SSA Mapping Festival, held annually in Salvador, Brazil, has an international open call closing in two days: November 2, 2026. The festival invites visual and audiovisual artists worldwide, working solo or collectively, to submit new or adapted work for projection mapping onto the façade of Mercado Modelo — a 19th-century market building on Salvador’s waterfront that’s become the festival’s recurring canvas — for a public showcase in December.
What qualifies: any visual or audiovisual practice — animation, motion graphics, photography, illustration, video art, generative art, and VJing are all explicitly welcomed — as long as the submitted work follows the festival’s projection-mapping specifications (scale, aspect ratio, and playback format tied to the façade itself). Applicants must be 18 or older; there’s no geographic restriction.
The pay structure is unusually concrete for an open call at this level: every completed work that’s approved for projection earns a flat screening fee of R$500, on top of a chance at one of three cash awards worth R$2,500 to R$3,500. Shortlisted artists also get two hours of individual online mentoring plus a group session to help develop the work specifically for the façade before the showcase.
Why Mercado Modelo matters to the pitch: it’s not a blank wall. The building has a documented history — a former customs house turned public market — and its stonework, arches, and irregular surface give projection-mapped work a texture that a flat screen or a glass-curtain building doesn’t offer. Recurring use of the same façade across editions has also built a visual shorthand regular festival-goers recognize, which is part of why past SSA Mapping work reads differently than a generic projection reel.
The timeline is tight by design. Submissions close November 2; the showcase runs in December. Anyone considering applying should treat this notice as a last call rather than advance notice — a two-day runway from an open call this specific is the kind of window that’s easy to miss if it isn’t flagged the moment it surfaces.
The festival’s own channel, showing past years’ work projected onto Mercado Modelo.