Art in public space today is not only an aesthetic gesture but a way to activate relationships and rethink collective life. Programming outside conventional venues — in streets, neighborhoods, abandoned or informal places — turns the territory into a laboratory of coexistence, where artists, residents, and diverse audiences can meet and interact. Contemporary artistic and curatorial practices can generate new forms of community, engaging also with so-called non-users of culture: people who do not usually visit music venues, museums or theaters, yet become active participants in creative processes. Can art in public spaces truly move the needle towards cultivating new, culturally engaged audiences, or is that wishful thinking? What does it take to create a language of proximity, capable of connecting poetic imagination with social responsibility and shaping shared experiences that bring together different bodies, times and imaginaries?