After a quiet summer, Dubai's cultural scene is springing back to life, and it's coming in hot.
Among the most exciting returns is The Arts Club Dubai’s Stairway Exhibits, now in its thirteenth edition and this time featuring Selections from the Perić Collection. Trust us, this one’s worth climbing the stairs for.
Spanning three full floors of the club’s striking ICD Brookfield Place location, the exhibition transforms The Arts Club's staircases into a colourful vertical gallery space. It’s a bold and beautifully curated look into the private collection of Mato Perić, a collector with a taste for the daring, the thought-provoking, and the emotionally resonant.
Curated by Amelie von Wedel and Pernilla Holmes of Wedel Art, the exhibition is a vibrant journey through what Perić calls ‘popular conceptual art’, works that hit you visually but also have plenty to say. It's a rare peek behind the curtain of a private collection built with curiosity and conviction.
Group CEO Ajaz Sheikh sums it up best: “Each Stairway Exhibition is an invitation for our members to encounter art in motion, woven into the rhythm of the club itself. Through the Stairway Exhibits, we see it as our duty to not only present art of the highest calibre, but also to nurture collecting and patronage. With the Perić Collection, our members experience both the evolution of contemporary practice and how collecting can itself become a radical act of storytelling.”
And what a story this one tells.
It kicks off on the first floor with a powerhouse lineup of German artists, think Albert Oehlen’s raw energy, Katharina Grosse’s immersive colour fields, Monika Baer’s enigmatic textures, and Jana Euler’s witty, perspective-bending From the Perspective of Margarine. From there, things go global.
As you ascend, the collection opens up: Jacqueline Humphries’ glitchy, digital-age abstractions, Helen Marten’s delightful assemblages, and Walter Price’s layered, narrative-driven paintings pull you deeper into Perić’s world. A focused presentation of works by Tobias Spichtig brings a spectral stillness to the journey, a reminder that art doesn’t always shout to be heard.
Sculptural pieces by Aria Dean and Sung Tieu, Germany’s representative at the 2026 Venice Biennale. Aleksandra Domanović, Michael Krebber, and the late Michel Majerus add texture and a tactile counterpoint to the visual feast around them.
The Perić Collection is more than an art show, it’s a smart, soul-stirring exploration of how contemporary art speaks to us, surprises us and sometimes even challenges us to see the world anew.
Visit: theartsclub.ae
Hayley is passionate about everything 90s, from art and fashion to music. Her love for glossy, artful coffee table books started early during her days in book publishing and has only grown since. She collects luxury magazines from around the world, enjoys exploring creative workshops around the city, and always chases dinners with a view, preferably by the beach.
