Jameel Library is an open contemporary arts research centre dedicated to cultural histories of the Gulf and its neighbouring regions, located at the heart of the Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai. The growing multimedia library collection features books, journals, catalogues, theses, artists’ files and ephemera in both English and Arabic.

Search the library catalogue here.

Prior booking is required to visit Jameel Library.

Jameel Library collection

The arts library’s collection focuses on making accessible the knowledge embedded in arts and culture; enabling the construction of multiple narratives; and making visible the fluidity of these ideas. Key content subjects include: exhibition histories; pedagogy and alternative arts education projects; contemporary discourse and theory from and about the region; plus selected artists’ monographs and mapped journeys of practice and influence.

Dynamic learning platform

Jameel Library is an active and dynamic learning platform, home to public programmes, reading groups, curated bibliographies, symposia and interventions. Free and open to all, the arts library is home to students, artists, researchers, writers, professionals and the curious.

Library Circles

Library Circles feature research, talks and experimental interventions by UAE practitioners in the Jameel Library and the Jameel Arts Centre. The programme explores alternative research methodologies and representations with a focus on ‘thinking in public’. You can find information on our upcoming Library Circles iterations and Jameel Library events here.

Jameel Library Readings

Jameel Library Readings is a series which invites visitors, friends and collaborators of the Jameel Library to read and respond to texts from the collection, including videos by Michael Rackowitz, Hiwa K, and Sunoj D and Namrata Neog.

17-Year Cicada

Jameel Library features an illustrated novel by Sarnath Banerjee titled ‘17-year Cicada’, with ten chapter entries released every fortnight starting 18 January 2021 on Jameel Arts Centre’s website, which you can visit through the link here.

17-year Cicada is an episodic account of a young woman trapped in a vast library. She goes through the stages of denial, anger and acceptance. Surrendering to her fate she roams around the desolate reading rooms, walks between the shelves, takes selfies and eats from the well-stocked refrigerator. Sometimes she has imaginary conversations. The place feels like the furthest outpost of the Gobi desert.

But is she really alone?