BUMP Urban Art Conference
BUMP Festival
Dates: August 5 – 6, 2025
Location: Contemporary Calgary (701 11 St. SW)
Cost: Free
BUMP Urban Art Conference: Monuments & Memory
We’re soooo back! Join us at Contemporary Calgary for our second annual Urban Art Conference. We’re bringing visionary artists, curators, and city-builders from across Canada to talk about everything under this year’s theme: Monuments and Memory. In an ever-changing urban landscape, how do cities remember? Who gets to be seen? And what does it mean to build together? Join us August 5 – 6th for some fantastic conversations about public space, culture and the people who build it.
We believe it’s essential to emphasize that this conference is completely free to attend. We’ve brought together an incredible lineup of speakers to explore topics that are often locked behind paywalls or institutional barriers. At the heart of our festival is a commitment to making art and the conversations that surround it accessible to all. By removing cost as a barrier, we aim to foster dialogue that is open, inclusive, and genuinely boundary-pushing.
For more information and to RSVP visit yycbump.ca/festival/conference.
Please note:
- Guests must RSVP to each panel and workshop individually, as well as the keynote address.
- Last year’s tickets went quick so get yours ASAP!
- Stay tuned for our keynote announcement next week!
- All conference ticket holders will be invited to join a private conference wrap party.
Conference Schedule August 5
- Introduction & keynote: Soft Power, Hard Shapes: Public Installations and Sculptures in the Age of Spectacle
Speaker(s): Adam Weir , Sans façon (Charles Blanc & Tristan Surtees), Ciara McKeown
Moderator(s): Khalid Omokanye
- Workshop: Reimagining Fragments as Monument
Instructor(s): Mao Projects
- Welcome to Where?: Tourism, and the Aesthetics of Place
Speaker(s): Seth Cardinal Dodginghorse, Mackenzie Brown, Harold Horsefall, Lauren Crazybull
Moderator(s): Jared Tailfeathers
August 6
- Ghost Town or Gathering Place?: Reimagining Downtown Through Public Will
Speaker(s): Courtney Walcott, Alex Sarian, Fabiola MacIntyre
Moderator(s): Bethel Afework
- Workshop: Voices in the Work: Community Engagement Without Compromise
Instructor(s): Dawn Van De Schoot
- The Age of the Editorial: Storytellers, Subjects, and the Shaping of Legacy
Speaker(s): Liam Dawe, Wesley O’Driscoll, Leechuts, Stuart Teekasingh
Moderator(s): Priya AKA. CONTRA
- The Sonic Underground: Music and Monumentality in the New Calgary
Speaker(s): Maud Salvi, Sheena Jardine-Olade AKA Donna Dadda, Rachel Weldon, Simone Chnarakis AKA WURLD2000K
Moderator(s): Ryan Tram
