421 Arts Campus Announces a Summer of Engaging Programs Featuring 15+ Workshops and Events that Unfold as Every Day Acts of Remembrance
Taking place from June 29 onwards, the Summer 2025 Program features two ongoing exhibitions, alongside a dynamic lineup of programs that combine documentation tools with care and creativity through a mixture of hands-on workshops, film screenings, and a poetry lab
Image courtesy of 421 Arts Campus. Photography by Musthafa Aboobacker, Seeing Things. Ana Escobar Saavedra: It Starts Where It Ends.
We are pleased to present our Summer 2025 Program, running from June 29 to September 19. This season features two continuing exhibitions from our Spring Season, along with over 15 workshops and special events for community members of all ages, from the young to the young at heart. We invite everyone to join us for a summer of slow exploration. To take part in programs that encourage introspection, engagement with your environment and histories, and finding meaning in the transient and little things.
Our most in-demand community favorites are back, including Jamming Sessions, Pencil In, and Stitch In. These are perfect for our regulars who just can’t get enough, but are also open to newcomers interested in connecting through community-oriented, creative experiences. For our younger visitors, the Khayal Series, Messy Play and Youth Workshops are the perfect activities for children and pre-teens looking to beat the summer heat with a fun, hands-on creative outlet.
In addition to returning favorites, we're excited to introduce new offerings that invite participants to explore their own memories, while learning tools and resources for documentation and personal archiving. And for those literary enthusiasts out there, bring a friend, family or loved one to our new workshops “Poetry in Pairs”, a heartfelt poetry lab designed for anyone looking to express themselves and capture their shared bonds through playful words.
Continuing this season until September 7 are the exhibitions Ana Escobar Saavedra: It Starts Where It Ends, a solo exhibition that is part of the 2025 Artistic Development Program; and Unstable Grounds: 2025 MFA Graduate Exhibition, a group show presenting work by the graduates of the Masters in Fine Arts at New York University Abu Dhabi. Both explore memory through unique perspectives: while Saveedra examines the connection between memory and identity, the MFA exhibition considers how memory shapes contemporary perception.
Ongoing Exhibitions
Ana Escobar Saavedra: It Starts Where It Ends
Part of the Artistic Development Program
Gallery 1
May 18 to September 7, 2025
Ana Escobar Saavedra’s first solo exhibition, It Starts Where It Ends, explores the nuances of identity, identification, and representation.
Ana Escobar Saavedra is participating in the 2025 cycle of the 421 Artistic Development Program (ADP), mentored by Jolaine Frizzell. ADP is an annual capacity-building initiative that provides early-career artists in the UAE with the opportunity to explore new techniques, test ideas, and create a cohesive body of work for their first solo exhibition.
Unstable Grounds: 2025 MFA Graduate Exhibition
In collaboration with New York University Abu Dhabi
Gallery 2
May 18 to September 7, 2025
Unstable Grounds: 2025 MFA Graduate Exhibition presents the work of graduate students completing the two-year Master of Fine Arts in Art and Media at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). Marking the fourth year of collaboration between 421 Arts Campus and NYUAD, this exhibition highlights the research and experimentation of the 2025 MFA cohort, whose work explores the environment, displacement, migration, memory, and human connection.
The artists in this exhibition, Dima Abou Zannad, Bao, Adele Bea Cipste, Hala El Abora, Mowen Li (Amira), Jude Maharmeh, Safeya Sharif, and Danutė Vaitekūnaitė, engage with themes of the origin stories of flora, fauna, and water as metaphors for environmental and economic cycles; memory and its role in shaping contemporary perceptions; and communion as a site of vulnerability and celebration, reflecting on displacement, community, and belonging.
Through this collaboration, 421 Arts Campus and NYUAD support the development of emerging contemporary practices in the region, providing MFA graduates with a platform to share their artistic research and growth. The program continues to evolve, attracting artists from around the world at different stages in their careers, expanding through increased student enrollment, visiting artist engagements, and post-MFA opportunities such as residencies with 421 and Yale School of Art.
Summer 2025 Program
June 29 to September 19, 2025
Returning this season
Writing Circle
Pencil In: A Writers’ Group
Date: July 3 and 24, August 8 and 14
Pencil In is a writers’ group created to provide a supportive environment for writers to write alone, together! We at 421 love the idea of body-doubling (working near or around someone to help stay focused and engaged) when we are working, writing, and creating.
These sessions are designed for writers to practice their craft without the pressures of producing a final outcome. Drop-ins are welcome. Each session includes a free cup of coffee from Auro cafe for participating writers.
Workshop
Jamming Session: Kazakh Manti with the Beks
Date: August 3
Spend an afternoon of folding, steaming, and storytelling with a family trio from Kazakhstan!
In this hands-on cooking workshop, Aaliya, Jullz, and their mother, Leilya, will teach us how to make Manti, Central Asia’s beloved meat (and veg) dumpling. Known for their delicate folds and flavorful fillings, manti are a staple in Kazakh homes, often reserved for family gatherings and special occasions. You’ll get to know how the Bekova family household prepares the dough, shapes the dumplings, and steams them to perfection. They will be making a meat version as well as a vegetarian option.
‘Jamming Sessions: Home Cooking Series’ is a workshop series led by UAE’s home chefs. Each session features a family group who teach participants their traditional recipes as handed down through their relatives. The sessions are accompanied by a playlist that sets the scene of a home kitchen.
Children’s Workshop
Khayal Series: Treasured Memories & Little Lockets
Date: August 2
This inspiring storytelling and craft session draws inspiration from Ana Escobar Saavedra’s exhibition It Starts Where It Ends.
Through creative storytelling, kids will dive into themes of memory and personal expression. Kids will then use simple sewing techniques to craft colorful felt lockets to hold their tiny treasures and heartfelt notes.
This session is suitable for families with children 6 and over. Parents and guardians are welcome to join the session and support their little ones.
Children’s Workshop
Khayal Series: Sunny Tales & Sparkling Creations
Date: September 6
This inspiring storytelling and craft session that captures the essence of summertime.
Through engaging storytelling, kids will be celebrating the essence of sunshine and sharing their own summer stories. Inspired by the story, kids will explore colorful materials to design personalized suncatchers that radiate in sunlight.
This session is suitable for families with children 6 and over. Parents and guardians are welcome to join the session and support their little ones.
Children’s Workshop
Messy Play: Stone Explorers
Date: August 24
Inspired by Ana Escobar Saavedra’s exhibition, It Starts Where It Ends, this engaging session invites toddlers to dive into the fascinating world of stones.
Through hands-on exploration of gooey stone slime, matching stone activities, and shaping stone with clay, toddlers will explore textures, shapes, and patterns. They'll also sift, wash, and sort stones in interactive stations to spark their curiosity and creativity.
Please note: Parents or guardians must accompany children during the workshop.
Children’s Workshop
Messy Play: Little Rays of Sunshine
Date: September 9
Inspired by summertime, this cheerful sensory experience brings sunny fun to life! Toddlers will explore vibrant stations filled with exciting activities like painting with colorful "ice lollies," engaging in a playful beach station, and crafting creations with natural fruit-scented clay. It's a delightful mix of creativity, textures, and joyful summer vibes!
Please note: Parents or guardians must accompany children during the workshop.
Workshop
Youth Workshop: Carving as Process
Date: August 16
Sharpen your creative edge in this hands-on carving workshop, led by It Starts Where It Ends exhibiting artist Ana Escobar Saavedra.
Through her expert guidance, you will experiment with shaping, texturing, and detailing techniques that give carved forms real depth and character. Carving is a slow craft! This workshop is designed to build your skills and confidence, without the pressure to complete a final piece.
No prior experience needed, this workshop encourages art lovers ages 11 and above to join in!
Workshop
Youth Workshop: Paint by Smell
Date: August 21
Awaken your senses and unleash your imagination in this sensory painting workshop that redefines how we experience art.
Blindfolded and guided by touch and smell, you’ll explore embossed canvases and work with aromatic paints to create a piece that’s as expressive as it is sensory. With vision set aside, your other senses take the lead to invite a deeper and more intuitive connection to creativity!
No prior experience needed, this workshop encourages art lovers ages 11 and above to join in!
This workshop is especially well-suited for people of determination (POD), including those who are visually impaired.
Workshop
Stitch In
Date: July 6 and 27, August 3, 17 and 21, September 14
Tatreez, the centuries-old craft of Palestinian embroidery, is a testament to the richness of Palestinian identity and culture. It began with intricate cross-stitch motifs adorning the linen dresses of Palestinian women and has since expanded to embellish garments, household items, and wall pieces.
Participants will begin by stitching a beginner-friendly motif—a grave or a flower—to honor the departed souls of Palestine. These individual pieces will be gathered to form a public, communal artwork: a shared space of mourning and reflection.
This is a beginner friendly workshop; no prior embroidery experience is required!
New Programs
Special Event
Process+/-Practice: Artists’ Evening
Date: June 29
This program invites fellow artists and community members to explore the studio practices and processes of our artists-in-residence, Moza Almazrouei, Khaled Esguerra, and Tamara Barrage. Whether through writing, sculpting, research fragments, performance, or material play, the afternoon centers around their routines, movements, experiments, and the subtle shifts that shape how and why they create.
Workshop
Floor-planning Memories of Past/Present/Future Homes
Date: July 12
Khaled Esguerra and Maitha Ali invite participants to take part in Floor-planning: Memories of Past, Present, and Future, a two-part workshop series that reflects on how we reclaim and reimagine urban and domestic narratives.
This intergenerational workshop welcomes participants of all ages to use storytelling and creative tools, such as creating floor-plans with tracing paper and magical thinking, to craft and reframe personal narratives of home.
Workshop
Poetry in Pairs
Date: July 18, August 8, September 19
This summer, join us for Poetry in Pairs! A new, heartfelt poetry-writing lab designed for poets and writers to reflect, reconnect, and create together. Over the course of three themed sessions, participants will be guided through gentle prompts that inspire a journey of writing for and with each other.
This series is an invitation to slow down, express what matters, and capture your bond through the art of the ode — one of poetry’s oldest and most expressive forms.
This series is open to duos ages 12 and above. No prior writing experience is necessary, just a willingness to be present and playful with words.
Workshop
Map-making Memories of Past/Present/Future Cities
Date: July 26
Khaled Esguerra and Maitha Ali invite participants to take part in Floor-planning: Memories of Past, Present, and Future, a two-part workshop series that reflect on how we reclaim and reimagine urban and domestic narratives.
Cities cannot exist as they are without the people that inhabit them. Thus, the lives, stories, emotions, hopes, dreams, secrets and anxieties are as embedded into the urban as much as the structures that enable (or prevent) them.
By using tactile tools, participants will engage in mapping out their stories, tracing their personal paths, choosing what to claim and what to erase, and constructing speculative futures of the urban spaces that they inhabit – effectively crafting and reclaiming their urban histories that narrate personal pasts, presents and futures of cities as their own.
Film Screenings
Collected Histories
Date: July 27
Collected Histories is a project co-founded by Hind Mezaina and Jasmine Soliman. Through public film screenings, talks and workshops, its aim is to foster discussion on personal documentation and archiving, with an ultimate goal of inspiring and supporting individuals to become ‘citizen archivists’ by cataloguing, and exploring ways to self-publish and preserve personal collections.
This event is open to all, and no prior knowledge about archival practice is required.
Film Screenings
Between the Lines: DocuShorts Spotlighted
Date: August 15
This summer, Between the Lines presents a curated selection of docu-shorts created by filmmakers participating in the Arab Film Studio program under the Creative Media Authority.
Each film draws from lived experience, exploring memory, loss, community, and personal transformation, while experimenting with the language of documentary. Through nuanced narratives and creative approaches, the featured filmmakers delve into untold stories, family legacies, and emotional landscapes often left unspoken.
Workshop
How does it feel to cut a stone? with Ana Escobar Saavedra
Date: August 29
Artist Ana Escobar Saavedra invites participants to chisel the present into permanence through a hands-on introduction to stone cutting using traditional hand tools.
This workshop explores how fleeting feelings can be transformed into lasting impressions, asking: How does it feel to cut a stone?
Participants are encouraged to bring their own stones to work with, engaging in a collective, performative act of making. The session will also feature a collaborative element with another artist-researcher, focusing on the body’s relationship to material, memory, and gesture.
No prior experience needed, this workshop is for ages 18 and above.
Special Event
MFA Activations
Date: September 6
Join us for a day dedicated to Unstable Grounds: NYUAD MFA Graduate Exhibition 2025. Presenting the work of graduate students completing the two-year Master of Fine Arts in Art and Media at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD).
The artists in this exhibition, Dima Abou Zannad, Bao, Adele Bea Cipste, Hala El Abora, Mowen Li (Amira), Jude Maharmeh, Safeya Sharif, and Danutė Vaitekūnaitė, will be engaging with their works.