Vision .
The Biennale of Western Balkans (BoWB) is a new arts and cultural event and institution, hosted for the first time in the city of Ioannina, region of Epirus in Northwestern Greece, in October 2018.
The vision is to bring intangible cultural heritage and community values in the contemporary context, in connection with art and new technologies.
Artefacts of intangible cultural heritage encompass community values through collective creation. They promote cooperative models of creation along the history of cultures (tradition, anonymous creation, copying practices), evolve over time and appear afresh in the present, serving as a beacon of inspiration for the future.
Intangible Cultural Heritage
Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) stands for the collective cultural expressions of the everyday culture, from small to expanded communities. It raises awareness, ensures respect, safeguards and promotes collective practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and techniques, ceremonies and performing arts, as well as tools, handicrafts and cultural sites associated with and recognized by communities.
BoWB explores the new artistic and creative directions of intangible cultural heritage, valuing in particular contributions that examine lesser known bodies of knowledge, collective, anonymous and non-textual works, women theorists, undiscovered collections, and projects that make interconnections of smaller scenes with wider ones.
Experience tradition anew, through contemporary art, new technologies and the commons .
The aim is to support and present contemporary art that can engage aspects of intangible cultural heritage of the Greek and Western Balkan communities, and of the European and international field as well.
Moreover, the Biennale aims to create a critical framework for the dissemination of contemporary thought and research in art and culture, open technologies and the commons.
Celebrate the past to build the future
Tradition anew .
With the title 'Tradition anew' the 1st Biennale of Western Balkans presents interdisciplinary projects that explore aspects of intangible cultural heritage and possibilities of their digital future.
The programme contains a main gathering event, three exhibitions and three conferences & workshops.
The Biennale sets up the framework to envision the creation of a Virtual Museum for Intangible Cultural Heritage and contemporary thought.
Watch the promo video of BoWB
by Kostis Emmanouilidis
About the Programme .
The Biennale of Western Balkans operates both as a festival and an institution, through three main modules
Main event
The programme includes the creation of large-scale installations (pavilions) in public space, for hosting community lead activities and fostering civic engagement.
Exhibitions
The exhibitions are concerned with concepts and practices linked to the immaterial cultural forms and ephemeral traditions: the concept of myth, the culture of weaving and collective memory through sound.
Talks & Workshops
The workshops are conceived as creative social spaces open to experimentation, where art and tradition can intersect with other fields.
Where the Biennale is taking place
Discover the 3 Venues .
Click to see the analytical programme taking place in each venue
See the participants and events
Bubble main event .
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Bubble: Main Event
The Bubble becomes the central stage of BoWB's event programme.
See the participating artists & artworks
3 Exhibitions .
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Sonic Minds: Mnemonic Passages
‘Sonic Minds: Mnemonic Passages’ is an immaterial, walking sound exhibition that examines the concept of memory in relation to sound.
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Weaving Europe, Weaving Balkans
Weaving Europe / Weaving Balkans critically examines topics related to weaving, a craft associated with the history of Epirus and Balkans.
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Common Myths
“Common myths” is an exhibition that examines the concept of myth, initiating from the work of 20th c. theorists as Claude Lévi-Strauss, Lucian Blaga and Roland Barthes.
See the participating speakers & creators
3 Talks & Workshops .
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Visual Ecotopias: History, Theory, Criticism
A symposium toward a politics of ecology in contemporary art, departing from Guattari's concept of 'ecosophy'.
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Un-co-nference
The “Un-co-nference” sets in its core the new age of the Commons. Examples range from urban space to open-source technologies.
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Intangible Meetings
The “Intangible Meetings” are intended as presentations and on-stage dialogues that survey, analyse and debate aspects of Intangible Cultural Heritage
BoWB's blog .
Take a closer look at the activities and venues of the programme
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FORM.AT
A choreographic allegory about the endless construction and deconstruction of human relationships, which dives into the wealth of tradition and draws inspiration from the folk legend of ‘Tou gefiriou tis Artas’, while peeking at the Theater of the absurd and
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Common Myths exhibition programme – poster
The programme - poster of the Common Myths exhibition (opening Saturday, 19:30), which is available to get during the exhibition for free. See the programme and the venue in the following link: https://bowb.org/?p=5990
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Voices in Limbo, Soundtrope Festival
Soundtrope Festival will present a set of cultural events related to the intangible cultural heritage of the Western Balkans and in particular the Polyphonic Song, one of the most interesting musical forms in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans, as
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“Resetting Homeland” by Lotus Eaters
Mekeio is hosting the interactive performance of Lotus Eaters “Resetting Homeland” (2017), in the dorm rooms of the School. Viewers wear headphones lying on the beds, where hundreds of young women where lying every night for nearly a century, finding a
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Travelling Talismans – Ilias Toliadis (Journal)
“the forgotten past leaves traces that remain undetected, until some time in our present space - or ‘spatial time’ we awaken to the call of re-enacted event, or found object, or memory” (Ludovisi, 218).
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Some call them Balkans
The Ground Tour Project, within the frame of the exhibition Common Myths shares the ongoing and open story Some Call them Balkans with you in the form of an interactive and co-created exhibition.
Visit the Sponsors .
Our Communication Sponsors .
Share your ideas, initiatives and aspirations!
Contact Us .
Send Message
Info
info@bowb.org
Address
History of Art Laboratory
School of Fine Arts
University of Ioannina
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University campus,
PO 1186, 45110
Ioannina, Greece