THE CREATIVE ASSEMBLIES OF TRANSFORMATIVE TERRITORIES

TAVROS CREATIVE ASSEMBLY: ART AT THE HEART OF CHANGING LANDSCAPES

The first Creative Assembly of Transformative Territories will take place on the Tavros site (Greece) from March 6 to 9, 2025, as the culmination of the workshops and initiatives of the Vanishing Landscapes. The event will bring together artists, researchers and local communities for an immersive exploration of the Aitoliko lagoon. Organized at the Center for Engraving Arts – Vasso Katraki Museumthis gathering marks the end of a two-year research project inspired by the late artist Vasso Katraki. Through exhibitions, workshops, performances and discussions, the event seeks to reimagine the role of art in managing ecological and social transformations.

Vanishing Landscapes takes as its starting point the work of Vasso Katrakiwhose early prints documented the daily struggles and fishing practices of the communities of the Aitoliko lagoon. Her artistic career has taken her from documenting local life to political works opposing authoritarian regimes. Today, her attention to place and social justice resonates in a world marked by climate crises and environmental degradation. Aitoliko’s gathering echoes the artist’s commitment, critically addressing the human and non-human forces shaping the lagoon’s future.

The event invites participants to experience the region’s unique micro-geographies, where fresh and salt water intertwine and biodiversity thrives in a delicate balance. Aitoliko’s history is interwoven with myth, economic change and environmental transformation. The lagoon is not virgin nature, but a co-created landscape, shaped by generations of human and non-human actors. Industrial pollution, climate change and past development policies have left visible traces, raising urgent questions about conservation and resilience in an era of radical transformation.

The Center for Engraving Arts – Vasso Katraki Museum serves as an anchor for this gathering. Through its exhibitions and site-specific interventions, the event rethinks the function of an art institution rooted in its environment. Can a museum be more than a repository for the past? Can it be a living space for reflection and action in the face of urgent ecological concerns?

Over the four days, visitors will discover site-responsive works such as Skylarking (Long Play), a sound installation by Nuno da Luz that immerses the audience in the lagoon’s soundscape, and People Descended from Trees and Deer, a three-day printmaking workshop led by Yiannis Papadopoulos. Round-table discussions with local artists, architects and fishermen will promote dialogue on the transformations affecting Aitoliko. Film screenings, participatory performances and boat trips with fishermen will further explore this complex and evolving site.

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ITM CREATIVE ASSEMBLY: WHEN ART SHAPES TOMORROW’S LANDSCAPES

On April 6, 2025, Mação will host its Creative Assembly: “Integrated gestures to build landscapes never dreamed of: art, environment and economy in the community’s common home”.. This collaborative event, involving the local community, explores the role of art in transforming the land and shaping the landscapes of tomorrow.

The day will bring together local players, guest artists and the partners of the Transformative Territoriesprogram, including INLAND and ITM. After a moment of exchange and presentation of current projects, a collective creative workshop entitled “Le paysage raconté” will enable participants toexpress, through art, their connection with the territory.

The creative workshops will offer two complementary approaches:

• A collaborative panel combining memories and hopes,
• An artistic installation made from materials collected during activities with the community.

The afternoon will be devoted to a hands-on planting session at the Mação Prehistory Park. Participants will take part in the regeneration of the landscape by planting local species, while personalizing plaques to mark each planted specimen.

By combining art, nature and civic engagement, this initiative is part of a process of collective and sustainable transformation of the Mação territory. The event relies on the collaboration of artists, educators, forest regeneration specialists and local partners such as the Mação Town Hall, the Senior University, local associations and volunteers.

ARTMILL CREATIVE ASSEMBLY: EXPLORING INTER-SPECIES COEXISTENCE THROUGH ART

TheArtMill Creative Assembly will take place from August 10 to 16, 2025. A first preparatory gathering has already taken place in July 2024, bringing together the first members of the project to begin work on site. Participants will begin their immersion upstream with residencies and a planning phase. This introduction will familiarize them with the local ecosystem and the site of the Inter-Species Refuge(Inter-Species Refuge) site.

The event will open with a meet-and-greet and an introductory activity, encouraging exchanges between participants and the discovery of theArtMill environment. A presentation of the initiatives undertaken as part of Transformative Territories will be followed by an introduction toagroforestry andregenerative agriculture practices, with a tour of the farm and the Inter-species Refuge site.

The Assembly will give pride of place to individual working time, as certain methodologies require a deep connection with the living, listening and observing. Each day, a collective time will bring participants together under the alternating guidance of different facilitators.

The Assembly will explore a central question: How can transformative artistic practice build bridges between ecology and society, influencing our cultural understanding of interspecies coexistence and bringing a form of healing to marginalized communities and suffering ecosystems?

Around this questioning, several artistic and participative approaches will be implemented in order to explore the transformation of territories through art, ecology and social dynamics:

Lwrds Duniam: Decolonizing narratives and reinventing the future
Drawing on Afro-diasporic and indigenous cosmologies, lwrds duniam is developing an immersive artistic practice centered on learning from the living. Through a process of unlearning and re-evaluating dominant narratives, he proposes a reconnection with the site’s ancient trees, considered as “living elders” and guardians of memory. This approach is accompanied by collective reflection on the transmission of non-human knowledge and the construction of historical counter-narratives, opening up spaces of emancipation and transformation to reimagine possible futures beyond imposed structures.

Yeva Kupchenko: Mapping the links between ecology and society
Yeva Kupchenko invites participants to a collective exploration of eco-social dynamics through a workshop on eco-social transformation, its concepts and action strategies. By mapping the connections between the environment, human communities and other forms of life, participants develop a collective approach to interdependence. The experience is also rooted in a sensory exploration of the territory, enabling each participant to redefine his or her own relationship to space and belonging.

Anjan Salzer & Gilles Yann Smrkovsky: Listening, weaving and interacting with living things
The duo propose a series of immersive and participatory experiences to explore our relationship with the living world. The workshop Web of Life workshop offers a collective approach to inter-species interactions, while the sound walks allow us to listen attentively to the landscape and its resonances. A participatory installation, inspired by a project presented at the opening event of Transformative Territories at ArtMill, is based on a game of connections between individuals and living entities through the weaving and exchange of narratives. The practice of collective weaving thus becomes a living metaphor for the links between human and non-human, past and future, memory and transmission.

By combining these methodologies, the Assemblée Créative creates a space for dialogue and experimentation, where art becomes a tool for transforming territories and imaginations.

Alongside the artistic workshops, participants will carry out practical fieldwork:

• Eradication of invasive species in preparation for tree planting (autumn 2024 – spring 2025)
• Community engagement through art, participatory design and education
• Artistic translation of ecological knowledge for the general public

SENSITIVE ZONE CREATIVE ASSEMBLY

The Sensitive Zone Creative Assembly will take place in September or October 2025. It is currently being prepared.

INLAND CREATIVE ASSEMBLY

The Inland Creative Assembly will take place in October 2025. It is currently being prepared.

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT CREATIVE ASSEMBLIES, VISIT THE TRANSFORMATIVE TERRITORIES WEBSITE!