site.btaNine Elephants Urban Art Festival Opens in Sofia

The third edition of the Nine Elephants urban art festival opens in Sofia on Thursday and will run until July 19, the organizers said.

This year's programme features more than 20 artistic projects developed in partnership with two Sofia district administrations, cultural organizations, institutions and local communities. For the second consecutive year, the festival includes international participation, with projects selected through an open call that attracted more than 100 submissions from Bulgaria and abroad.

The festival opens at 6 p.m. with an exhibition by internationally acclaimed Croatian artist Vlatka Horvat at Swimming Pool, following a preview and artist talk.

Programme highlights include Sofia Night Performance: Choreographies of Labour, featuring performance art, artistic interventions, theatre, poetry and workshops along Madrid Boulevard and the surrounding area.

On July 18, the Opera Ecologica programme will take place at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences' Botanical Garden, combining artistic interventions, discussions and film screenings. The festival will conclude on July 19 in the Fondovi Zhilishta neighbourhood with performances by New Choir from Vienna, conducted by Pavel Naydenov, and artist Vasilena Gankovska.

The festival will also host the international professional forum Spontaneous Cities, dedicated to artistic interventions, urban research and cultural work in public spaces. It also marks the publication of the first edition of the handbook Cities with Imagination, focusing on urban art.

Held under the theme Everything We Do, this year's edition explores the relationship between cities and everyday actions, from daily habits and small gestures to work, care and imagined social change.

The organizers said the festival continues its policy of decentralization by presenting projects beyond Sofia's city centre, including the Fondovi Zhilishta, Iztok, Dragalevtsi and Krastova Vada neighbourhoods, Robov Dol Park, and the villages of Busintsi and Zheleznitsa.

The festival was founded and is artistically directed by Viktoria Draganova. It is organized by the Blue Cube Foundation with financial support from Sofia Municipality.