Lecture with a Demonstration by an Inspector of the Playability of Public Spaces
2025
at the triangle on 3 "Iskar" St.
Silvia Cherneva took on the role of inspector of “playability” in urban environments and delivered a short lecture.
The performance by Silvia Cherneva takes place in one of the districts of Sofia with a record-low number of pleasant open public spaces.
In a context dominated by parking lots, locked schoolyards and overgrown excavation sites, Silvia Cherneva – herself also a resident of the neighborhood – takes on the role of an inspector of “playability” in the urban environment and delivers a short lecture on her research into where and how people can spend time outdoors without it being tied to shopping or alcohol consumption.
It is an exercise in urban imagination and the rethinking of space – or perhaps the playability of a place does not depend only on the place itself, but above all on the mindset of the one who is playing?
The performance is part of Sofia Performance Night.
Silvia Cherneva works across dance, performance and film. She is interested in the poetics of everyday movement, the politics of public space and play as a way of creating and connecting with others.
In her debut performance Critical Mass, where performers hang from ropes suspended from the ceiling, she discovered that audiences also enjoy hanging and swinging when given the opportunity.
She developed her research as a resident of the Trilateral Exchange between Budapest, Sofia and Philadelphia in 2023–2024. Her current project, Unstable Ground, presents a kinetic installation for public spaces.
In her free time Silvia works as a self-appointed inspector of the “playability” of public spaces, sometimes documenting her findings on social media.
The presentation is part of the project Creation of New Cultural Products in the Urban Environment – Presentation in Sofia (Nine Elephants Festival) and Berlin (C*Space), funded under Component 11 Social Inclusion, Investment 6 Development of the Cultural and Creative Sectors, Procedure BG-RRP-11.020, Grant Scheme Creation of Bulgarian Productions and Co-Productions in the CCI Sector and their Promotion in European and International Arts Markets of the Recovery and Resilience Plan.
The entire responsibility for the content of the project lies with Blue Cube Foundation and under no circumstances can it be assumed that this document reflects the official position of the European Union or the National Culture Fund.
Links
Presentation of an audio guide that can be listened to individually or in a group during a walk through the city