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Launched as part of The Shed’s inaugural-year program, Open Call is a large-scale commissioning program for early-career, NYC-based artists. Representing disciplines from music performance, poetry, and puppetry to painting, sculpture, and video, Open Call exemplifies what The Shed does best in championing dynamic, innovative art of all kinds.

Open Call artists receive a commissioning fee of up to $15,000 depending on the scope of their projects, robust production support, and resources to further nurture their practices and expand their audiences. Admission is free to all Open Call events.

For its fourth edition, 17 exceptional artist proposals (out of 1,000 total submissions) were chosen by 72 interdisciplinary professionals, all leaders in their fields, including other artists and members of The Shed’s staff. The work by these emerging artists, all living or working within the five boroughs, will engage and inspire audiences with powerful reflections on the urgent issues of our time through the intersection of personal identity and historical narratives.

In summer 2025, 12 visual and performance artists/collectives unveiled their work in an exhibition in The Shed’s Level 2 Gallery and on the outdoor Plaza. Five performing artists/collectives will present in summer 2026.

Learn more about the artists and their projects below. For updates on exhibition and performance dates, join our email list.

Exhibition Artists (Summer 2025)

Zain Alam, Meter & Light: Night: A three-channel audiovisual installation enacting the interlocking rhythms of time in Muslim life after sunset

AYDO, Border Ecologies: A video and ceramic installation exploring on-site documentation of the Korean Demilitarized Zone and the United States–Mexico borderland through sociopolitical, cultural, and environmental perspectives

Mel Corchado, ​​$TICKY $IN$: A collection of sugar garments exploring sugar’s history and its ties to identity, fashion, and the exploitation of land and labor

Marwa Eltahir, 99 Names: My Liberation Is Tied to Yours: An immersive, audiovisual performance examining themes of loss, grief, and connection using imagery from the Afro-Arab diaspora

Patricia Encarnación, Tropical Limerence: An installation of video, performance, and ceramics that examines how love, exotification, and power imbalances influence relationships between the Global majority and the Global North

Laurena Finéus, Together, we could have made mountains: A collaborative textile and painting installation showcasing Brooklyn’s Haitian migrant stories and exploring dreams, sacrifices, misconceptions, and collective scars

Lily Honglei, KITES: A Poem by an Immigrant: A painting series inspired by traditional Chinese kites that depicts Asian immigration stories reflecting the artist’s family saga and community life

Tyson Houseman, The Six Seasons: A live, operatic video performance and installation featuring soundscapes and lyrics sung in nēhiyawēwin (Plains Cree)

Jarrett Key, Hair Painting No. 40 (in three parts): A live performance in Key’s “Hair Paintings” series, in which the artist uses their hair to create paintings honoring their grandmother, Ruth Mae Giles

Chelsea Odufu, Gold with a Mind of Its Own: A video installation foregrounding dance and movement to uncover the haunting legacy of the gold trade in Côte d’Ivoire

Victor “Marka27” Quiñonez, Elevar La Cultura NYC: An immersive sculptural installation of a large Mayan pyramid, composed of ice coolers, textiles, and spiritual objects, activated by a mural and a projection, honoring the beauty and resilience of immigrant street vendors

Yelaine Rodriguez and Luis Vasquez La Roche, Residence Time | The Sea Is History: A mixed-media sculptural installation that reimagines the transatlantic slave trade’s Door of No Return in Ghana as an archaeological ruin

Performing Artists (Summer 2026)

Nehprii Amenii, “HUMAN”: An immersive, multimedia, puppetry stage play for multigenerational audiences that asks what it really means to be human

Avi Amon, Mother/Road: A multimedia meditation on grief, memory, family, and borders that draws on audio from cassette tapes Amon’s parents carried with them when they immigrated to the United States

Katherine Paola De La Cruz, Dirty Laundry: A performance exploring themes of burn out, toxic work culture, and the absurdity of résumés and cover letters at the end of the world

Rudi Goblen, FITO: An interactive concert-play combining live music, storytelling, dance, and spoken word to narrate the immigrant experience of a Nicaraguan man in the United States

Andrew Morrill and James Caverly, Thank You Ryan for a Clean Microwave: A play-within-a-play exploring the mystery of who cleaned the microwave in the coffee shop staff room

Thank you to the following arts leaders who participated in the selection process:

Panelists: Jesse Alick, Torya Beard, Dejá Belardo, Darren Biggart, Kimberly Drew, Madame Gandhi, Luis Gutierrez, Tamara McCaw, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Larry Ossei-Mensah, Alex Poots, George Sanchez, Lumi Tan, Charmaine Warren, Janet Wong

Reviewers: Jason Aguirre, Juana Berrio, Alison Burstein, Nigel Campbell, Emmy Catedral, Jean Cooney, Jordana De La Cruz, Sarah Dhobhany, Tasha Douge, Sam Duke, Robyn Farrell, Jesse Firestone, Raynel Frazier, Kaitlin Garcia-Maestas, Danni Gee, Gabrielle Glore, Alessandra Gomez, Sheldon Gooch, Jody Graf, Anne Hamburger, Carl Hancock Rux, Dave Harper, Erica Harper, Daonne Huff, Adam Hyndman, Hitomi Iwasaki, Ivy Jones, Lisa Kim, Ladyfag, Jennifer Lam, Gabriela López Dena, Maggie MacTiernan, Gervais Marsh, Aaron L. McKinney, Mara Mills, Monica Mirabile, Marisa Morán Jahn, Seta Morton, Salvador Muñoz, Raelle Myrick Hodges, Benedict Nguyen, Kathy Noble, Najee Omar, Marlène Ramírez-Cancio, Alex Rosenberg, Erin Somerville, Luke Stewart, Herb Tam, Mei Ann Teo, Annabel Thompson, Terence Trouillot, Natalia Viera Salgado, Jay Wegman, Ayesha Williams, Justin Wong, Sasha Wortzel, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Show your support for new art for New York with a limited edition, adjustable Open Call cap.

The fourth edition of Open Call is organized by Darren Biggart, Director of Civic Programs; Dejá Belardo, Assistant Curator; Christal Ferreira, Program Manager, Civic Programs and Visual Art; and Daisy Peele, Producer, with support by Public Assembly (Tamara McCaw, Maggie MacTiernan, Annabel Thompson).

Open Call was conceived by The Shed’s Artistic Director Alex Poots, Tamara McCaw, former Chief Civic Program Officer; Emma Enderby, former Chief Curator; and Senior Program Advisor Hans Ulrich Obrist.