The Culture Counter

Organised in collaboration with The Diplomacy Lab, this panel discussion looks at the increasing role of soft power diplomacy in building bridges, coexistence, interfaith alliance, expanding cooperation and meeting mutual policy objectives in the UAE and across the region. Panelists discuss the evolving role of UAE diplomacy, the shifts in international platforms and the study of emerging forms of...

Fine wine and spirit bottles have long been the subject of investment for connoisseurs and businesses from around the world, but it is now sparking the curiosity of less seasoned collectors. Building a portfolio of rare bottles is not only a high-brow and stylish endeavour, but it also appears to be a profitable one. But where to start? What are the dos and don’ts? Tricks of the trade?  Sit with e...

Collectors, curators, editors and gallerists are the tastemakers of the art world. They influence the art market’s global trends with their seal of approval - an market valued at over 65 billion dollars in 2021. But how do they discern good art from bad art? Is there a secret rule book? Do they all agree?  From Marcel Duchamp’s world-famous urinal (Fountain, 1917) to the USD 120,000 sale of a duct...

This month we invite Members onto the stage of our late-night lounge for an intimate evening celebrating the spoken word. Aspiring poets and brave enthusiasts are welcome to speak words of their own creation and those of others which have inspired them, from music lyrics to classical sonnets. Special guest poets Salem Al Attas and chamæleon will also take the stage for a unique performance of thei...

Nicknamed The Godfather of Emerging Markets, Mark Mobius has travelled to most corners of the globe in his quest to discover undervalued companies. He headed up the emerging markets department of Franklin Templeton Investments where he grew a $100m investment into a fund of more than $50bn over a 30-year spell, after which he launched Mobius Capital Partners. The author and finance guru speaks abo...

The world knows him a restauranteur, a pioneer whose eponymous restaurant Mr. Chow changed the canon of fine dining everywhere it went, but to understand Michael Chow is to first understand the artist: M. An explorer since 1951, whose path had once upon a time directed him away from his artmaking, has finally brought him back, and we are delighted to have him share his extraordinary life story for...

Dubai: Fashion Capital? You might think so, and yet.. Paris, Milan, New York and London are the “Big Four” fashion capitals of the world, and many others are contending to make it on this coveted list i.e. Tokyo, São Paulo, Los Angeles, Berlin and of course, Dubai.  What will it take for Dubai? Is there a roadmap in the legacy of these Western capitals? Fashion capitals are defined by the huge inf...

Omar Kholeif is the author, co-author, and editor of over 30 books, of which seven have focused on the concept of internet art. Their anthology, You Are Here: Art After the Internet from 2013 is widely acknowledged as the first book to look at ‘post-internet art’ and is taught globally.  In this ‘Authored’ conversation, Dr. Kholeif reflects on their recent books including, Goodbye, World! Looking...

“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller” – Ibn Battuta  Is travel journalism the most coveted job on the face of the earth? We sit down with Editor-in-Chief of Condé Nast Traveller ME Sarah Khan - who has reported from six continents for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time, Vogue and many more - to find out about her adventures as a passport collector and...

Who is the real Aladdin? What was happening in the Arab world during the West’s Roaring Twenties? Why is the evil eye, evil? Mikey Muhanna, who had spent over a decade working at firms Morgan Stanley and PwC, set out to find the answer to these questions when he founded afikra | عفكرة in 2014.   It all started on a Brooklyn rooftop, where a small group of friends began discussing how little we all...

Warsha is Sundance Film Festival’s 2022 winner of The Short Film Jury Award for best International Fiction.  Written and directed by Syrian/Lebanese Dania Bdeir this incredible 16 minute short film follows the story of Mohammad, a Syrian crane operator in Beirut. One day, he volunteers to take on one of the tallest and notoriously most dangerous cranes in Lebanon. Away from everyone’s eyes, he is...

We welcome artist Akram Zaatari on the occasion of his exhibition at The Arts Club Dubai titled ‘The End of Love’. Looking back on his career as a renowned photographer and archivist, Akram will discuss the importance of protecting and preserving the photographic history of the Arab World. - In conversation with Ruba Alsweel, Communications Manager at Art Jameel.

Directly from those who are imagining, designing and executing the world of tomorrow, this month we explore the notoriously divisive Metaverse through a legal, social and economic lens.  Will the Metaverse destabilise reality? What legal framework can we expect? Are there foreseeable hazards to a successful Metaverse? We have a invited a stellar panel of experts to tell us all.  Moderated by Anas...

Since 1987 Dr. Michael Fakih has been responsible for over 12,000 In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) deliveries.  A pioneer in his field, Dr. Fakih co-founded the Fakih IVF Fertility Centre which is today one of the leading centres of its kind in the entire GCC. From innovation to stigma, and now a fast-growing trend, Dr. Fakih shares his extraordinary journey in this remarkable field of medicine.

Mohammed Saeed Harib In conversation with Butheina Kazim, Founder of Cinema Akil. Since their TV introduction in 2007, and now on Netflix, it is very likely that you have come across the four elderly Emirati women that make up the cast of one of the region’s most popular animated series, FREEJ. The four intrepid grannies, whose lives we follow as they try to navigate a modern Dubai, are Mohammed’s...

Social media’s exponential growth in the past decade has made it an integral part of our daily lives, and in turn has tremendously expanded the scope of content exchange and dissemination across the world.  Platforms like Instagram or Twitter have emerged as key sources of news for the public at large and are an important tool for journalists to reach wider audiences and boost interaction. But has...

Ever wondered about the difference between dubstep, disco house, 2 step, moombahton, gabber and psytrance? What is EDM, anyway? Join us for this audio-visual journey across the decades to explore the history of dance music, brought to you by Noah Raford of the Dubai Future Foundation. This immersive experience will take place in the Club’s new late night lounge and will include sounds, samples, vi...

It's 2021, Cryptocurrency and NFTs have taken the world by storm and become heroes of dinner table talk. Elon Musk is tweeting endlessly about “Doge going to the moon” while the youth on TikTok is shilling the next “NFT avatar” that will pump 1000x and supposedly make millions of dollars.   But what does it all mean? Do you feel lost in the middle of this crypto jargon? We invite our Members...

Three Gallerists' Tales on Setting Up their Dubai Spaces. Three young and ambitious art dealers steer some of Dubai’s leading art galleries, and in so doing, have tremendously contributed to Dubai’s now thriving art community. What knowledge and foresight in a then-nascent cultural arena did they possess? How did they explore, persevere, and create their galleries’ rosters? The Arts Club Duba...

Sensational headlines, dramatic stories and nightly news bring us astounding reports on breakthroughs in robotics, AI and automation almost every day. These are often followed with questions like “Will robots take our jobs? Will we be overrun by AI?” Beneath these scary headlines, however, a small group of talented engineers, programmers and business people are quietly working away, building new p...

Son of a merchant from Aleppo, Syria, Ronaldo Mouchawar built a company in 2005 which was to make history. He founded the largest online marketplace of the Arab world – Souq.com .  In 2017, the e-commerce platform was acquired by Amazon with a valuation of over $1 billion.   Some of the best founding stories begin like this one. Join us as Philip Bahoshy, founder and CEO of MAGNiTT – a leading ven...

An avid watch connoisseur and collector, we look forward to welcoming Mohammed Abdulmagied Seddiqi, Chief Commercial Officer of Seddiqi Holding, as he takes us on a retrospective of iconic watches and unique milestones in the industry from the 1970s. Since the early 1950s, the Seddiqi family has been synonymous with luxury timepieces, driven by the vision and passion for horology of Ahmed Qasim Se...

Mona Ataya is one of the Middle East’s most prominent entrepreneurs. In 2011 she co-founded an e-commerce platform dedicated to all things mother, baby & child called Mumzworld. Today, it has the largest online inventory available in the GCC and is the #1 funded women-led e-commerce company in the Middle East. Some of the best founding stories begin like this one. Philip Bahoshy, founder and C...

In 1968, the coastal Arab emirates entered into an unprecedented phase of vulnerability. The British, who had protected the emirates for 150 years, suddenly announced their intention to withdraw from the region. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi, knew there was only one way forward: the emirates had to unite under a single nation. In December of 1971, after a series of nego...

We are delighted to welcome London-based artist, Ralph Heimans, one of today’s leading portraitists, to the Club this May to talk about his outstanding career-to-date and the art of Royal portraiture.  Ralph Heimans' large-scale portraits are renowned for their innovative compositions that offer engaging narratives about his subjects and their life stories. They are informed by a creative int...