Between May and June 2026, CitiObs and the Distributed Design Platform opened a call inviting artists, designers, makers, and creative collectives around the world to imagine what happens when environmental monitoring meets creative practice. We asked for proposals that treat air quality and citizen science not just as technical problems, but as cultural, social, and political ones too.
The response exceeded what we hoped for. We closed the call with 213 applications. Today we're excited to share not just the numbers behind that response, but the 25 projects that came out of it.
The response, by the numbers
213 applicants submitted a full proposal, portfolio, and budget. A strong signal that the questions at the heart of this call (who produces environmental knowledge, and with whom) resonate far beyond any single discipline or region.
A global, cross-disciplinary field. True to the call's ambition to be genuinely international, submissions came from individuals and collectives spanning more than 60 countries across six continents — from Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa to Asia, Southwest Asia, and Europe. Applicants described themselves in almost every creative register imaginable: 106 identified as artists, 90 as designers, 49 as makers, and 48 applied as collectives, studios, or organisations rather than solo practitioners. Alongside them, 61 proposals came from people with research backgrounds, 26 from architects, and smaller but notable groups of educators, curators, biologists, and engineers — a real cross-section of practices meeting at the intersection of art, design, and citizen science.
A majority women-led field. Of applicants who shared their gender, 59% identified as women, 31% as men, and the remaining share as non-binary or preferred not to say, a composition that speaks to who is actively shaping participatory environmental practice today.
Reviewing this volume and range of work was a genuine privilege, and also a hard task. Every proposal was assessed against the call's four criteria: relevance to CitiObs and citizen science, quality and feasibility, artistic and conceptual strength, and best value for money.
What we selected
Two tiers of recognition came out of the evaluation:
- 20 projects will be featured in the Distributed Design Platform's online exhibition, gaining visibility across the platform and CitiObs' communication channels.
- 5 projects were selected for a service commission of up to €3,000 each, funding them to further develop their artistic practice through the end of October 2026, with the work showcased across both CitiObs' and Distributed Design's cross-channel outreach.
The 5 commissioned projects
- Róza Deák | instagram.com/hsjajdo
- Kateřina Kováříčková | instagram.com/kovarickovak
- Morris Ngaruiya Mburu | instagram.com/halisi_monray
- Marcus Smith | mnrsmith.uk
- Wu Siou Ming | linktr.ee/wusiouming
The 20 projects joining the online exhibition
- Luisa Tovar Méndez & Gerardo Cruz | instagram.com/luisa___tm & instagram.com/gera_cruzdc
- Jiwen Li | linktr.ee/JiwenLi
- Tatiana Efremenko | instagram.com/mattersdesigncollective
- Shalini Natarajan | behance.net/shalininatarajan
- Sara Blanco-Ramírez | sarablancoramirez.com
- Olivanta Mwenda | linkedin.com/in/olivanta-m-81773522b
- Gabriella Kiss | instagram.com/gabriellakiss_artwork
- María Paz Miranda González | instagram.com/mariapazvisual
- Daniel Blanco Lozano | instagram.com/danielenblanco|
- Oscar Ryan Ouma | kengecontenthive.org
- Anoushka Pednekar & Amrutha Sai Kannan | LinkedIn: /in/anoushka-pednekar-4033a2364 · /in/amrutha-sai-kannan
- Robert Lisek | instagram.com/robertblisek
- Climate Babes | instagram.com/climate__babes
- Mariana Alejandra Moscoso | instagram.com/ictiologiacultura
- Jea Kyong Sim
- Claudia Gómez Mejía | instagram.com/ddlcreative_consultant
- Noufa Shabeer | instagram.com/noufaaahahahahahaha
- Hanju Seo | hanjuseo.com
- Alasdair Haig | ahaig13a59.myportfolio.com/work
- Auda Sakho | instagram.com/redresslaboratory
- Victoria Pham | instagram.com/earthlyfutures
- Dusts Institute | dustsinstitute.org
- Andrea Farah Gaeta | instagram.com/andrea_farah_gaeta
What's next
Over the coming months, the five commissioned projects will work on designing and delivering creative interventions connected to environmental monitoring and citizen science. The final outputs will be delivered by 30 October 2026. Meanwhile, all 20 exhibition projects will be profiled on the Distributed Design Platform, giving this remarkable body of work the audience it deserves.
Thank you to everyone who applied, shared this call within their networks, or took the time to imagine what their practice could bring to environmental observation. The breadth and depth of the response confirms something we already believed: the future of citizen science is as much about creative imagination as it is about sensors and data.
Stay tuned as we share more about each project in the coming weeks.
