INLOCO TALKS is a one-day symposium dedicated to exploring the potential of artistic practices in public urban spaces. During the 2025 sessions, participants explored the intersections of the urban environment and art across various dimensions, discussing how artistic practices outside of institutions interact with the urban context and transform public space.

This year, the event was organized as a professional forum, and renowned practitioners were invited to speak: Leila Binbrek, director of the UAE National Pavilion at the Venice Biennale; Dunya Gottweis, director of Art Dubai and former global head of gallery relations at Art Basel; and Dr. Khaled Alavadi, associate professor in the Department of Sustainable Urbanism at Khalifa University and founder of Urban Research Studio.

Key areas of discussion included: the role of artists, curators, and institutions in shaping public space; institutional frameworks that either facilitate or, conversely, restrict initiatives in the field of public art; the emergence of temporary artistic interventions in the formats of festivals and biennials; and how collaborations between artists and urbanists influence urban aesthetics, community engagement, and the sociocultural narratives of contemporary cities.

The program was complemented by Inloco MetaTalks 2025, organized in the metaverse. The main focus of the parallel program was hybrid formats in which the physical and digital coexist in the public sphere: from immersive technologies in public art to the creation and use of digital replicas of cultural heritage sites.

The symposium took place in Dubai at the Al Safa Art and Design Library. Four sessions were attended by academics, artists, curators, urban planners, and cultural strategists from the UAE and the MENA region.