Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington is currently accepting proposals for SOLOS 2026, a series of solo exhibitions by Mid-Atlantic artists. Contemporary artists living or working in the Mid-Atlantic region are invited to propose solo exhibitions to take place in one of the Museum’s gallery spaces. Proposals are accepted through an open call and selected by an outside selection panel, in consultation with Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington staff. The exhibitions selected for SOLOS 2026 will take place in one of two time slots, either February 13 – May 24, 2026 or June 12 – September 6, 2026. Once artists are selected, MoCA Arlington staff will work with artists to determine the timing for the selected artists. CALL FOR PROPOSALS: SOLOS 2026 APPLICATION DEADLINE: Monday, March 10, 2025 NOTIFICATION DATE: June 1, 2025 EXHIBITION DATES: February 13 – May 24, 2026 OR June 12 – September 6, 2026 APPLICATION FEE: None SUBMIT AN APPLICATION MoCA Arlington will provide a $1250 honorarium to participating artists, curatorial feedback during the planning process, as well as installation guidance and support before and during installation. Artists are encouraged to propose new bodies of work, installations, or projects and to consider the available exhibition spaces in their proposal. Exhibition proposals should include the preferred gallery for the proposed work, especially if the artist feels strongly about exhibiting in a particular gallery. Download the floor plans for the SOLOS 2026 gallery spaces. WHO CAN APPLY Artists who produce contemporary art in any medium, and who live or work in the Mid-Atlantic region (defined as Virginia, District of Columbia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, or Delaware) may submit exhibition proposals. Any existing works must have been completed within the last three years in order to be considered. Artists may submit proposals for exhibitions of collaboratively produced artwork by collectives or other collaborative duos or groups. Multi-artist group exhibitions are not eligible for consideration. Artists who have participated in the SOLOS program in the previous five years (i.e., in SOLOS 2020, 2022, 23-24, or 2025) are not eligible for consideration and should not apply. Artists whose work has been exhibited at Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington in a non-SOLOS exhibition in the previous two years (ie, since January 2023) are also not eligible. SELECTION PANEL Alexis Assam, Regenia A. Perry Assistant Curator of Global Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA Will Hutnick, artist and Director of Artistic Programming, Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY Karyn Miller, Public Arts Manager, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Washington, DC REQUIRED APPLICATION MATERIALS
  • Artist Statement (1 page max; must be PDF or word document)
  • CV/Resume (3 pages, max; must be PDF or word document)
  • Exhibition Proposal (2 pages, max; must be PDF or word document) Describe what you plan to do, how you will do it, and what you hope to accomplish with the show. Include information in your proposal about how this project or body of work is well-suited to the galleries at Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington and which of the available gallery spaces you think would best suit the proposal. MoCA Arlington encourages proposals for exhibitions of new work or new projects.
  • Work Samples (Maximum 10 work samples as jpg, mp3, or mp4) If proposing new work, work samples can include a combination of previous work along with drawings, sketches, or preliminary documents related to the proposed project or exhibition. Please use the following file naming conventions for your work samples: 1_lastname_firstname_artworktitle.jpg, 2_lastname_firstname_artworktitle.jpg (or relevant file extension) etc. Audio or video samples should be submitted as clips of no more than three minutes and can be uploaded or submitted as links included in the Work Sample Index.
  • Work Sample Index List of the samples submitted, including the title, year, medium, and dimensions or duration for each piece. The Work Sample Index should be numbered to match the file names (aka numbered 1-10, with the numbers matching the numbers of the files).
After completing your application you will receive a confirmation email. If you don’t receive a confirmation email, please reach out to exhibitions@mocaarlington.org to ensure your application has been received. Regretfully, MoCA Arlington is not able to offer feedback directly to artists on individual proposals either during the application process or once the selections have been made. CONTACT US: exhibitions@mocaarlington.org SUBMIT AN APPLICATION Image: Elliot Doughtie, Installation view of Tomato, part of SOLOS 23-24. Photo by Vivian Marie Doering. Website link: https://mocaarlington.org/exhibitions/call-for-artist/