Stay tuned for the 2026 Public Art Futures Lab Artist Residency Open Call
In January 2026 artists and technologists interested in applying for the Public Art Futures Lab Artist-in-Residence Program are invited to explore two exciting programs: the ATL DTN Residencies and the MARTA Artbound Residency. Each program offers unique prompts that encourage innovative exploration at the intersection of art and technology.
Applicants may apply for multiple residency programs; however, each application must be tailored specifically to the chosen Residency Brief and submitted separately. Be sure to directly address how your proposed project aligns with the goals and prompts outlined in the Residency Briefs to maximize your opportunity for selection.
Atlanta Downtown Residency
Background
Atlanta Downtown works to enhance the cultural identity, vibrancy, and inclusivity of Downtown Atlanta by supporting artists, activating public spaces, and fostering a sustainable creative ecosystem. Atlanta Downtown is a partnership between Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District.
The Opportunity
Atlanta Downtown (ATL DTN) invites artists who are passionate about exploring cutting-edge technologies specifically related to projection mapping or augmented reality. This residency will provide artists with the resources and platform to create innovative and engaging public works. In addition to the opportunity to propose and complete a public art project with the organization, selected residents will showcase examples of their work on the large-scale digital signs throughout Downtown Atlanta.
Challenges
Downtown is a dynamic urban environment rich in history, culture, and community. However, its public spaces don't always reflect this vibrancy or engage residents and visitors in meaningful ways. This residency seeks to explore how tech-enabled public art can transform these spaces, creating experiences that are engaging, thought-provoking, and reflective of the community's unique identity.
Prompt
Selected artists will use their residency period to design and propose a project either for Atlanta Downtown’s MAP Rover or a soon to be launched augmented reality program. By the end of the residency, the artist should complete a demo or pilot version of their project. Following the completion of the residency and review of the project proposal, Atlanta Downtown may then decide to fund the full scope of the project.
MARTA Artbound Art-in-Transit Residency
Background
MARTA Artbound is MARTA’s public art program, activating transit environments through visual and performing arts to enhance customer experience and reflect the communities MARTA serves.
The Opportunity
Public transportation is part of everyday life, but it can also be surprising and meaningful. It’s a place where people wait with, move with, and share space with strangers. Time feels different there, and the same routines repeat day after day.
This residency invites artists to explore how creative work in transit spaces can shape how people experience movement, waiting, and everyday encounters over time.
Artists are encouraged to think about how their work might move beyond being something people simply look at, and instead invite riders to participate, respond, or engage creatively, in ways that feel natural within a transit setting.
Challenges
Transit spaces are busy and practical. Most people move through them quickly and anonymously, often focused on getting where they need to go. Asking someone to participate in an artwork in this context can feel uncomfortable or risky. Artists should consider how to invite participation while allowing for different levels of comfort, visibility, and choice.
Transit spaces are also temporary and constantly changing. Trains and buses move, schedules shift, and locations are not fixed. Artists are encouraged to think about how creative work can exist within this reality; how an idea or experience might repeat, adapt, be documented, or move from place to place even as the setting changes.
Prompt
This residency asks a central question: Can creativity and shared culture be treated as essential parts of public infrastructure, rather than as decoration added afterward? Artists are invited to explore how art and culture can live naturally within public transit spaces and support everyday civic life.
In addition to conceptual and research-driven work, projects may involve light, projection, sound, digital or media-based work, modular elements, or other experimental approaches.
Artists should focus not only on what a project looks like, but on how it works. How do people encounter it, interact with it, and respond to it within a complex public system? Projects should be intentionally designed to invite the public’s interaction, participation, or creative response in ways that are appropriate for active transit environments.