- IKKA hosts Dubai’s only permanent rotating in-house restaurant art gallery experience.
- Paris-based Saudi artist Reem Ali makes her Dubai exhibition debut.
- Art meets dining through photography, video, cocktails, music, and rooftop energy.
- New works appear here before entering Dubai’s traditional gallery circuit.
High above Jumeirah, where skyline views meet late-night conversations, IKKA is quietly rewriting the rules of Dubai’s art scene. This February, the Peruvian Japanese restaurant continues its bold cultural experiment by unveiling On Practicing Recovery, a new exhibition by Paris-based Saudi visual artist Reem Ali, marking her Dubai debut and placing fresh contemporary work directly into the rhythm of dining life.
Running from February 4 to 28, 2026, the exhibition becomes the second chapter in IKKA’s permanent, rotating in-house gallery programme. Launched in January, the initiative makes IKKA the only restaurant in Dubai to operate a fully integrated monthly art gallery, where artworks debut here first before moving into the wider gallery circuit. It’s a format that favors discovery over formality, allowing guests to encounter art between shared plates, cocktails, and rooftop DJ sets.
Ali’s work explores recovery as an ongoing, non-linear process shaped by domestic space, memory, and women’s inner lives. Working across video and photography, and informed by her background in biology, she creates restrained, contemplative pieces that feel intentionally quiet against IKKA’s vibrant backdrop. Rather than offering resolution, her visuals sit in reflection, inviting viewers to pause amid movement and sound.
This contrast is exactly what makes the experience compelling. Inside IKKA’s in-house gallery, art does not exist in isolation. Music, conversation, and service become part of the viewing context, creating layered moments of connection. It’s a softer, more human way to meet contemporary work, one that mirrors how people actually live, socialize, and unwind in the city.
The setting plays a crucial role. Located inside Hyatt Centric Jumeirah Dubai, IKKA blends skyline views with a social dining atmosphere that feels both elevated and approachable. The exhibition unfolds alongside signature cocktails and bold plates, reinforcing the restaurant’s belief that creativity should be experienced through presence and shared time.
This philosophy is deeply rooted in IKKA’s identity, shaped in part by Chef Jose Luis’s background in the arts. At IKKA, dining and art follow the same rhythm, slowly, collectively, and with intention. The restaurant positions itself as a site of first encounter, introducing never-before-seen works to the UAE in an environment that feels alive rather than curated behind white walls.
With On Practicing Recovery, IKKA continues to blur the lines between gallery and gathering space, offering Dubai a new way to experience contemporary art. It’s proof that some of the city’s most meaningful cultural moments now happen over dinner, not just inside museums.
Discover Reem Ali’s “On Practicing Recovery” at IKKA this February and experience art where atmosphere, food, and reflection meet!
Instagram: @ikkadubai
