15th Mostra 3M de Arte Opens Call for Projects in São Paulo

Applications are now open for the established national call for project proposals for the 15th Mostra 3M de Arte in São Paulo, which will mark a historic edition under the title “The City of Children”. Regarded as one of Brazil’s longest-running and most significant contemporary art initiatives in public spaces, the event offers artists from across the country a major opportunity to propose new installations responding to this unusual concept.

The call will choose two projects to join the exhibition alongside four internationally renowned invited artists. Each selected applicant will receive funding to develop and produce their work. Applications are free and must be submitted by 24 June. The selected projects will be announced on 3 July.

To apply, interested parties should visit the exhibition’s official website (www.mostra3mdearte.com.br), where the full regulations and application form link will be available. Information and direct links can also be found through the bio on the event’s official Instagram profile (@mostra3mdearte).

Children taken seriously and play as an opportunity for renewal

What if childhood were understood as a time in life with the power to transform the world, rather than merely a preparatory stage for future citizens? What if children were not seen as incomplete human beings, and their voices could be heard respectfully? What if their ability to create knowledge and culture, images and ideas were valued, enabling them to bring new questions and solutions to their communities? The exhibition “The City of Children” seeks precisely to highlight and nurture the political force and potential for renewal that childhood brings.

In a child’s imagination, a chair is not simply somewhere to sit: it may become a boat, a cave or a creature lying in wait. A twig turns into a sword, while soil and leaves become the raw materials for castles and pyramids. Someone can be a doctor or a princess, a monster or an artist, an animal or an influencer, a pirate or a mother. It is through this capacity for reinvention and reassessment that the 15th Mostra 3M de Arte presents the concept for its historic edition this year, themed “The City of Children”, with the exhibition opening to the public in São Paulo from 12 September.

For the first time in its history, Mostra 3M de Arte will place the world of childhood at its centre, revealing the strength of creative imagination as a tool for building society.

Curated by Bernardo Mosqueira, with Ana Clara Simões Lopes as assistant curator, this edition is founded on the premise that viewing children as incomplete beings prevents their questions and ideas from being fully heard, drastically limiting their participation in discussions about collective life.

By recognising children as a major source of reassessment and renewal, the exhibition approaches the transformative force of play as the pleasurable art of trying out alternative ways of arranging life. Play establishes a territory in which reality and imagination intertwine, generating a temporary form of order that teaches us about what is arbitrary in the world and the possibility of changing it. Every shared rule, each round and every negotiation inherent in a game teaches respect, agreement, what is held in common, the desire to win, the unimportance of defeat, and the value of cooperation and living together.

Inspired by this sociopolitical and transformative character, the 15th Mostra 3M de Arte will bring together new works created specifically for a family-oriented, democratic and inspiring experience. By placing childhoods at the centre, the exhibition argues for the urgency of listening to children in the process of reinvention, acknowledging that urban life extends beyond its planned boundaries and can be continually remade through imagination, without limiting concepts or projections focused exclusively on the future. Its central aim is to celebrate the many childhood skills that can contribute in the present, through interpretations and adaptations of play for real life.

Each work will act as a setting for encounter and enjoyment, play and reflection, offering proposals through which children practise ways of listening, deciding, sharing and developing ideas together. The exhibition considers the important relationship between play and coexistence in the creation and experience of cities. As the curatorial text states, civic life, like play, demands this art of creating closeness, negotiating agreements, imagining what is shared, and giving duration and shape to shared time and space. After all, perhaps this is what children understand so well and adults do not often remember: every city is, above all, a tangle of ways of playing together.

“Mostra 3M de Arte is recognised for its artistic experimentation, promoting free access to contemporary art in public spaces with high footfall. It has become an educational tool for groups of young people visiting the event and has involved strategic partnerships with state schools to foster democratic culture. Throughout its editions, it has brought together established and emerging names from the national scene, always guided by urgent and relevant themes,” says Marcela Ribeiro, director of Elo3, the company that conceived and produces the project. The exhibition is sponsored by 3M through a cultural incentive law.

Behind the curatorship

The conceptual development and artistic dialogue for this historic 15-year edition are led by an influential duo from the visual arts world: Bernardo Mosqueira and assistant curator Ana Clara Simões Lopes. Together, they bring an approach combining international standing, academic rigour and a deep sensitivity towards collaborative and educational practices in public space.

Bernardo Mosqueira is a curator, writer and researcher based in New York. He is the founder and artistic director of Solar in Rio de Janeiro. From 2023 to 2025, he served as chief curator at the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA) in New York, following his work with the curatorial team at the New Museum (2021–2023). In 2020, he co-founded Fundo Colaborativo, the first emergency fund dedicated to artists and art workers in Brazil. He received the Lorenzo Bonaldi Prize in 2017 and, more recently, the prestigious Vilcek Foundation Prize for his curatorial work in 2025. Mosqueira holds a master’s degree in curatorial studies from CCS Bard (2021).

Ana Clara Simões Lopes lives and works in Rio de Janeiro. Holding a bachelor’s degree in Art History from UERJ, her practice spans writing, research and curating, with a particular interest in radical artistic and institutional practices. She wrote the critical text for Memória Bambi, a solo exhibition by artist Ana Miguel (Galeria Cavalo, 2026). Her curatorial projects include the solo exhibition Desenhos de chegada (SESC Ramos, 2025), the group exhibition Fazer com, pensar junto (Centro Cultural dos Correios, 2025) and the Casa Europa residency (2024). She also worked as assistant curator for the 1st and 2nd Bienal das Amazônias (CCBA, 2023/2025), joining forces with Mosqueira for this historic edition.

15 years of public art: a transformative journey

Founded in 2010 with the aim of democratising access to culture, Mostra 3M de Arte began with a focus on digital art, occupying venues including Mackenzie University and the Memorial da América Latina. Between 2012 and 2014, it strengthened its importance through a three-year season at Instituto Tomie Ohtake, under the curatorship of figures including Giselle Beiguelman and Paulo Miyada.

In 2017, the project underwent a historic transition: it removed “digital” from its name and brought contemporary artworks directly onto the streets, taking over Largo da Batata. Since then, the exhibition has become a landmark of urban intervention, appearing at notable locations including Ibirapuera Park, Augusta Park and the bicentenary Luz Park.

Over a decade and a half, the event has commissioned dozens of works by Brazilian and international artists, encouraging direct dialogue between the public and contemporary art entirely free of charge.

About Elo3

Working on cultural projects for 21 years, Elo3 has played a leading role in social transformation, democratising access to art and culture in more than 180 Brazilian cities. Through innovative projects in exhibitions, photography, literature and education, the organisation has reached more than 8 million people and distributed 140,000 books. Its key events include the Santos - Dumont Designer exhibition and Mostra 3M de Arte, alongside educational initiatives such as Retratos da Terra and Jornada Sabiá de Leitura. Elo3 offers society questioning, innovative and transformative projects, including Mostra 3M de Arte.

Information

15th Mostra 3M de Arte – Call for Projects

• Application period: 1 to 24 June 2026
• Application link: official website www.mostra3mdearte.com.br or the link available in the Instagram bio (@mostra3mdearte)
• Who can take part: artists and collectives from across Brazil
• Funding: production funding for each selected project
• Results announced: 3 July 2026
• Conceived and delivered by: Elo3
• Social media: @mostra3mdearte | @elo3cultura