As the Global Art Forum enters its third decade, the 2026 edition offers a critical reflection: a moment to reassess former predictions, trace continuities, and imagine future possibilities. Remaining true to its experimental spirit, GAF continues to act as a platform for shared thinking; one that is original, questioning, and deeply connected to the world it seeks to understand.

Art Dubai’s flagship summit, the Global Art Forum, returns in 2026 for a landmark 20th anniversary edition, marking two decades of pioneering conversations at the intersection of art, culture, technology, and society. Commissioned by Shumon Basar and taking place on 17–18 April 2026, this special edition reflects on the Forum’s own legacy while speculating boldly on what lies ahead.

Titled ‘Before and After Everything,’ the 2026 Global Art Forum revisits prescient themes explored across its history while measuring the cultural, artistic, and technological distance travelled over the past twenty years. By re-engaging with previous key ideas as well as new perspectives, this year’s programme considers how art continues to be an early warning system in a world of accelerating change. 

Since its inception, the Forum has brought together more than 650 voices from across disciplines, building a space where regional and international minds meet to produce ‘live thinking.’ 

Among other speakers to be announced soon, this edition will feature Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, Founder, Barjeel Art Foundation, Ibrahim Mahama, Artist with Ingrid Schroder, Director, Architectural Association on how to learn today; Marc Spiegler, Cultural Strategist and former Global Director of Art Basel with Sylvain Levy, Co-founder DSL Collection on shifts in the art market; and Sunny Rahbar, Co-founder, The Third Line Gallery, Maria Finders Senior Advisor, LUMA Arles; with Antonia Carver, Director, Art Jameel on the beginnings of Art Dubai and the Global Art Forum.

Artists Joanna Hadjithomas and Monira Al Qadiri with Sarah Rifky, Curator of Zamaniyyat on the use of history as a medium; Harry Kumar, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of MOTH on quantum technology culture; Ahmad Swaid, Editor-in-Chief, Dazed MENA on the contemporary media climate; and Reem Fadda, Director of Cultural Programming, Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi, Amal Khalaf, Curator of Bawwaba and Co-curator of Bawwaba Extended with Alexie-Glass Kantor, Executive Director, Curatorial, Art Dubai Group on what constitutes the civic today. 

Global Art Forum ‘Before and After Everything’ will be taking place at Art Dubai, 17–18 April 2026. Full programme to be announced soon. 

Enjoy the full collection of Global Art Forum sessions from 650 speakers online. 

COMMISSIONER

Shumon Basar has been Commissioner of Art Dubai’s Global Art Forum since 2011, shaping its thematic trajectory with hundreds of guests. A transplant to the Gulf for 20 years, in 2025 Shumon curated the anniversary show at The Third Line Gallery entitled ‘The Only Way Out is Through,’ helped set up Ibraaz in London where he curated Ibrahim Mahama’s ‘Parliament of Ghosts,’ and was Public Program Curator at Art Week Riyadh. Shumon was a founding member of the Fondazione Prada’s Thought Council, and regularly works on projects with Prada and Miu Miu. His books include ‘The Extreme Self,’ ‘The Age of Earthquakes’ (both with Douglas Coupland and Hans Ulrich Obrist), ‘Cities from Zero’ and ‘With/Without: Spatial Products, Politics and Practices in the Middle East’ (with Antonia Carver and Markus Miessen).