QUOZ ARTS FEST BY ALSERKAL CELEBRATES THE AL QUOZ CREATIVE COMMUNITY WITH WEEKEND FESTIVAL THEMED “SHIFT AWAY”

- 10th edition of Quoz Arts Fest will take place on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 January 2023

- ‘Shift Away’ thematic promises three fantastical worlds for visitors to explore

- Highlights include Montreal-based Iregular’s immersive installation, As Water Falls, in Concrete

- Good Vibes Market returns with popular homegrown F&B concepts including 21 grams, Ugly Noodles and Maison Duffour

- Music headliners already announced include Bu Kolthoum and Saint Levant, along

with Big Hass, Omar Musa and The Tasty Biscuits

Quoz Arts Fest, the region’s best-loved arts and culture festival, returns for its 10^th edition on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 January 2023 across Alserkal and Al Quoz. The weekend will feature a diverse and dynamic programme of more than 200 activations, and bring together more than 50 creative concepts from across Al Quoz, to celebrate a decade of success, and feature live music, art, contemporary dance, performing arts, food trucks, public art installations, wellness, and more. Highlights of the bumper 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, a Bornean-Australian rapper and poet who will be treating festival-goers to a powerful spoken word performance.

The 10th edition of the festival will take place under the thematic ‘Shift Away.’ Visitors will be invited to set aside their preconceptions upon entering the festival’s ‘portals’ and shift away to three fantastical worlds. In 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, play, and believe in magic again. Each world will be brought to life with various installations, immersive activities, and more.

This year’s festival lineup is jam-packed with names not to be missed. Dubai-based DJ Patchoulee 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 a thought-provoking 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.

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 set to perform as part of the initiative during the festival weekend.

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, Woo-hoo, and more.

Popular contemporary henna designer and artist AZRA will be on-site to beautify festival-goers’ hands with her bold 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, and more.

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, Maiz Tacos and more.

Visitors can book their early bird tickets for the weekend for AED 30 on Platinumlist at https://dubai.platinumlist.net/event-tickets/85012/quoz-arts-fest. Tickets for under-18s and over-60s are free with registration. All proceeds from ticket sales are dedicated to the Quoz Arts Fest programme, supporting local and regional talent.

ABOUT QUOZ ARTS FEST

​​Organised by Alserkal, Quoz Arts Fest is an annual celebration of art and culture that has been held since 2012. The festival takes place in Alserkal Avenue and across the surrounding Al Quoz, and celebrates the thinkers and makers from this creative neighbourhood. Quoz Arts Fest includes activities for all ages, including exhibitions, art installations, talks, workshops, performances, music, and more.

ABOUT ALSERKAL AVENUE

Alserkal Avenue is a vibrant 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 sqft and 90 warehouses. Alserkal Avenue provides an essential 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 extensive year-round programming.

Alserkal Avenue 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 visionary thinking 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.