Graduating tensions: Where to be this weekend in the Middle East

Art is uncomfortable to understand, and the art scene is even more uncomfortable to try to break into. This week's exhibitions celebrate our next generation's rising stars and the turmoil and tension that awaits them.

Every Thursday, L’Orient Today, in partnership with The MYM Agenda, guides you through happenings across the Middle East that are actually worth your time.

What to do this weekend in Beirut:

Ayp to Zed Art Academy is showcasing its 20th Anniversary Collective Exhibition at Espace Dadour, Galerie d’Art, in Jal al-Dib, this weekend only.

Out of 89 alumni, 46 will showcase their works based on the two founders' prompts. Works will dive into each artist's own interpretations of feminism, womanhood and love in its many forms — romantic, platonic, spiritual and love for nature. The second prompt asks them to envision, in a dream world, what their art studio would look like.

For more information, click here.

In Lebanon, we live like fish, drowning under the weight of news, constant developments and never-ending chaos. We swim in schools and let the current drift us away from each other. Ghassan Ouais tells "The Story of a Fish" at Galerie Cheriff Tabet in Gemmayzeh using paintings, sketches and sculptural installations.

The sea, like Lebanon, "is where beauty and confinement coexist," he writes.

For more information, click here.

What to do this weekend in Dubai:

Multimedia Iranian artist Kamrooz Aram wants you to rethink everything you know about 'what looks good.'

Combining painting, sculpture, collage and exhibition design in his latest exhibition at Green Art Gallery, Aram creates a world where his art is fighting against display and space, making you question your attachment to art being 'pleasant' and quiet.

For more information, click here.

What to do this weekend in Abu Dhabi:

Manarat al-Saadiyat in the Cultural District is showcasing its annual art fair. International galleries are choosing their best pieces just for you (and potential buyers).

In reality, joining art from all around the world turns the venue into a special space, where all these cultures get to interact under one roof and in the same language. See it for yourself this weekend only.

For more information, click here.

What to do this weekend in Cairo:

“I’ve taken on the qualities of the sea,” Emad Ibrahim said about his latest exhibition, "Colorful Thoughts," showing now at Zamalek Art Gallery.

His paint splatters on the canvas become waves, his way of releasing everything he holds under the surface. His sea is blue and calm, but only when centered around turmoil and stress. His exhibition is his invitation to enter his world.

For more information, click here.

Didn't find what you were looking for? Stay up to date with all these events and more everywhere in the Arab world through the MYM Agenda, available on our website here.