Children’s Biennale

UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF H.H. SHEIKHA SHAMSA BINT HAMDAN BIN MOHAMMED AL NAHYAN

IN CELEBRATION OF THE UAE’S ‘YEAR OF FAMILY’

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH NATIONAL GALLERY SINGAPORE, UMM AL EMARAT PARK AND SALAYEL HOSPITALITY

Abu Dhabi Festival will debut the first outdoor children’s biennale in the Middle East, running from 6 November to 6 December 2026 at Umm Al Emarat Park. Celebrating family values, togetherness and shared creativity through the power of the arts, the Biennale establishes Abu Dhabi as a leader in creating innovative cultural experiences for young audiences.

Guided by the theme ‘How the World Feels’, the Biennale will explore how children experience the world through touch, sound, movement and light. Each artwork will transform a walk through the park into a sensory journey that encourages curiosity, discovery and creative exploration. Children's perspectives are placed at the heart of the experience, recognising their voices not only through language but through their creativity, imagination and ways of engaging with the world.

Featuring creations by UAE-based artists and an international collaboration with National Gallery Singapore, the inaugural Children's Biennale will offer family sessions, workshops and an interactive guide – all designed to encourage creativity, environmental awareness and family bonding.

Curated by Dana Almazrouei, the Biennale brings together nine artists whose practices span sculpture, performance, textiles and more. The participating artists are Alia AlShamsi, Aya Afaneh, Hana El-Sagini, Moza Almatrooshi, Moza Almazrouei, Meera Almazrooei, Nada Almosa and Sarah Afaneh, alongside Indonesian artist Eko Nugroho. Together, they will transform Umm Al Emarat Park into a space where audiences of all ages can encounter art through touch, sound, movement and light. Through open-ended experiences, children are invited to experiment, question, collaborate, imagine and create their own meanings.

Dana Almazrouei ‍

For over a decade, Dana Al Mazrouei has explored how children and families experience and participate in culture, working across museums, biennials, healthcare environments and independent learning spaces. Holding a PhD in Museum Education, she curated the 5th and 6th Sharjah Children's Biennial, placing children's imagination at the heart of the exhibition experience. At Titter Totter, she has shaped a learning philosophy built around open-ended play, sensory exploration and child-led discovery. Across her work, she champions this approach over predetermined outcomes, recognising children as capable thinkers, storytellers and makers, and views learning as something that can happen anywhere.

"Children are not just visitors to this park — we want them to be its custodians," says curator Dana Almazrouei. "We wanted to ask the kind of questions adults often stop asking: what stories lie beneath the soil? How does sound travel through a park? Working with each artist, we thought first about how a child would experience the piece, and what they might carry with them afterwards. 

"Play is how children come to understand the world. As historian Johan Huizinga observed, play creates temporary worlds shaped by shared rules and imagination, and that's what we hope this park becomes. It isn't just a way to make art accessible; it's how children think, discover and build their own stories, together." 

Alia AlShamsi

Emirati-Italian artist, author, and curator Alia AlShamsi has shaped the UAE’s cultural scene for over 20 years. Her multidisciplinary work includes photography, illustration, and poetry, exhibited internationally. Former Cultural Programming Manager at Louvre Abu Dhabi and recipient of the 2024 National Grant, she has represented the UAE at global book fairs and is Vice President of the Emirates Reprographic Rights Association.

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Aya Afaneh

Palestinian artist Aya Afaneh works across performance, sculpture, and text, grounding her myth-making in archaeological research that bridges language, spirit, and form. She offers alternative histories as a way to envision the multiplicities of the future.  Her work has been exhibited at NYUAD, Alserkal, Tashkeel, and Bayt Al Mamzar, and internationally. A graduate of NYU Abu Dhabi, she is an alumna of the Salama bint Hamdan and Cultural Foundation Residencies, amongst others.

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Hana El-Sagini​

​Egyptian artist Hana El-Sagini creates sculpture, installation, painting, and ceramics, exploring themes of memory, care, and transformation through diverse materials like bronze, wood, and textiles. Her work examines the intersection of personal experiences with collective histories, using the body as both subject and metaphor. Recent exhibitions include Plot Twist at Art Basel, Adaptability at Saudi Museum of Contemporary Art, and a solo show at 421 Arts Campus.

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Moza Almatrooshi ​

Emirati artist and chef Moza Almatrooshi combines food, art, and site-responsive research, exploring how land, labour, and community connect through her work. A graduate of Slade School of Fine Art and ICCA Dubai, she creates installations and culinary experiences that foster collective attention. Her studio ballad transforms artistic research into edible encounters, turning the dining table into a space for shared care and cultural exchange.

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Moza Almazrouei &​ Meera Almazrooei ​

Moza Almazrouei is an artist and her her work spans film, installation, and research-based practice.  She completed a Masters Degree in Research Architecture at Goldsmiths university of London and BA in Fine Arts at the Slade School of Fine arts. Her documentary films have screened at Whitechapel Gallery and won awards, while her exhibitions include Athr Gallery, UCL Museums, and Bayt Al Mamzar. She also curates off-site exhibitions as part of Low Hazard.

Architect and Head of Exhibitions at the Sharjah Architecture Triennial, Meera Almazrooei graduated from The Cooper Union, where her research explores how materials and construction methods shape cultural narratives. Her work has been featured at the Misk Institute in Riyadh, the Venice Architecture Biennale, and other major international platforms.

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Nada Almosa x UT-R STUDIO​

Palestinian creative practitioner and teaching artist Nada Almosa navigates memory, identity, and play through mixed media, photography, and creative writing. Her works draw inspiration from the desire to preserve and chronicle stories through non-traditional archive making. A graduate of NYU Abu Dhabi, she has participated in residencies and fellowships with Manarat Al Saadiyat, Full Special Studio, Photo Trouvee Magazine, and Exit 11, exploring themes of memory, belonging, and storytelling.

UT-R Studio, founded in 2016 by Tasnim Tinawi and Uthra Varghese, is an interdisciplinary practice operating out of Dubai and New York. Driven by a research-based methodology, the studio works across the fields of art and architecture to create site-responsive installations. At its core, UT-R Studio is a collaborative practice that examines how culture, ecology and the built environment shape one another. The studio has participated in many competitions and commissions at various scales and seeks innovative design methods through formal and material experiments.  

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Sarah Afaneh​

Sarah Afaneh is a Palestinian artist with an interdisciplinary practice that encompasses writing, photography, printmaking, and textiles. Her practice is rooted in a curiosity with abstractions in text, color, and symbol, through which she reimagines the narration of individual and collective histories.

Sarah is a recipient of the Teaching Artists Fellowship at Manarat Al Saadiyat and the Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship. She holds a BA in Literature & Creative Writing and Social Research & Public Policy from NYU Abu Dhabi.

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Eko Nugroho​

Eko Nugroho is one of the most acclaimed members of Indonesia's young contemporary art generation, shaped by the upheaval and democratic transition following the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Based in Yogyakarta, Java, he engages deeply with socio-political commentary, blending local traditions like batik and embroidery with global influences from street art, graffiti and comics. His practice spans drawing, painting, murals, sculpture, animation and tapestry, reflecting a restless curiosity that moves easily between mediums and audiences.

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