From Jubail Island to the oases of Al Ain, Abu Dhabi’s landscapes will be reimagined through light, projection and sculpture in a landmark exhibition of public art
Abu Dhabi’s natural landscapes of mangroves, islands, and desert, are set to become the stage for an ambitious light art exhibition. Manar Abu Dhabi, a flagship initiative of Public Art Abu Dhabi, returns this winter for its second edition.
Launched in 2023 by the Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), the initiative takes its name from the Arabic word for “lighthouse.” Manar Abu Dhabi is one of three long-term pillars of Public Art Abu Dhabi, alongside the Biennial (first launched in November 2024, which presented art installations and performances by more than 70 UAE-based and international artists creating site-specific installations in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain in response to the Biennial theme, ‘Public Matter’) and a programme of artist commissions.
From 1 November 2025 to 4 January 2026 in Al Ain, and 15 November 2025 to 4 January 2026 in Abu Dhabi, the exhibition will light up the skies under the theme The Light Compass. More than 19 newly commissioned works, ranging from site-specific sculptures to immersive projections, will be installed across the Emirate’s diverse terrains.
Curated by Khai Hori, with co-curators Alia Zaal Lootah, Munira Al Sayegh, and Mariam Alshehhi, the programme draws on the Gulf’s ancestral relationship with light: its presence on water, its shifting behaviour across sand, its resonance in both natural and technological forms.
Jubail Island will serve as the exhibition’s central home, while for the first time the initiative extends to Al Ain, mapping out Manar’s growing cultural footprint. A public programme of talks, workshops, and performances will accompany the installations, offering audiences the chance to engage more deeply with the ideas behind the art.
The inaugural edition, held in 2023 under the theme Grounding Light, set the tone for what has quickly become a landmark in the region’s cultural calendar. More than 35 artists from across the globe, including Carsten Höller, teamLab, Shezad Dawood, and Shilpa Gupta, created works that reimagined Abu Dhabi’s coastal areas, from Saadiyat to the Corniche.
That first edition was co-curated by Reem Fadda and Alia Zaal Lootah, and it established Manar as a platform where international dialogue meets local resonance. Audiences were invited not only to witness the emirate’s natural beauty, but to see it anew, illuminated, reframed, and re-enchanted.
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