ArtPrize 2026 · Grand Rapids MI

Be A Global Citizen

Or just look like one.

Tap into three mystery stations. Watch the commercials. Collect your AI passport stamps. Then find out what's actually real — starting with our neighbors.

Open
Sep 12 – Oct 24, 2026
Preview week Sep 12 · ArtPrize Sep 17–Oct 3
Venue
Kendall College of Art and Design
Woodbridge N. Ferris Building, 17 Pearl St NW
Vote
Entry #15762
ArtPrize public voting Sep 18 – Oct 3
Entry
Free & open to the public
Visitor Journey

Start here. End somewhere real.

A participatory installation using generative AI, NFC passports, and a live gallery screen. No app download. Bring your phone.

No app · No login · Bring your phone
The journey, start to finish. Sound on.
Step 01 · Start Here

How to be a Global Citizen, in 35 seconds.

The Start Here sign: the Passport Control eagle
Step 01 · Start Here

Passport Control, register and take a selfie.

Tap the NFC tag at the “Start Here” sign.

Signs pointing to Country #1, Country #2 and Country #3
Steps 02–03 · The Tour

Three mystery stations.

At each station, tap the sign and watch a corporate commercial play while PrismaLive composites you into a scene far away. Wonder: What’s Real? Where’s Real?

Step 04 · Now Go Be A Local Citizen

Eight doors, all walking distance.

Support the Grand Rapidians who have invested in your community. This is what really matters.

AI-generated souvenirs of the world tour you were sold
The sponsors — which country you get is up to the system

Congratulations, Global Citizen.

You are standing in a gallery in Grand Rapids, holding pretend photographs of yourself on a fake tour of the world. Shot through the lens of corporations that want to sell you something.

Look up from your phone. Look at the other people in the room. Now look locally.

Within a few blocks of where you are standing, there are eight doors. Behind them are Grand Rapidians who signed their own leases, hired your neighbors, and turned the lights on this morning to do business in our community.

The faceless brands in those commercials paid for thirty seconds of your attention. The real people behind these doors pay taxes and support this community.

Now we invite you to be a Local Citizen.
See the Local Passport ↓
The Local Passport

Grand Rapids is the real trip.

See the eight doors below — all owned and operated by real Grand Rapidians, all within walking distance of KCAD.

The local stamps live in the same passport as your world tour. Each of the eight has a Local Citizen Station. Hold your phone to it and the stamp lands in your passport. No purchase required.

Start at the gallery or start at any of the doors — the passport works either way. No threshold, no prize. Collect one stamp or all eight. Every stamp is a place you can walk back into tomorrow, which is more than the world tour inside the gallery can offer.

Visit these locations, get a stamp, say hello to your neighbors. They're investing in your community — not in corporate ads that sell you things you don't really need.

The Artists

Meet the five local artists who stood here and built this room.

Nobody generated this room. These are the people who made it, in their own words.

Read their statements →
ArtPrize 2026 · Public Vote

If this made you look up, vote for it.

Be A Global Citizen is ArtPrize entry #15762. Public voting is open September 18 through October 3.

A gallery installation at Kendall College of Art and Design that sends you on a fake AI-generated world tour, then out the door to the real people running businesses a few blocks away. Free, at 17 Pearl St NW, through October 24.

Entry
#15762
Voting Sep 18 – Oct 3
Vote at ArtPrize →
See what you're voting for
The world tourPassport Control, three mystery stations, and the stamps you get. The eight doorsThe Grand Rapids businesses at the end of the tour, and how to get there. The artistsThe five local artists who built the room, in their own words. VisitDates, location and contact.
About

MediaLab Midwest

Ritsu Katsumata and Aaron Sundman form a Grand Rapids-based creative technology collaborative whose work sits at the intersection of generative AI, human experience design, and civic engagement.

Co-Founder · Chief Experience Officer
Ritsu Katsumata

Japanese-American sound artist and experience designer. Carnegie Hall to CBGB's — scoring silent films, building immersive installations, designing human-centered digital experiences across Dentsu, Wieden+Kennedy, Cornell University, and Ford Motor Company.

ritsu@medialabmidwest.com
Co-Founder · Chief Technology Officer
Aaron Sundman

Technology evangelist with 30 years in enterprise digital innovation. RFID Business Development Leader at CCL eAgile. Creator of the PrismaLive AI platform.

aaron@medialabmidwest.com
Event Details

ArtPrize 2026

Dates
Sep 12 – Oct 24, 2026
Opens preview week, Sep 12. ArtPrize runs Sep 17 – Oct 3, with public voting Sep 18 – Oct 3. The exhibit stays up through Oct 24.
Venue
Kendall College of Art and Design
Woodbridge N. Ferris Building
17 Pearl St NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503
Admission
Free & open to the public
Contact
info@medialabmidwest.com
medialabmidwest.com