A maximalist escape: Where to be this weekend in the Middle East

This week's selection of exhibitions is particularly exciting for maximalists who love art and landscapes that are so loud and vibrant that you feel transported elsewhere. Mixing patterns, textures and colors isn't for the faint of heart, I-only-wear-all-black crowd, but if your mind is as busy as this week's art, you've found the right spot.

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

What to do this weekend in Beirut:

Bayan Kiwan's paintings linger after the party is over, never ready to say goodbye. Showing "Intimate Tresspasses" at Sfeir-Semler Gallery in Downtown Beirut, Kiwan captures the grief of having to leave your friends by the end of the night.

Her characters are sprawled out on the floor of messy apartments, falling onto each other, inviting the viewer to identify their own social dynamics in a room full of people. Do we look for intimacy, desire, or political potential?

For more information, click here.

What to do this weekend in Abu Dhabi:

Artbooth Gallery in Abu Dhabi is lending its space to Soraya Abu Naba’a's ode to nature, “Encoded in Petals.”

Known for her art's exploration of ecological entanglements and the resilience of hybrid cultures, Abu Naba'a takes this opportunity to create a floral escape only she has the map to.

For more information, click here.

What to do this weekend in Cairo:

Neama al-Sanhoury’s third solo exhibition at Safarkhan Gallery unveils her world of fabric collage tapestries and contemplative abstractions.

Sanhoury says she “paints with fabric,” blending Ancient Egyptian, Coptic, Islamic, Greco-Roman and contemporary motifs.

Architectural silhouettes and scenes of market and ceremonial gatherings are stitched into the surfaces, transforming fragments of the past into a dialogue with the present. The layers meet, reminding us that heritage is a living archive.

For more information, click here.

What to do this weekend in Amman:

Khuzamah Abujoudeh Gallery in Jabal Amman is showing artists Ghassan Zard and Tamara Haddad's joint show, "Unfolding Realities," unveiling a world of multi- layered and textured landscapes.

Zard dives into the world of colors and their underlying tensions, experimenting with their complicated inner worlds and relationships, and how they mirror our own. Or in the words of Fiona Apple, "Side by side they both get bright / Together, they both get gray."

Haddad uses her canvases as compost, incorporating tree branches, leaves and dirt into her paint, creating a never-ending scenery of grain and texture, pushing you to view the art in your garden.

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.