The Global Art Forum 2025 is here to decode ‘The New New Normal’

At a time when navigating the ceaseless depths of Instagram’s Explore page feels like a bad fever dream and reality seems too far-fetched for even the most sensational of 90s sci-fi films, the 2025 edition of Art Dubai’s flagship transdisciplinary summit – the Global Art Forum – returns with a title that perfectly encapsulates the glitchy now we scroll through: The New New Normal.

Since 2007, the Global Art Forum has served as one of the world’s most forward-looking cultural platforms. Each edition has brought together artists, creatives, thinkers and theorists worldwide to unpack the ideas shaping our lives and futures. Set to take place at Madinat Jumeirah on April 18 and 19, this time around, the Forum promises to decode the cultural chaos of today, tomorrow, and whatever comes after.

“The New New Normal is this notion of how you wake up every morning and open your feed to realise that the world has changed in at least 14 different ways in the seven hours you were asleep for,” Shumon Basar, writer, curator and cultural critic, who has served as the commissioner of the Global Art Forum for over a decade, tells Dazed MENA.

For the 18th edition of the Global Art Forum, Shumon is joined by guest curators Y7 – the Manchester-based post-disciplinary art and research duo of Hannah Cobb and Declan Colquitt. Together, they’ve envisioned a programme that navigates digital slop, AI weaponry, quantum futures, and everything in between, all refracted through the cracked lens of the hyper-now.

“The new new is like a rebooted articulation of how hard it is to try and categorise or name things in the contemporary moment that just seems like liquid,” says Declan. “It touches on very serious, very grave matters. But it also plugs into this post-ironic, shitpost-fever-dream vernacular we’re all fluent in.”

The title itself is a nod to the absurdity of trying to name what we’re living through. It’s partly inspired by TikTok’s CoreCore trend and presents a more profound commentary on the endless suffixing of cultural eras. “Nothing’s ever really stuck,” suggests Declan. “And there’s this idea of the futility of categorisation.” It is this spirit of ambiguity and resistance to labels that drives Y7’s curatorial scope for the Forum.

“We were partially led by a desire to get our favourite thinkers – people whose work we really admire – in a room together,” Hannah tells Dazed MENA. “Especially people for whom this will be the first time in Dubai. We just wanted to share that with people who we felt would fit the bill and fit the vibe.”

Among those contributing to this edition is architect Rem Koolhaas, who, alongside his daughter and collaborator Charlie Koolhaas, will discuss Gulf urbanism on April 18. That same day, Swiss curator and critic Hans Ulrich Obrist will present Worldbuilding, his exhibition exploring gaming and time-based media art. On April 19, Dazed’s contributing editor Günseli Yalçinkaya will debut a new video essay on quantum culture. They’ll be joined by a wider lineup of creatives, thinkers, and speakers – all centring on what it is to live in the new new.

The New New Normal’s programme promises to delve into topics that feel disparate on the surface – gamified finance, the weaponisation of AI, dating apps, blockchain and the rise of China – but, through Y7’s lens, are all part of the same ecosystem. “For me, the most important thing was to present these topics as a web of interconnected things that all affect each other,” Hannah explains.

The Forum’s core isn’t just about responding to and making sense of the present – but also anticipating what comes next. “We’re not interested in forecasting per se. But I hope we manage to collectively put our finger on a few things that were, as yet, unarticulated,” explains Declan. “I hope people begin to think of technology not just as something we use, but something that we operate within and through.”

“Artists at their best have misused technology. They reveal the technological unconscious. And that’s where power is located,” adds Shumon.

The perpetually evolving relationship between art and technology runs through the many works on display at the Forum. One highlight is a newly commissioned short film by artist Zein Majali titled The New New Face of You, which uses AI-generated visuals to reflect on online identity, surveillance and the infrastructures of tech capitalism. “Zein’s work scrutinises the tools she’s using – and the wider political context they sit within,” says Hannah. “Particularly the way AI is owned and gatekept by companies with ties to the military-industrial complex.”

In tune with The New New Normal, this year’s Forum centres the Global South. While digital culture is often narrated through a Western lens, Shumon is adamant about the need to redraw those lines. “It’s not about having the right number of brown people. These people are the most advanced thinkers – because their lived experiences are the most advanced,” he says. “There’s an underlying agenda to the Forum: to move where we believe the centre of the world to be.”

Shumon and Y7 hope the Forum’s exciting programme will offer attendees insight and something more visceral – something enduring. “I hope people – especially those coming from Western contexts – get to have their perceptions of the world melted, in the same way that we did,” says Declan. “To realise that anglicised discourse really ain’t all that anymore.”

The Global Art Forum 2025: The New New Normal will take place on April 18 and 19 at Madinat Jumeirah Conference & Events Centre, Dubai, as part of Art Dubai.