Open Call: Soft Map of NYC 

Submissions are now open for Soft Map of NYC, a year-long project inviting artists living or working in New York City to create new Polaroid-based works exploring tenderness, place, and embodied memory.

The project utilizes Polaroid cameras and instant film to create tactile, time-sensitive records of attention across the five boroughs. Selected artists will be asked to share work throughout 2026; a curated selection will be released as limited-edition prints on a split commission, while others will be presented in a 2027 exhibition and accompanying publication.

While many lens-based artists are expected to apply, participation is open to all practices engaging tenderness as method and attention as a form of care, including photography, moving image, sound, text, and performance.

Submissions open November 14, 2025, and close January 1, 2026.
Open to artists living or working in any of New York City’s five boroughs.
Submission fee: $15 (supports materials, scanning, and production).

Details and application form: https://forms.gle/UJyQ68kW6ApgL3Y29

Curated by Michèle Saint-Michel, film curator and artist, whose work explores tenderness as method, somatic memory, and the quiet intensities of the everyday. Soft Map of NYC extends the inclusion of her work, A Map of All My Tender Places, in a forthcoming Bloomsbury publication (2026).