SOFIA NIGHT PERFORMANCE Choreographies of Labour

A July Friday evening with urban interventions, performance, workshops and poetry dedicated to labour as a system of movements, relationships and everyday rituals. From kneading dough and waiting in line to the collective care of the urban environment and the organisation of a beehive, the projects in the programme explore how labour shapes our bodies, spaces and communities. Located along Madrid Boulevard and its surroundings, the artistic interventions invite audiences to move between different sites and situations, to observe, participate and reconsider the boundaries between work and rest, production and care, individual effort and collective action.

Living Dough
Durational performance and installation by Lora Krasteva
Where: banicharnica Ejko, 32 Madrid Blvd

In a city, somewhere in a corner, there is a banicharnica that operates non-stop. But what exactly happens there? What can these places – and the people connected to them – teach us about the city and the country we live in today? Through performance, soundscape and interviews, the project invites the audience to immerse themselves in the world of those who knead, sell and make a living from banitsa.

The Line is the Game
Role-playing game by Jana Romanova
Where: Café Club Madrid, 10 Madrid Blvd

In the ’90s, we queued for bread; in the 2000s, for computers; today, for specialty coffee. The queue has always been an inescapable part of every consumer’s life. “The Queue Is the Game” is a short comedy role-playing game that turns the everyday inconvenience of waiting in line into something fun and delightfully chaotic. Draw a role, join the queue, and complete your mission—all while briefly immersing yourself in the atmosphere of one of the boulevard’s legendary bars.

Mozupki
Workshop with Paola Dimova and Anna-Maria Ivanova
Where: Green areas behind Sofia Theatre, Zaimov Park

A collective mosaic-making workshop to fill potholes in the neighborhood’s sidewalks. The workshop creates an opportunity for strangers to come together temporarily and collaborate in caring for their shared public space.

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Installation by Silvia Cherneva
Where: above the river at the beginning of Madrid Blvd

A place to withdraw from the noise of the city. The installation offers a space for inactivity and raises the question of whether rest can be a form of resistance to constant productivity.

Poetry NONSTOP
A poetry project along Madrid Blvd with Ivan Dimitrov, Lora Mladenova, and Kalina Linkova
Where: in the shop windows of selected stores along Madrid Blvd

Over the course of several weeks, poets engage in conversations with the people who work, trade, and go about their daily lives along Madrid Boulevard. During the festival, the project will transform the commercial street into a space for reading, reflection, and, above all, conversation—turning everyday gestures of work, connection, and care into poetry.

The Bees
Performance lecture by the association 36 Monkeys
Where: KANAAL, 2 Madrid Blvd

An interactive performance lecture presented in one of our favourite places in Sofia, exploring the organisation, tasks, labour and responsibilities within a beehive. Through the world of bees, the performance reflects on collective labour, the distribution of roles and the tension between the individual and the community.

The Future Dance of Nostalgia
Performance by Kexin Hao
Where: the platform in front of Sfumato Theatre, Zaimov Park

To conclude the evening, we gather in front of the theatre to take part in an interactive warm-up led by artist Kexin Hao, in search of past forms of labour from the field or the factory and how they have shaped the human body and continue to resonate today in the digital era.