WORLDWIDE: Emerging Currents

Public art is changing rapidly around the world. New technologies, political movements, funding models, community expectations, and cultural shifts are reshaping how artists engage with public space. While every city faces its own challenges, many of the questions confronting public art today are increasingly global.

Bringing together artists, curators, and cultural leaders from four different countries, this conversation examines what is currently simmering across international public art ecosystems. What trends are emerging? What tensions are artists navigating? What ideas are gaining momentum? And what might the next decade of public art look like?

SPEAKER

SAID DOKINS (Mexico)

KEN LUM (United States)

NORMAL (Morocco)

ALVIN LUONG (Canada)

MODERATOR

KAT SIMMERS (BUMP Festival)

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BUMP Festival returns August 3–17, 2026, transforming Calgary through murals, sculpture, music, placemaking, and artistic dialogue. Running August 13–15, the BUMP Urban Art Conference is the festival's ideas hub—a three-day gathering of artists, thinkers, musicians, and cultural leaders exploring the forces shaping public art and the cities we share. Learn more at yycbump.ca and follow @yycbump on Instagram.