--- title: Art City: World’s Greatest Places 2026 description: Find out why Art City is on TIME’s list of the World’s Greatest Places 2026. canonical: https://time.com/collection/worlds-greatest-places/2026/art-city/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-03-12T10:56:43.023Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-12T10:56:43.111Z article:section: World og:title: Art City: World's Greatest Places 2026 og:description: Find out why Art City is one of the World's Greatest Places 2026 og:url: https://time.com/collection/worlds-greatest-places/2026/art-city/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte97affe21ad06604/69ae9da9e2697a0638472269/ArtCity_WGP_2026.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Art City: World's Greatest Places 2026 og:type: article twitter:card: summary twitter:title: Art City: World's Greatest Places 2026 twitter:description: Find out why Art City is one of the World's Greatest Places 2026 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte97affe21ad06604/69ae9da9e2697a0638472269/ArtCity_WGP_2026.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Mar 12, 2026 # Art City Tucumcari, New Mexico by [Erin Gifford](https://time.com/author/erin-gifford/) ## Erin Gifford  Courtesy Art City Just off century-old Route 66, in the nearly forgotten town of Tucumcari, a bold experiment is taking shape. [Art City](https://visitartcity.com/), a 40-acre open-air gallery and glampground, is the vision of conceptual artist Matty Mo, a.k.a. [The Most Famous Artist](https://www.themostfamousartist.com/). His mission is simple but ambitious: to show how art and culture can revive and transform declining communities. Here, 13 large-scale installations punctuate the high-desert landscape, from street artist fnnch’s 20-ft.-wide crimson _Lips_ to Griffin Loop’s _Launch Intention,_ a giant paper airplane tipped on its side—an invitation to lean into uncertainty. Day passes allow time to explore, but tent and RV sites, modern cabins, and shared amenities—like a sauna and communal kitchen—encourage overnight stays beneath wide-open skies. Mo recently acquired a 2,400-sq.-ft. warehouse, which he’s turning into a creative incubator and retail space, and sees Art City as the first in a “global network of artist-led micro cities,” a model he hopes other creators will adapt. “I’m open-sourcing my experience, ideas, and failures,” he says, “so that others can learn from them.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collection/worlds-greatest-places/2026/art-city/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collection/worlds-greatest-places/2026/art-city/"},"headline":"Art City","datePublished":"2026-03-12T10:56:43.023Z","dateModified":"2026-03-12T10:56:43.111Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collection/worlds-greatest-places/2026/art-city/","keywords":["World's Greatest Places","United States","list","franchise"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte97affe21ad06604/69ae9da9e2697a0638472269/ArtCity_WGP_2026.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Erin Gifford","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/erin-gifford/"}],"creator":"Erin Gifford","articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte97affe21ad06604/69ae9da9e2697a0638472269/ArtCity_WGP_2026.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/worlds-greatest-places/","name":"World's Greatest Places"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collection/worlds-greatest-places/2026/art-city/","name":"Art City"}}]}] ```