This week World Economic Forum is holding its Annual Meeting in Davos. World leaders from government, business, civil society and academia convene to set priorities and test ideas against a crowded global agenda, under the theme ‘A Spirit of Dialogue’. The Forum says close to 3,000 participants from more than 130 countries are expected, with record levels of political participation.

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Art has a way of creating dialogue without forcing it. It slows people down, softens the room, and reminds you there’s more than one truth on the table. In that context, the Arts and Culture Programme reads less like hospitality and more like editorial judgement. It is designed to be encountered in motion, inside the same buildings where the formal programme runs, and it is shaped this year by three pillars: Human Presence in the Digital Age, Tradition and Innovation, and Connection and Collaboration. The Forum’s own framing is bluntly practical. “Art reaches where policy papers cannot,” the Arts and Culture lead writes, arguing for creativity as a framework for understanding a shared present.

It started in the Plenary Hall with the Opening Concert. The Mahler Chamber Orchestra appeared with violinist Renaud Capuçon for a classical set, paired with an AI-generated visual installation by artist and technologist Ronen Tanchum that responded in real time to the musicians’ performance. The second half featured multi-Grammy Award winner Jon Batiste. The balance is carefully judged: tradition, contemporary rhythm, and a technology layer that stays in service of the live moment.

Tanchum then reappears in the Main Corridor with Human Atmospheres, a generative installation built from real-time weather data and designed to respond to participants moving through the space.

From there, The Gallery hosts the programme’s most methodical piece: Forestate by ecological artist Thijs Biersteker, developed in collaboration with UNESCO and built on UNESCO-validated Global Forest Watch data.

The work visualises forest loss and gain through leaves appearing and fading, with each disappearing leaf representing 100 square metres of forest lost “right now”, and each returning leaf marking the same area gained.

The methodology is part of what makes it persuasive. Deforestation is shown through weekly alerts, while regrowth is modelled using a scientifically accepted 20-year average rate of tree cover gain.

It is a reminder, delivered without theatrics, that the timelines of damage and recovery are rarely symmetrical.

At the Main Entrance, JR’s Wrinkles of the City operates in a different register. The project, which began in 2008 and has travelled across cities including Cartagena, Havana, Shanghai, Los Angeles, Berlin and Istanbul, uses monumental portraits of older residents as a record of civic memory.

The most anticipated commission is Marina Abramović’s THE BUS, making its global debut at the Annual Meeting as part of the Arts and Culture Programme. Conceived as a mobile sanctuary, it is presented as an invitation to step out of constant input and practise stillness, in Abramović’s long-running interest in time, attention and the relationship between artist and audience. The Forum positions it as part of the year’s broader push for dialogue that goes beyond scripted exchange.

Taken together, the programme is confident about placement and intent. It uses the Congress Centre itself as the exhibition architecture, and it builds a parallel yet seamlessly integrative itinerary that runs alongside the formal schedule: music, portraiture, data visualisation and immersive work that quietly changes the pace of the room.