s measurable. In 2024, the emirate welcomed 17.15 million tourists, a 12% increase from 2023, with cultural attractions like the Museum of the Future and Jumeirah Al Naseem’s art fairs drawing significant crowds, per Dubai Tourism data. The city’s Alserkal Avenue, once a gritty warehouse district, now hosts 60 galleries and creative spaces, rivaling London’s Shoreditch or New York’s Chelsea.

In an age when conformity often masquerades as progress and rebellion gets filtered through the soft light of Instagram, Anna Mansour is a rare phenomenon: a bona fide heiress to a tradition of intellectual and aesthetic provocation. Imagine if Virginia Woolf had grown up in Manhattan, studied art history in London, dabbled in philosophy and fashion, and then decided to write speculative fiction about cyborgs and spiritual awakening. Add a dose of twenty-first-century cosmopolitan fluency—equal parts empathy, elegance, and edge—and you begin to understand what makes Anna Mansour tick.

“Let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws,” wrote Scottish patriot Andrew Fletcher in 1703 - an enduring insight into the power of cultural influence. In today’s interconnected world, nations are turning to art, cinema, music, and performance as strategic tools in international diplomacy.