OPEN CALL – IMAGINING CITIES
INFORMAL PRACTICE-SHARING EVENT
18/19 JULY 2025
PART OF NINE ELEPHANTS FESTIVAL
Rapid spatial and demographic growth, mass building investment and disappearing centers, administrative withdrawal and poor social infrastructure, frozen democracy and growing isolation, environmental crises and sudden catastrophes – these are some of the issues many large-scale cities face today, whether neoliberal, post-socialist, or part of the Global South and East. Cities are expanding fast, but often in fragmented ways, driven by investment-led urbanism that puts profit before community. Participatory and democratic processes are being eroded, making it all the more urgent to explore alternative, creative ways of reclaiming and reimagining urban space.
As part of the second edition of Nine Elephants Festival (10-20 July 2025), we invite artists, curators, researchers, and cultural professionals to join Imagining Cities, an open and informal practice-sharing event in Sofia. We’re interested in situated artistic and cultural practices that create space for reflection, imagination, and action – practices that can activate long-term processes and contribute to broader narratives of change.
Lern more: www.centerforsocialvision.org/imagining-cities
URBAN STORYTELLING SCHOOL
RESEARCH PROGRAM IN COLLABORATION WITH C*SPACE BERLIN
Urban Storytelling School is an Erasmus+ partnership program by Center for Social Vision / Sofia and C*SPACE / Berlin. It focuses on urban storytelling as a participatory tool for activating communities, connecting neighbours, and making cities more inclusive. The program is aimed at artists, educators, urban experts, activists, and community leaders, who would like to envision and reshape urban spaces through international learning and hands-on storytelling projects such as interactive walks, experimental guides, interventions, and mapping. Activities include residencies in Berlin and Sofia, mentoring sessions and group project work.
Lern more: www.devetslona.art/urbanstorytellingschool