PART 1
More info about the events during Part 2 and Part 3 coming soon!
10 May, 18:30
Introduction to Speculative Ecology
Kosmotehnika (Konstantin Georgiev and Alexander Popov)
Kosmotehnika works at the intersection of science fiction, social science, and the humanities. Its collective is made up of linguist and science fiction scholar Alexander Popov and anthropologist Konstantin Georgiev who read, write, and teach together. They take part in the New Ecologies program with a conversation on grounded speculation as a method to understand all that surrounds us.
13 May, 18:00
Sofia's River/Babble
Conversation with Dimiter Kenarov (during the European Night of Museums)
When we mention Sofia, we almost never imagine a river. Rivers, we are apt to think, are mighty and wide, and run through other European cities: Paris, London, Prague, Vienna, Belgrade, Kiev. Sofia is a city of mountains, valley-like, self-sufficient and self-absorbed, slightly overbearing, misanthropic, "Shopski". The rivers bring the influences of the outside world down their course, connecting and binding, and Sofia prefers not to concern herself with such things. Rivers are for balks.
In fact, Sofia abounds in rivers, though no ships or boats float on them. Take a walk through the parks - Borisova Garden, South Park, Vartopo - and you'll see their waters meandering along as yet untapped beds before being straightened and chained into what we now call canals - pitiful wads at the bottom of stinking stone sarcophagi, down there under the Eagle and Lion Bridges. What's it like to go up (or down) one of these rivers? Is there still romance in their outflows? What do the rivers of Sofia tell us, and is there intelligible speech left in their murmurs? Dimiter Kenarov will try to answer these and other questions during the talk “Sofia's River/Babble”.
Dimiter Kenarov is a freelance writer, translator and journalist.
17 May, 18:30
An Integrated Approach to Ecology
Ventzeslava Kojouharova from For the Earth (Za Zemiata) Environmental Association
In the framework of “New Ecologies” we invited the environmental association “For the Earth” and Ventzeslava Kojouharova to speak about an integrated approach to ecology that includes the social and economic environment. “For the Earth” is an independent non-governmental organisation, uniting the efforts of people committed to working for an environmentally friendly and equitable life on our planet that excludes the exploitation of people and nature. In recent years, the association has also frequently worked with artists on issues central to their work. What is the understanding of ecology that they, as an environmental association, share; how art responds to the topics, goals and activism that they set for themselves and what are the challenges/opportunities when working with artists – these are just a few of the questions identified for the discussion.
Ventzeslava Kojouharova has experience of working in the public, private and non-governmental sectors in Bulgaria and the United Kingdom. She joined “For the Earth” (Za Zemiata) in 2021 as part of the Energy & Climate team with a focus on fossil fuels phase out and just transition.
