The Art and the City conference was founded by art historian Dr. Tijen Tunali in 2018 as the outcome of her Marie Scklodowska Curie postdoctoral research fellowship “ Art and the City: Urban Space, Art and Social Movements.” Since then it has taken place every year in a different city (Tours, Berlin, Aarhus, Amman, Gottingen) with funding from MSH Val de Loire, Forum Transregionale Studien,  Carlsberg Foundation, Aarhus University, Columbia University and Max Planck Institute-Göttingen MPI MMG.

The primary purpose of this conference is to facilitate interdisciplinary dialogues and collaborations among scholars with a specific focus on the intersections of art, urban spaces, the "right to the city," aesthetics, and the politics of the urban environment. It aims to shed light on various aspects related to these themes, such as artistic rebellion on the streets, the aesthetics of urban social movements, and art activism in urban spaces. The conference serves as a platform for bringing together an international team of scholars, fostering diversity of disciplines and perspectives on the intricate relationships between urban space, art, and social change. This diversity allows for a multifaceted understanding of the ideologies, relationships, meanings, and practices that emerge from the interactions between art and the urban environment. The conference strives to offer insights and promote a better understanding of how these interactions play out in different regions ultimately contributing to the broader discourse on urban life, art, and social transformation.

The conference functions as a hub for scholars across humanities and social sciences with exhibitions, special issues in journals, edited books, and joint grant applications.