{"id":11068,"date":"2026-05-07T12:24:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devetslona.art\/open-call-2\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T12:24:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:24:05","slug":"open-call-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/devetslona.art\/en\/open-call-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Call"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past few years, the Center for Social Vision and the Nine Elephants Festival have been exploring the contradictions and complexities of urban life \u2013 its open structures, informal interactions, and non-discursive relations. As part of the upcoming edition of the Nine Elephants Festival, we invite artists, curators, researchers, and cultural practitioners to join our informal practice-sharing days in Sofia. <\/p>\n

Working from Sofia, we have developed a transdisciplinary program that seeks new narratives shaped by spontaneous encounters, informal care networks, everyday activism, and unexpected urban affinities.This has led us to focus on the idea of the spontaneous city. Sofia itself has been described as such (Stoyanova et al., Sofia Architectural Guide, 2013)<\/em>, shaped by accumulated historical layers rather than a single coherent vision. Beyond this specific case, the spontaneous city can be understood both as a condition and as a question \u2013 appearing differently across contexts while pointing to shared urban experiences. <\/p>\n

In modernist planning, the city is often designed to regulate encounters and minimize friction. Similarly, in the neoliberal \u201csmooth city,\u201d such as Rotterdam (as described by Ren\u00e9 Boer), urban space becomes increasingly controlled, optimized, and consumption-driven. In both cases, spontaneity is reduced \u2013 and with it, the possibility for unexpected forms of togetherness. This raises the question: how can we reintroduce forms of spontaneity that enable connection, care, and collective experience? <\/p>\n

At the same time, in post-socialist cities like Sofia, spontaneity emerges differently. Here, gaps in planning, fragmented governance, and overlapping regimes of ownership produce spaces that are less controlled, but also less predictable. In such contexts, spontaneity is not merely a lack of order, but a form of resilience \u2013 a way in which people, infrastructures, and environments continuously adapt and reconfigure. This prompts another question: how can people better recognize and act upon shared interests? <\/p>\n

We believe these conditions are not isolated. Together, we aim to explore how different contexts can learn from one another \u2013 how life unfolds in spaces that escape total design, what remains stable, and what must stay open or indeterminate. <\/p>\n

We welcome practices engaging with informal or self-organized urban processes, wild or emergent urban ecologies, soft transformations and micro-interventions, as well as situated and relational practices. We are particularly interested in experimental forms of collaboration and collective life, and in contributions that reflect on situated artistic and cultural practices\u2014approaches that open space for reflection, imagination, and action. Long-term processes, collaborative methodologies, and practices engaging with the social, spatial, and ecological dimensions of urban life are especially encouraged. <\/p>\n

The format of the forum is intentionally informal and process-oriented \u2013 a space to exchange methods, tools, and ways of working rather than finalized results.<\/p>\n

This call is open to both emerging and established practitioners working across disciplines, including site-specific interventions, public art, social practice, performance, sound, architecture, cartography, and speculative methodologies.<\/p>\n

The event is hosted by the Center for Social Vision as part of the Nine Elephants Festival. This year\u2019s edition, titled Everything We Do, gives space to artistic and interdisciplinary practices in the urban environment and will take place from 9 to 19 July 2026 in Sofia and its surroundings, marking the festival\u2019s third iteration. <\/p>\n

How to Apply:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Applications are open from May 11 to June 12.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you require a letter of invitation, please contact us by email, especially if mobility grants are available to you.<\/p>\n

A limited number of mobility grants (up to \u20ac350) are available. Please indicate clearly if you require financial support, and only if your travel and accommodation are not covered otherwise. <\/p>\n

We will also help connect participants to share accommodation and reduce costs.<\/p>\n

What to Expect: <\/strong><\/p>\n

The practice-sharing days will take place over three days (15\u201319 July) and will include:<\/p>\n