Friday, October 14, 10:30 am–12:30 pm
Promenade C
session will be recorded and available for later viewing online
Chair: Sarah Craycraft (The Ohio State University)
10:30 am
Film: Chergi Weavers (28-min)
11:00 am
discussion time
Forum participants:
Kathryn Mitchell (Independent)
Sonya Pencheva (Independent)
Elena Stoycheva (Independent)
Often, Bulgarian villages are framed as empty, due to the drastic depopulation rates of rural communities and the institutional de-prioritization of Bulgaria’s rural peripheries. Yet, the artistic and social-entrepreneurial heritagization projects of younger Bulgarians suggest avenues for imagining the latent potentialities of villages in the contemporary moment. This session explores two such projects created by the session’s presenters. Through a screening of the documentary Chergi Weavers (2018) followed by a discussion of a related textile documentation project, Open Wardrobes, we invite attendees to critically reflect on the rural-urban connections, tensions, and relationships fostered through arts innovation in rural spaces.