The Visualizing Detroit: The Art of Data open call is accepting submissions for its upcoming exhibition. The initiative is led by the Detroit Data Coalition in partnership with the City of Detroit, including the GO Data Commission. The exhibition invites artists, designers, planners, technologists, and researchers to create work that meaningfully engages Detroit Open Data to explore systems shaping the city.
This year’s theme focuses on Networks and Connections, encouraging creative interpretations of social, environmental, infrastructural, and civic relationships through data-driven work. Submissions are open to a wide range of formats, including visualizations, maps, installations, interactive projects, and other interdisciplinary approaches.
Open Call 2026
This year artists, technologists, and researchers to submit proposals for the 2026 open call, focusing on the theme of “Networks and Connections.”
The Open Call seeks 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.
Proposals are encouraged that critically examine patterns of growth, decay, resilience, and transformation within these systems, offering new perspectives on the city’s vitality and challenges.
Submission date (Love Data Week): Sunday, February 15, 2026, by 11:59 PM (EST)
Finalists notification date: Sunday, March 1, 2026, by 11:59 PM (EST)
Exhibition dates (Open Data Day): March 7-13, 2026
Exhibition Details
Exhibition will take place in March 2026 in Detroit with specific dates to be announced. Artists should plan to have work exhibition-ready by the first week of March.
We are committed to supporting a diverse range of voices and perspectives. We encourage submissions from a wide range of artists, civic technologists, data enthusiasts, city dwellers, and creative practitioners in all formats.
More information and submission details can be found here:
https://www.visualizingdetroit.com/submit
Learn more about Open Data Day
There are lots of ways to participate in Open Data Day!
If you have an idea for a project that doesn’t fit into a Visualizing Detroit art exhibition proposal, explore other Detroit Open Data at data.detroitmi.gov or detroitdata.org
