Weekly UAE museum and gallery guide: Way of the Forest and Lawrence Abu Hamdan's Zifzafa

Also, exhibitions at Bayt AlMamzar explore self-affirmation, while Manarat Al Saadiyat showcases Emirati comic artists

Works by Thava Thajendran will be displayed as part of Way of the Forest at 421 Arts Campus. Photo: 421

The new season of arts and culture is well under way in the UAE, with a host of exhibitions, performances and events taking place.

Highlights include an international premiere of a cutting-edge performance that sheds light on an unfolding humanitarian crisis in the Golan Heights, an exhibition that reimagines traditional components of Iranian culture and another that highlights Emirati comic artists. Here are four art events to attend this weekend.

Zifzafa: September 21, Warehouse 50, Project Space, Dubai

Lawrence Abu Hamdan will unveil a live audio essay at Alserkal Avenue on Saturday. The performance is titled Zifzafa, an Arabic word for how wind shakes objects in its course. Zifzafa underscores how an Israeli wind turbine project is endangering the Syrian Jawlani community living in the occupied Golan Heights.

The 31 wind turbines that are planned for the area threaten to disrupt the community’s everyday life. Sounds of birds, bees and cattle, as well as the rustle of the wind and leaves, will all be overcome by the roar of the turbines, making the area virtually unlivable. As Zifzafa will highlight, though the project is advertised as a move towards cleaner energy, it has an ulterior motive.

The simulation will be accompanied by music from Busher Kanj and saxophonist Amr Mdah, both of whom will be streaming live to perform. Abu Hamdan, meanwhile, will be there in person to read a text that delves into the implications of the wind turbine project.

Saturday, 5pm and 7pm; Warehouse 50, Project Space, Dubai

Emirati Comics Exhibition: September 21 to October 12, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi

The exhibition at Manarat Al Saadiyat, which opens on Saturday, will showcase the creativity and innovation of the Emirati comic scene, featuring works from 21 local artists. The exhibition aims to provide a window into Gulf culture, with distinct characters, recognisable props and familiar landscapes that highlight its unique identity, setting it apart from foreign influences.

Alongside the artwork, there is a programme of workshops (such as how to create your own manga or learning to draw chibi anime characters) as well as artist talks that are free to attend. There will also be stalls selling merchandise and designs created by the illustrators.

Until October 12; Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi

In Your Dreams: August 3 to October 12, Bayt AlMamzar, Dubai

In Your Dreams is a group exhibition curated by Iranian writer and curator Yalda Bidshahri. Many of the works take their cue from traditional aspects of Iranian culture, reimagining them to highlight the quest for self-affirmation. Manifold identities are presented in the works and across a range of mediums.

In Sprouting of Martyrs, for instance, Dorsa Asadi expresses feminist struggles through glazed ceramic pieces with floral anatomy. Lilian Nejatpour crafts a sculpture by draping what seems like the bark of a tree with hair, alluding to felinity in both wretched and sacred terms. Niloofar Taatizadeh, meanwhile, uses textiles to reproduce a painting as a way of addressing techniques and systems of erasure. In other works, archival sounds are refashioned as a call for emancipated identities, found cinema footage is woven with text to highlight the regulation of self-expression.

Until October 12; Bayt AlMamzar, Dubai

Way of the Forest: September 22 to December 29, 421 Arts Campus, Abu Dhabi

Way of the Forest is a group exhibition that features 19 artists from the Global South and will open on Sunday. The exhibition examines abrading ecological histories. The works within challenge ravenous developmental plans while seeking bygone forest wisdoms.

The artists ask timely questions about the right to land and the human agency of the environment. They confront extraction policies and highlight the narratives of indigenous people who become casualties of corporate capitalism and its greed for natural resources.

The exhibition was originally presented in the Sri Lankan capital in January but has been adapted for the UAE. It comes as part of Colomboscope, a contemporary arts festival.

Opening Sunday; until December 29; 421 Arts Campus, Abu Dhabi