More than 35,000 visitors of all ages and from all walks of life attended the 2024 edition of Quoz Arts Fest, the region’s highly anticipated arts and culture festival. The 11th edition, supported by Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) as Strategic Partner, took place on 27 & 28 January, transforming the lanes of Alserkal Avenue and the Al Quoz Creative Zone into a bustling and inclusive hive of arts, culture, food and music.
Quoz Arts Fest 2024 featured more than 30 live performances, 16 art exhibitions, 9 art installations, over 75 food and retail concepts, and numerous community activations and workshops, from morning till midnight, creating an emotionally resonant festival experience for everyone. Since its inception the festival has become known for bringing together a wide range of the creative communities of the UAE and the region and allowing them to intersect and create shared dialogue.
A Celebration of the region’s contemporary art scene
The festival launched on the morning of 27 January with a slew of major public installation artworks, including French-Tunisian artist eL Seed’s larger-than-life mural, ‘Collection of Moments’, on the facade of his studio; ‘Red Flags’ by Anahita Razmi, courtesy of CARBON 12, featuring a series of vividly colourful banners and flags across various sites; ‘Every Color is a Shade of Black’ by Hamra Abbas and curated by Lawrie Shabibi, exploring colour in the context of faith, identity, race, and beauty.
Within Concrete, ‘Echoes of Nature’ by London-based Japanese artist Yuri Suzuki, invited visitors to play with the interactive sound installation. Basma Choir’s mesmerising celebration of Arabic music and heritage in response to Suzuki’s ambient sound installation was much-loved by attendees, drawing a crowd for each of their hourly performances.
Another popular standout work at Quoz Arts Fest 2024 was the light installation Still from Here by PHI Studio, drawing inspiration from knowledge possessed by nomadic Bedouins and originally commissioned for the Noor Riyadh Light Festival. Tanzanian-born artist Dipesh Pandya’s transformation of a car into a sonic sculpture through a site-specific spoken word performance, also surprised festival visitors, creating a point of artistic connection. Sima Dance Company, a pioneering force in Arab contemporary dance, put on a visually stunning and emotional performance that stole audiences’ hearts.
Music with Passion & Purpose
In the evening, crowds were brought to their feet by Sudanese fusion artists MarSimba’s blend of Sudanese lingo and African beats, and the remixed South Asian DJ sets of UAE-based Stick No Bills, who were accompanied by musicians playing traditional South Asian instruments such as the sitar, tabla, and harmonium. Festival-goers were in awe of millennial artist Usha Jey’s hybrid performance of hip-hop and Bharatanatyam ft. Mithu and Janu, while enthused by the return of Big Hass, a Dubai-based hip-hop DJ as emcee and show-runner.
The second day of Quoz Arts Fest saw a huge turnout for the highly anticipated live music performances by The Synaptik and Friends, helmed by the Palestinian-Jordanian rapper at the forefront of a popular wave of Arabic rap and trap, effortlessly merging singing and rapping to explore issues such as migration and social inequality. His participation was invigorated with performances by Maysa Daw, who captured the crowd with songs exploring her personal experiences, as well as DJ Sotusura, Egyptian rapper Feluka, and pioneer of the ‘Amman sound’, Shbash.
Quoz Encore, which has already become a mainstay of the festival, returned for its sophomore cycle, bringing in more than 80 entries by homegrown bands looking for their big break. Twenty-four were shortlisted and auditioned, and twelve bands/musicians were finally selected to perform at Quoz Arts Fest this year. Quoz Encore has fast become a showcase of the most promising homegrown emerging musicians of all ages, genres, and languages, and a platform from which to grow.
Inclusive & Inspired
The 11th edition of Quoz Arts Fest 2024 stood out for its inclusivity during the entire weekend, with performers, participants, and visitors of all ages, backgrounds, and cultural interests, coming together and fully immersing themselves in the myriad activities.
Children and their families enjoyed a dedicated lane of arts and activities, while foodies of all ages and tastes sated their appetites thanks to the variety of international culinary food offerings from pop-ups, food trucks, and permanent restaurants and cafes at Alserkal Avenue.
To that end, the festival was a profound experience that resonated in unique and nuanced ways with all visitors.