Exhibition space at Concrete, Alserkal Avenue.

Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer

Quoz Arts Fest, one of the region’s most renowned arts and culture festivals, returns for its 10th edition January 28 - 29, across Alserkal and Al Quoz. The weekend features a diverse programme of more than 200 activations, and brings together more than 50 creative concepts from across Al Quoz, and has live music, art, contemporary dance, performing arts, food trucks, public art installations, wellness, besides others.

Highlights of the weekend include headliners Bu Kolthoum and Saint Levant, who will be performing in the UAE for the first time, along with Big Hass, a Dubai-based hip-hop DJ known for his electric sets, and Omar Musa, Bornean-Australian rapper and poet, who will be treating festival-goers to a spoken word performance.

Syrian Bu Kolthoum is known for being the Arab world’s soul and funk-influenced music producer, songwriter, rapper, and singer. Saint Levant is a Palestinian, French and Algerian artist, born in Jerusalem and based in Los Angeles.

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The musician is known for combining French, Arabic and English in his music and drawing inspiration from influential Arab thinkers, past and present.

Hassan Dennaoui, aka Big Hass, is a Dubai-based music blogger, radio host, and MC. He hosted Saudi Arabia’s first FM hip-hop radio show and is an advocate for local and regional artists. In his work, Omar Musa, Bornean-Australian rapper, poet, visual artist and author, references identity and race, belonging, masculinity, and the comfort he finds in his Malay ancestry. The festival will take place under the thematic ‘Shift Away.’ At the fest’s Shift to Nature, visitors will be challenged on their perception of scale and implored to surrender to the vastness of nature; in Shift to Cyborg, they can explore the dizzying dimensions of the digital universe; and in Shift to Childhood, visitors can unleash their inner child(ren), play, and believe in magic again. Each world will be brought to life with various installations and immersive activities, among others.

  A food truck at Quoz Arts Fest.

This year’s festival lineup has names such as Dubai-based DJ Patchoulee, who will be playing one of her trademark imaginative sets with a mix of cool pop, soul, funk, disco and more, while homegrown band Tasty Biscuits will be bringing their mellow vocal melodies and groove-heavy instrumentation to the stage.

Digital creatives Mutek will be raising awareness on climate change through a data-driven interactive installation by Amir B. Ash. Concrete, Alserkal Avenue’s multidisciplinary exhibitions and events space, will again play host to an interactive and immersive experience created by Montreal-based digital art studio Iregular, to challenge preconceptions and inspire discourse.

A collaboration with Zayed University’s CACE Alumni will see the college’s first alumni exhibition since COVID-19, curated by Walter Willems and showcasing works made by recent graduates in response to the programme’s thematics. An educational programme will also accompany the exhibition and complement the students’ works. Talks, workshops and tours will be organised in the context of the exhibition to dive deeper into concepts related to nature, sustainability, arts and digital culture. Music lovers can also look forward to Quoz Encore, a collaboration between Quoz Arts Fest by Alserkal and The Fridge, which will showcase some of the UAE’s most promising emerging talent. Seven diverse, homegrown music acts — Lama, Stefan Alm, Jiire Smith, Ramzinho, Kinda, Seaside Feels and A^2 — are also set to perform as part of the initiative.

  A performance during Quoz Arts Fest.

Beyond the creative concepts and live entertainment in Alserkal Avenue, Quoz Arts Fest will see participation from the wider Al Quoz community, including The Courtyard, Aisha Alabbar, Trezora, Cabinet of Curiosity, Antique Boutique x Book Club, Raw Coffee Company and Woo-hoo, plus more.

Popular contemporary henna designer and artist AZRA will be on-site to beautify festival-goers’ hands with her designs. There will also be fitness and wellness classes from Shimis, Joint Space and DNA; movies from Cinema Akil and Reel Palestine; the Market of Misfits from Kave, among others.

Visitors can look forward to a feast of a food lineup at the Good Vibes Market. Some of the UAE’s most popular independent dining concepts will be at the market, including 21grams, Ugly Noodles, Karak Inc, Maison Duffour and Maiz Tacos. Organised by Alserkal, Quoz Arts Fest is an annual celebration of art and culture that has been held since 2012. It takes place in Alserkal Avenue and across the surrounding Al Quoz, celebrating the thinkers and makers from the creative neighbourhood. Quoz Arts Fest includes activities for all ages, including exhibitions, art installations, talks, workshops, performances and music.

Alserkal Avenue is the cultural district in the Al Quoz industrial area of Dubai, and is home to a community of over 70 contemporary art galleries, visual and performing arts organisations, designers, home-grown and entrepreneur-led businesses, and community spaces across 500,000 square feet and 90 warehouses.

The Avenue provides a platform for the development of the creative industries in the United Arab Emirates. As one of the region’s foremost destinations for contemporary art, and home to Dubai’s risk-takers, makers and wide-ranging creative communities, Alserkal Avenue provides cultural experiences for local, regional and international audiences through its year-round programming.

It is home to Concrete, a multi-disciplinary exhibitions space conceptualised and programmed by Alserkal, as well as the artist residency programme of Alserkal’s non-profit, Alserkal Arts Foundation. Alserkal Avenue was established in 2008 by Alserkal Initiatives following the guidance of its founder, Emirati businessman and cultural patron Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, who sought to cultivate a vibrant creative community and support cultural production in Dubai.