2026: Networks and Connections
This year, we invite artists, technologists, and researchers to submit proposals for the 2026 open call, focusing on the theme of "Networks and Connections."
We seek innovative data-driven art that explores the intricate relationships, dependencies, and flows within Detroit's complex systems, whether natural, social, or infrastructural.
Submissions should utilize publicly available Detroit Open Data or artist-generated datasets to visualize the city as a dynamic web of interconnected elements. This includes, but is not limited to, ecological systems like the Detroit River watershed and urban green spaces, social networks and community connections, or the infrastructure networks that support urban life and economy.
We encourage proposals that critically examine patterns of growth, decay, resilience, and transformation within these systems, offering new perspectives on the city's vitality and challenges.
How to submit:
Please use the Google form (link below) to submit project proposals to be part of a multiple media group exhibition to be held in Detroit in March of 2026. Visualizing Detroit presents work in a wide range of media and formats such as digital, analog, physical, performance, sound works, walks, installations, creative coding, participatory mapping, drawings, etc. We welcome proposals that expand beyond the gallery walls and will support projects that occur in public spaces and in unconventional formats. Please see some samples of past exhibitions on our website.
Artists are expected to reference or use at least one Detroit Open Data dataset in their project. Other data, including data derived from novel and experimental collection systems, are welcome (in conjunction with the use of Detroit Open Data). We’re interested in participatory data collection; in radical and cognitive mapping; in data that is represented or experienced through time, sound, and other senses.
