Lecture with a demonstration by an inspector of the playability of public spaces
Author
Silvia Cherneva
When
11 July 2025
Where
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 event took place in one of the districts with a record low number of pleasant open public spaces in Sofia. Against the backdrop of predominant parking lots, locked schoolyards, and overgrown construction sites, Silvia, also a resident of the neighborhood, presented her research on where and how people can spend time outdoors without it being tied to shopping or alcohol consumption. This was an exercise in urban imagination and rethinking space – and perhaps the playability of a place does not depend solely on it, but mostly on the attitude of the player.
The performance is part of Sofia Performance Night.
Sylvia Cherneva works with dance, performance and cinema. She is interested in the poetics of everyday movement, politics in public space and play as a way of creating and connecting with each other. In her debut performance Critical Mass, in which the performers hang from the ceiling by ropes, she discovered that the audience also enjoys hanging and swaying when given the opportunity. From then on, Sylvia took it as her mission to create more opportunities for people of different ages to play. She is conducting research on the topic as a Trilateral Exchange resident in Budapest, Sofia and Philadelphia in 2023-2024, and her current project, Unstable Ground, presents a kinetic installation for public places. In her spare time, Sylvia works as a self-appointed playability inspector of public spaces, occasionally reporting her activities on social media.
The presentation is part of the project “Creating New Cultural Products in Urban Environments – Presentations in Sofia (‘Nine Elephants* Festival’) and Berlin (C*Space),” funded through 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 on European and International Arts Markets” from the Recovery and Resilience Plan.
Links
Presentation of an audio guide that can be listened to alone or in a group during a walk in the city