The Cultural Foundation, part of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), has inaugurated two new exhibitions that spotlight both established and emerging voices in the region’s creative landscape. Titled ‘Two Clouds in the Night Sky’ and ‘And After’, the shows will run from 9 October 2025 until 22 February 2026.
‘Two Clouds in the Night Sky’ is a milestone solo exhibition by pioneering Emirati artist Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim. A leading figure in the UAE’s contemporary art movement, Ibrahim is celebrated for his meditative and process-oriented practice deeply influenced by the natural surroundings of his hometown, Khor Fakkan. Since the 1980s, he has developed his recognisable ‘cipher’ forms—visual symbols inspired by prehistoric rock carvings and instinctive gestures—that helped define a new conceptual direction in Emirati art.
The exhibition’s title draws from Ibrahim’s most recent series of cloud-themed works, in which poetic compositions merge abstraction, memory, and nature. Dominating the atrium space, a large-scale installation composed of papier-mâché sculptures extends across raised platforms, recreating the visual rhythm of one of his cipher drawings. The result is an immersive landscape that invites reflection—a setting that feels at once organic, dreamlike, and profoundly personal.
The exhibition brings together a wide spectrum of Ibrahim’s practice across four thematic sections: In Transit, Traces Made Visible, Shapeshifters, and Where the Land Turns to Play. Featured works include his recent cloud and insect series, black-and-white works that distill form into rhythm, and selections from the ‘Sitting Man’ series (2010–2015), alongside the never-before-exhibited ‘Sitting Woman Only One’ (2010). His pioneering land art interventions resurface in archival works like Draped Trees (Ashjar Muqammasha) (1996) and Khorfakkan Circles (2004).
Anchoring this exhibition is Cultural Foundation’s newly commissioned installation Time | Place | Void (2025), which invites visitors into the temporal, environmental, and existential dimensions of his practice, , through an architectural embodiment of his iconic line drawings. In the exhibition’s final section, Where the Land Turns to Play, Cultural Foundation presents another newly commissioned work, Touchable (2025), the first piece Ibrahim has produced to be conceived for tactile engagement. Outdoors at Al Hosn site, visitors may also encounter the Abu Dhabi Art commissioned work Al Ain Oasis (2023), a tribute to the UAE’s landscapes.
The exhibition also pays tribute to Ibrahim’s landmark 1991 solo exhibition at Cultural Foundation, featuring ‘Untitled’, a rarely seen painting originally presented at that show, which is set to be on view again. Its inclusion underscores a full-circle moment in Ibrahim’s return, bridging past milestones with the breadth of new and recent works presented in this exhibition.
Curated by Noor AlMehairbi and Medyyah AlTamimi, the exhibition affirms Ibrahim’s legacy as one of the UAE’s most influential pioneer artists, while showcasing his evolving dialogue with nature, language, and memory. The exhibition is presented with support from Lawrie Shabibi.
Running concurrently is ‘And After’, curated by Dirwaza Curatorial Lab, featuring artists Razan Al Sarraf, Iman Shaggag, Salmah Al Mansoori, Omar Al Gurg, Abdulla Bu Hijji, Leila Shirazi, Moza Al Falasi, Zara Mahmoud, Yousif Abdulsaid – the florist from nothingness, Mohammed Kazem, Ammar Al Attar, Ayman Zedani, Reem Al Mubarak, Mariam Al Khoori, and Jawad Almalhi.
‘And After’ looks at the element of air and its states through the lens of Arabic terminology. Examining Sukoon (stillness and pause), Hawa (gentle, everyday air), Naseem (breeze), and Riyah (winds), it draws viewers closer to their surrounding nature and its gradual shifts, and invites them to experience how the movement of air changes with each state. A certain serenity embraces the region as the cooler months arrive, underscoring the exhibition’s exploration of how subtle changes in weather reshape one’s environment and perceptions. The transitions between Sukoon and Hawaa evoke moments of suspension — the pause between inhale and exhale, or the stillness just before daybreak.
In these quiet intervals, And After invites visitors to witness the beginnings of transformation, strengthening appreciation for the Arabic language and cultural heritage while encouraging connections between nature, language, and art.
Both exhibitions reflect DCT Abu Dhabi’s mission to preserve, promote, and protect the emirate’s cultural heritage while creating spaces for contemporary artistic expression.
Entry to both exhibitions are free, and open to all. For more information, visit culturalfoundation.ae.
