Your guide to Alserkal Avenue
Key takeaways
It is hard to imagine Dubai without visiting cultural and sophisticated centers such as Alserkal Avenue. At Al Serkal you will find more than 20 modern galleries, hundreds and thousands of works of art from the most talented and famous artists from around the world. Al Serkal provides an inspiring and creative atmosphere where you can meet not only works of art but also their creators.
You can touch the art as soon as you step off the plane in Dubai by ordering a luxury car for yourself not only for convenient travel around the city but also to experience the posh life of the Emirates fully. Imagine yourself driving up to the entrance of the Dubai Opera for a magnificent performance in an exclusive car from Trinity Rental — you will immediately feel like part of an oriental fairy tale. It's possible to rent a premium car without a deposit and pleasant prices which already include full insurance coverage, VAT, full tank, toll roads, and 300 km/day with no extra charges.
Trinity Rental provides you an elite car rental in Dubai with an exclusive car fleet to make your driving experience as pleasant as possible — more than 80 vehicles with minimum mileage and even 2024 models among them. A dedicated manager will help you complete your booking, provide car delivery to any point on the Dubai map, answer all your questions about the rental process, and be in touch until the car is returned.
The arts district with heart
Al Serkal Avenue is not just an art quarter but a holistic creative ecosystem that has become a catalyst for the development of Dubai's cultural economy, solidifying its status as the premier art district Dubai. This project from Al Serkal clearly showed how the Alserkal Dubai ecosystem thrives on investments in culture, attracting a huge number of new arrivals.
The vision for Al Serkal appeared here back in 2007, and the first actual gallery appeared in 2008 and came from Damascus. The founder, Abdelmonem bin Eisa Alserkal, is a businessman and philanthropist from the UAE, who set the goal of developing a common cultural heritage in the world by allocating grants, sponsoring, and purchasing various works of art. Thus, from one gallery in 2025, we can observe 25 at Al Serkal.
The entrance is free and this attracts a large number of tourists who immediately plan a visit to the galleries in the first days after arrival. Alserkal Avenue can be considered an excellent leisure destination for both family and business purposes. Upon arrival at the airport, you can use the rental from Trinity Rent, take one of 80 modern sports cars and receive a full tank of gas as a gift. It is important to note that a deposit is not required for this. The trip from Dubai International Airport (DXB) to Alserkal Avenue by car will take about 20-25 minutes, depending on the traffic situation. The distance is about 24 kilometers.
Discover amazing local artists
Al Serkal Avenue is created for art lovers, and it has a huge number of contemporary artists. World famous and innovative artists whose daring approaches to contemporary art could not go unnoticed. It should be clarified that the gallery is not a collection, it is cyclical and artists come for the season “From September to May” Let's take a closer look at whose works you can meet at Alserkal (Dubai):
1. Hassan Hadjadj (Morocco)
Hadjadj was born in Morocco but moved to London as a teenager. He lived at the junction of two cultures, which became the main fuel for his creativity. While in London, he saw the club and cheeky life, arriving in Marrakech, he saw a bright and completely different visual picture. He did not choose from them and decided to mix them, becoming one of the most popular artists in the world, frequently exhibited at Al Serkal.
One of his main works presented at the gallery, a key example of contemporary Dubai photography, is the Kesh Angels series. A tough and challenging gallery in which he photographed female bikers from Marrakech dressed in traditional djellabas but in bright custom colors. This series is called to break the stereotypes of the “obedient eastern woman”, and shows them as strong independent modern heroines. Often visitors to Al Serkal call it an affirmation of a new female identity in the Arab world.
2. Tammam Azzam (Syria)
Azzam is an artist from Damascus with a horrific past who moved to Dubai after fleeing Syria because of the turmoil. He was unable to paint, thus his only option for expressing his thoughts was digital art. The pain and destruction he saw are reflected directly in his artwork.
He recreates famous works of art in a warlike environment using digital collage and photomontage as his main techniques. Thus, the realities of battle are shown via old art.
His key work is Freedom Graffiti, in this 2013 work Azzam took the painting by Gustav Klimt “The Kiss”. This painting is one of the main symbols of love and tenderness in the West, and behind Tammam added a destroyed Syrian building, thus expressing protest. This work caused a huge resonance throughout Alserkal Dubai.
3. Samia Halabi (Palestine)
Samia Halabi is one of the founders of Arab abstractionism and a pioneer of digital art, a living legend. Bright, memorable and geometric paintings that seem alive, she conveys sensations and emotions. She creates kinetic exhibition using computer code – this is an abstraction that constantly moves and changes on the screen. In the gallery at Al Serkal you can see abstract paintings from the 1960-1970s, and there are many modern interpretations.
4. Michael Rakowitz (USA/Iraq)
Rakowitz is an American of Iraqi-Jewish descent. He perceives art as a form of investigation, resurrection and symbolic reparation of cultural traumas. His activity in the gallery is definitely different from other works of art, the most key work “The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist” is an ongoing project started in 2007. Its goal is to recreate all 7000+ artifacts that were looted from the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad in 2003. He recreates each object in life-size from Iraqi food packaging. For example, he recreated famous Assyrian bas-reliefs and statues from newspaper clippings and date syrup jars.
Hip cafes and cool lifestyle concepts abound
To Alserkal Avenue, you can find not only galleries here, but also numerous trendy cafes and other lifestyle projects. This is not just an addition, but an integral part of the area, working as a magnet for a wide variety of people.
You can start the morning with one of the best specialty coffees in Dubai at Nightjar Coffee Roasters, where roasting beans is also an art. Here, coffee is roasted according to a special recipe, which is why many different people come here, both entrepreneurs and representatives of the IT community.
Also on the Avenue, connoisseurs can find the first and only arthouse cinema - Cinema Akil. Al Serkal cinema specializes in independent, auteur and world cinema. Here, unlike regular cinemas in Dubai, you will see velvet chairs and other types of furniture of Western civilization. The district also hosts the avenue theatre, a space dedicated to live performances.
Shopping spaces that fuel creativity
Shopping on Alserkal Avenue is the complete opposite of regular shopping centers in Dubai. Unlike similar shops here you will meet not just sellers, but the founders of the brands themselves, ready to tell the story of each item. You will not get faceless items, but a real product from nearby workshops. Ideal for connoisseurs of new sensations, a key part of the Al Serkal experience.
Read also: The essential guide to Dubai’s Al Seef
Plan Your Visit
To fully enjoy Al Serkal Avenue, you can use the following plan.
Rent a car at Trinity Rental
You need to come to such places in an appropriate car, rent one of 80 cars without a deposit and get a full tank of fuel for free. Ferrari Roma will be perfect.
Head to the gallery.
Wander through a live gallery of contemporary artists, take a few photos and experience the culture and art of different countries and eras.
Take a coffee break.
Go to Nightjar Coffee and enjoy a specially roasted coffee, where you can try Dubai desserts.
End of the evening.
Spend the rest of the evening at Cinema Akil, watching an American film in velvet chairs.
FAQ
Do I need a ticket to get in?
No, admission is free. Pay only for purchases, food or tickets (for example, to the cinema).
What shops and galleries are there?
Contemporary art galleries, concept stores, design studios and workshops. We recommend visiting Ayyam Gallery, The Third Line, Leila Heller Gallery and Green Art Gallery.
Are there restaurants or cafes?
You can start a business meeting at Project Chaiwala, choose between Lila Molino and Kokoro Hand Roll Bar for the main course, and finish the negotiations over coffee at the renowned Nightjar coffee shop.