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Art Dubai Unveils Extensive 2023 Program

The expanded 2023 program features an ambitious and multi-strand conference
The expanded 2023 program features an ambitious and multi-strand conference
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Art Dubai Unveils Extensive 2023 Program

The expanded 2023 program features an ambitious and multi-strand conference
The expanded 2023 program features an ambitious and multi-strand conference

Art Dubai has announced details of the program and partnerships for its 16th edition.

The expanded 2023 program features an ambitious and multi-strand conference, talks and education program, reinforcing Dubai’s emergence as a hub for art and culture and a significant contributor to global conversations about contemporary art.

The 2023 edition of Art Dubai will be held at Madinat Jumeirah from March 3 to 5, with previews on 1 and 2 March 2023.

Held under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Art Dubai’s expanded 2023 program, developed in collaboration with local and international cultural partners, reaffirms the premier art fair’s role as the meeting point for the Global South’s creative industries and communities.

Highlights of the 2023 program include site-specific commissions and premieres by renowned international artists, presented in partnership with the region’s leading institutions.

The expanded program continues Art Dubai’s long-standing commitment to thought leadership and supporting the development of Dubai’s cultural infrastructure.

The Artist Commissions for 2023 are themed around food, community, celebration and hope, with artists selected from participating Art Dubai galleries and South Asia’s leading institutions.

Julius Baer has renewed its association with Art Dubai as its lead partner for another five years until 2027. The Swiss wealth management group will premiere a newly commissioned artwork by Refik Anadol, the new media artist and pioneer in the aesthetics of machine intelligence.

The commission will debut in Dubai as a part of Julius Baer’s new initiative, NEXT, which will encourage the interdisciplinary exploration of megatrends across the arts, science and technology.

Also debuting at the fair will be UAE First Immersion, a presentation of new artworks produced following the November 2022 visit to the UAE by some leading names in digital art.

The exhibit will be part of the expanded second edition of Art Dubai Digital, which will feature collaborations with various organizations pioneering new institutional models, including Lian Foundation and 6529’s Open Metaverse project.

Celebrating its 10th edition, Campus Art Dubai, Art Dubai’s flagship professional development initiative, will expand to incorporate placements with local partners, including Alserkal Avenue and Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai and 421, an Abu Dhabi-based emerging artists platform. With 421, the fair will present a new group exhibition curated by UAE-based artist and researcher Dania Al Tamimi.

The 16th edition of Art Dubai’s celebrated transdisciplinary conference Global Art Forum, commissioned by Shumon Basar, will explore the theme “Predicting the Present” and consider the central question: if it’s the end of history and the end of the future, what happens next?
The fair’s 2023 conference program will expand to include the first Dubai edition of Christie’s Art+Tech summit.

The summit brings together regional and global leaders, innovators, artists, and visionaries to foster meaningful dialogues on the intersection of Art and Technology.

The sixth iteration of the summit—and the first in the region—will survey tech trends, hear from artists incorporating tech in their practices, and explore current and future challenges and opportunities.

Highlighting the role played by collectors and philanthropists in developing the region’s cultural infrastructure, Art Dubai 2023 will include a series of high-level Collector and Modern Talks, presented in partnership with Dubai Collection, the first institutional art collection in the city and for the city.

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Buses Out, Shoppers In: London’s Oxford Street Goes Traffic-Free

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan poses for the media in Oxford Street as it becomes traffic-free and pedestrianized in London, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. (AP)
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan poses for the media in Oxford Street as it becomes traffic-free and pedestrianized in London, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. (AP)
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Buses Out, Shoppers In: London’s Oxford Street Goes Traffic-Free

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan poses for the media in Oxford Street as it becomes traffic-free and pedestrianized in London, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. (AP)
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan poses for the media in Oxford Street as it becomes traffic-free and pedestrianized in London, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. (AP)

Part ‌of London's Oxford Street, Britain's busiest shopping thoroughfare, went permanently traffic-free on Monday in an effort to revitalize the area and create a new public space to boost economic growth.

An almost 1-km (0.6-mile) section of Oxford Street between the Selfridges and IKEA stores is now closed to buses, cars, taxis, cycles, scooters and pedicabs, the office of London Mayor Sadiq Khan said.

The move has been more than two decades in the making. It and a wider ‌regeneration project ‌aim to put Oxford Street back among ‌top ⁠global shopping destinations ⁠including New York's Times Square, Paris' Champs-Élysées and Barcelona's La Rambla.

"After so many false dawns, and now working with a government who share the scale of my ambition, I’m proud that we’re finally unlocking a new era for the street," Khan said.

"Revitalizing Oxford Street will ⁠boost jobs and economic growth in the capital."

Oxford ‌Street, connected to Bond ‌Street and Regent Street and home to John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, ‌Tiffany & Co and many others, has struggled since the ‌COVID pandemic, with the arrival of US candy stores putting off many shoppers.

The pedestrianization is the first stage of a transformation, although minimal construction will take place during the run-up to ‌Christmas, a busy shopping period.

Plans for 2027 include more than 50 new trees, ⁠100 ⁠new seats, two public squares, rest areas and better signage and lighting.

Oxford Street attracts around half a million visitors every day, according to the mayor's office, but many flagship stores, including House of Fraser and Topshop, have shut in recent years, and Khan said the area had been neglected.

"This marks an exciting new chapter for Oxford Street, creating a greener, more vibrant place that will attract visitors and investment, support businesses and jobs, and drive growth in the heart of our capital," British housing, communities and local government minister Angela Rayner said.

Varieties

Nonagenarian in Japan Outwits Suspected Scammer

People make their way at a shopping district in Tokyo, Japan,October 23, 2026. (Reuters)
People make their way at a shopping district in Tokyo, Japan,October 23, 2026. (Reuters)
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Nonagenarian in Japan Outwits Suspected Scammer

People make their way at a shopping district in Tokyo, Japan,October 23, 2026. (Reuters)
People make their way at a shopping district in Tokyo, Japan,October 23, 2026. (Reuters)

A 93-year-old woman in western Japan outsmarted a suspected scammer by pretending to fall for the scheme and helping police arrest him at her home, an officer told AFP on Monday.

Japan has the second-oldest population in the world after Monaco, and senior citizens are often targeted by fraudsters, who last year collectively stole around 325.7 billion yen ($2.0 billion) from their victims.

The woman, who lives in the Shiga region, received telephone calls from Wednesday through Thursday last week from a man who claimed to be a police officer.

The caller falsely informed her that her bank account had experienced an unauthorized withdrawal.

The woman was told to hand over her ATM card to a man, posing as a police officer, who would visit her so that authorities could verify her account.

Suspecting a scam, the woman consulted her son and the police as she waited for the scammer to visit her house.

"The person's family reached out to the police on Wednesday evening, and we were able to have officers at her house" before the scammer arrived on Thursday, a local police official told AFP on customary condition of anonymity.

When a 47-year-old man appeared at her doorstep, waiting officers arrested him on the spot, he said.

"The person (the woman) is someone in good health and highly articulate," the official said, while urging other elderly residents consult family members when they suspect fraud.

Varieties

Malaysia's Johor Reopens Schools as Haze Eases

A tourist takes a selfie with the city skyline seen in the background as haze conditions due to Indonesian wildfires improve in Kuala Lumpur on October 26, 2026. Mohd Rasfan / AFP
A tourist takes a selfie with the city skyline seen in the background as haze conditions due to Indonesian wildfires improve in Kuala Lumpur on October 26, 2026. Mohd Rasfan / AFP
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Malaysia's Johor Reopens Schools as Haze Eases

A tourist takes a selfie with the city skyline seen in the background as haze conditions due to Indonesian wildfires improve in Kuala Lumpur on October 26, 2026. Mohd Rasfan / AFP
A tourist takes a selfie with the city skyline seen in the background as haze conditions due to Indonesian wildfires improve in Kuala Lumpur on October 26, 2026. Mohd Rasfan / AFP

Schools reopened in southern Malaysia on Monday as air quality improved after weeks of toxic haze from wildfires in neighboring Indonesia.

The closures were a consequence of a regional haze crisis that blanketed parts of Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia and Singapore, sending respiratory complaints soaring and fueling diplomatic tensions.

In Malaysia's southernmost Johor state, face-to-face classes resumed in stages Monday after a 10-day suspension affecting more than 1,000 schools and about 600,000 students.

Johor education and information committee chairman Muhammad Naqib Md Ghazali said the decision followed a review of air quality readings across the state and health risk assessments.

Attendance on Monday and Tuesday is limited to students sitting examinations, he said in a statement Sunday.

Full operations are expected to resume on Wednesday if air quality continues to improve, he added.

Air quality had improved across Johor and much of peninsular Malaysia by Monday afternoon, with government monitoring data showing no areas recording unhealthy pollution levels.

Several districts in eastern Sarawak state, however, continued to report unhealthy air quality, including the state capital Kuching.

Malaysia's weather agency said changing wind patterns were expected to reduce the risk of further haze episodes for the rest of the year.

"As the wind direction has finally shifted from southwest to northeast, we highly expect there will be no more haze episodes this year," Meteorological Department director-general Mohd Hisham Mohd Anip told AFP.

The regional picture remained uneven, however, with Singapore still among the world's 20 most polluted major cities on Monday afternoon, according to Swiss-based air quality monitor IQAir.

Indonesia has struggled for months to contain fires that deforestation monitor Nusantara Atlas said consumed more than 1.9 million hectares in the nine months to September.

On Saturday, Indonesia cut natural gas exports to Singapore to prioritize domestic demand, an official said, with the two countries at loggerheads over regional air pollution from wildfires on the vast archipelago.