“Baba Residence (Climartistic edition)” prototype

During Tandem Regions cooperation process we aim to develop the prototype Climartistique – an artistic Baba residency which unfolds around topics related to climate change and how it affects the agricultural, natural and cultural dimension of life in a concrete village.

It is based on Ideas Factory’s year-long experience in conducting the Baba residency – a 3-week long artistic initiative in depopulated villages of the Bulgarian rural periphery – an area often deprived of basic human rights like access to culture, healthcare, transportation etc. The residents live in local households and are thus able to immerse themselves in the local community. The residency engages all local actors – municipality, mayor, local NGOs, active local people and villagers – in an interaction with the young artists, aiming to re-evaluate the cultural and natural treasures of the village.

We first introduced the topic of climate change in 2021 in a shortened version of the residency, which took place in a village in Northwestern Bulgaria in partnership with Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation. In future we want to further support artistic expression as a means to raise awareness and foster discussion about important social and ecological topics, inspiring action towards more resilient, ecologically aware rural communities.