The international festival of contemporary art in public space Art in the City announces an open call for its 20th edition, which will take place in summer 2027 in the South Bohemian Region. The theme of this edition is Sculpture?! The call is open to all visual artists without restriction.

The question mark asks. The exclamation mark celebrates.

In 2027, Art in the City celebrates twenty years. Twenty years in which public space has become a gallery without walls, and the city a place where you meet art on your way to work, to the shops and back home. For this anniversary, we did not want to give ourselves a retrospective behind glass. We wanted a gift that stays in the city – and sometimes, on the contrary, a gift that disappears exactly as it was meant to.

The twentieth edition therefore asks a simple yet restless question: Sculpture?! What is sculpture today? Where are its limits? Is it a medium that still has something to say – or a medium that deserves admiration and tribute precisely because it has stayed with us for so long? We are not answering. We invite artists to answer for us – right in the city, in its streets, pavements and walls.

Twenty years – twenty installations

Until now, the festival has brought sculptures to towns, exhibited them over the summer and then taken them away. For the anniversary, we are expanding the concept with a second strand built on creating work directly on site. The open call therefore includes two strands which together make up twenty installations:

• A) Sculpture – finished work. A work made in advance, which will be installed for the duration of the festival at a location chosen in cooperation with the artist.
• B) Sculpture on site – residency and site-specific intervention. A work created for the festival and for a specific place during a residency, which will remain there permanently or temporarily. We are looking for small, subtle interventions that respond sensitively to the urban environment and contribute to its renewal (urban healing). These might include, for example:

• mosaics filling in damaged parts of pavements,
• painting that works with cracks and the texture of walls, painting on paving, footbridges or posts,
• miniature objects, reliefs or ceramic elements placed on façades, bollards and low walls that transform an ordinary detail and slow passers-by down,
• murals that bring blank building walls to life,
• artistic benches that can be used for sitting and pausing,
• land art and installations made of natural materials (wicker, wood) that gradually decay or, on the contrary, grow and blossom,
• more lasting interventions that remain in the town as a trace of this summer.

Some works will last for years, others for one season, others only until the first rain. That, too, is sculpture.

We invite artists to send us a project or idea they would like to realise in a town in 2027. You can apply for one strand or both.

Residency (strand B)

The residency takes the form of a single stay of approximately 14 days. Artists submit a portfolio and a proposal for the idea they would like to realise. With the selected artists, we will then fine-tune the form of the work and its location together. Specific locations will be proposed by the festival in cooperation with the towns hosting this edition. The festival arranges all permits and negotiations with the owners and managers of the sites. During the stay, the artist gets to know the environment and realises the work on site.

The works are created gradually throughout the festival (June–September 2027), so a work does not have to be finished by the date of the opening. The exact dates of the stay will be agreed with each artist individually.

Technical requirements

A) Finished work

• the work will be exhibited in public space 24/7 for 4 months (June–September),
• materials must withstand the weather and physical contact with the public,
• the exact installation site will be chosen in cooperation with the artists according to the character of the work.

B) Residency and site-specific intervention

• the exact site and form of the work are fine-tuned together with the festival; final approval depends on the owners and managers of the site,
• in your application, state the expected lifespan of the work (permanent, seasonal, deliberately ephemeral) and what should happen to it after the festival ends,
• materials must be safe for the public and gentle to the site; for works intended to decay, use natural, biodegradable materials.

What we provide

A) Finished work

• transport of the work,
• installation and technical support,
• all permits and insurance,
• accommodation after the opening,
• promotion.

B) Residency and site-specific intervention

• accommodation for the duration of the stay,
• coverage of the costs of creating the work (materials and production) up to a pre-approved budget,
• an artist fee of CZK 25,000–50,000 (EUR 1,000–2,000) depending on the scope, length of stay and complexity of the realisation, including all taxes and contributions,
• travel expenses up to CZK 7,500 (EUR 300) against receipts,
• all permits and negotiations with the owners and managers of the site,
• technical support during the realisation,
• promotion.

Application contents

For both strands

• a basic description of the work or concept (for B, a loose idea is enough),
• visualisations, sketches, photographs (for B, possibly examples of previous work),
• portfolio and contact details.

• A) Finished work – in addition, technical details: material, dimensions, weight.
• B) Residency and site-specific intervention – in addition:

• a loose idea: what interests you, what materials and at what scale you work with (neither a specific site nor a finished design is required),
• preferred residency option (one or two stays) and the period when you can come,
• a rough idea of materials, lifespan and budget.

Deadlines and selection

Send your applications to festival@umenivemeste.cz by 12 December 2026 at the latest. The selection will be made by the festival’s curatorial team; results will be announced by 31 December 2026.