City to City 2026-2027: Future of the living
Deadline
Cities
Košice
Open call Kosice x Enghien-les-Bains
After 5 successful editions, the UNESCO Creative Cities of Media Arts are launching a new worldwide open call for professional and emerging artists, to mark their commitment and support for art and creativity as major forces for sustainable development.
In this framework, the city of Košice (Slovakia) and the city of Enghien-les-Bains (France) are pairing up to create an international crossed residency programme. We invite professional and emerging artists to express their interest to develop a project on the theme “Future of the living”, relying on a three-month long online and on-site collaboration.
The final collaborative artwork will be shared on UCCN Media Arts digital platform and presented as an installation during Košice festival “Art&Tech Days”.
About the theme “Future of the living”
Provide a space where ecology, technology and artistic creation coexist. Explore the transformations of the living through the lens of digital arts. Question the porosity and potential symbiosis between humans and machines (robotic bodies, avatars, AI), and between the organic and the artificial.
We invite media artists to focus on the theme “Future of the living” and critically address one or more of the following questions:
- How does the artificial world recreate or modify the natural world ?
- How do you envision the relationship between humans and nonhumans ?
- How does technology transform our ways to experience, inhabitate, and interact with our environment ?
- What problems does housing in your city face? How do vulnerable groups perceive access to housing? What could housing in Enghien-les-Bains/Košice look like in the future?
- Urbanism – Renewable Energy Sources, The 15 minute city, Social and Economic Sustainability
- Are these topics relevant to your work? Do you wish to explore them further? Apply for the residency!
Structure
The goal of the City to City project is to encourage artists to work collaboratively online and on-site on a common project related to digital arts. The artists will be teamed up during a kick-off online meeting, and accompanied all throughout the residency by representatives of both cities and by a curator from Košice festival “Art&Tech Days”.
Each selected participant will take part in a three-month long residency programme. This residency is divided into several phases of online collaboration, and two phases of on-site collaboration (one month in total: 2 weeks in Enghien-les-Bains, and 2 weeks in Košice).The intensity and modalities of the online collaboration are to be defined by the artists themselves.
The project relies on several core values, including intercultural collaboration, artistic/city diversity, innovation, solidarity, knowledge transfer, and experience sharing.
Timeline
- Application deadline : 13th July 2026 for Košice
- Announcement of selected artists : 23th July 2026
- Online kick-off meeting : 1st September 2026
- Online collaboration – Phase 1 : from 1st September to 5th October 2026
- On-site collaboration in Enghien-les-Bains : from 5th to 18th October 2026
- Workshop / Discussion / Presentation in Enghien-les-Bains : date to be determined later with the artists
- Online collaboration – Phase 2 : from 18th October to 9th November 2026
- On-site collaboration in Košice : from 9th to 26th November 2026
- Presentation of the cocreated artwork in Košice festival : 24-26 November 2026
Budget & output
- Budget per artist : € 3,000 (including € 2,000 artist fee and € 1,000 production support)
- To be covered by participating cities :
- Transport (round trip ticket), per diem for the 2 phases of on-site collaboration (preplatenie do výšky 1000 euro)
- Technical fees related to the presentation of the collaborative artwork during “Art&Tech Days”
The final co-created artwork will be delivered by the artists in two formats :
- One physical installation format (mixed media, video and/or sound artwork, immersive, etc.) to be presented during Košice festival “Art&Tech Days”.
- One digital format to be displayed on online platforms of UNESCO Creative Cities
https://cityofmediaarts.sk/en/
Side events
As part of their residency project, the artists should dedicate time to interact and exchange with the publics of both cities, in order to share about their co-creation process and engage with the local communities. For that purpose, the cities of Košice and Enghien-les-Bains can organize, in coordination with the artists, one or several side events to engage with the publics : open studio, discussion, workshop, etc.
Eligibility
The call is open to professional artists, creatives and digital arts practitioners born or based in Košice (Slovakia). The call is not open to artist duos / collectives.
Application
The application is complete if:
- It is registered by 13/07/2026 at the latest via the application form;
- It contains a motivation letter / project statement (max. 250 words)
- It contains a portfolio, CV, website/online presence, and other;
- contains a video in English (max. 3 min. in .mp4/.mov format), in which the applicants state their interest in co-creation with artists from other Creative Cities of Media Arts and describe their visions for a collaborative digital artwork they want to work on with reference to the call’s theme
Application should be addressed to Verana Dobál, Project manager at Creative Industry Košice verana.dobal@gmail.com.
Evaluation criteria
- Artistic merit and technical expertise with artworks that incorporates digital arts
- Demonstrated innovative and effective approach to art projects of similar scope
- Ability to create artwork within the stated constraints
- Ability to respond to the theme/prompt
- Ability and interest in developing a collaborative digital artwork (as illustrated in the application video)
- Ability to cooperate with international artists counterparts
