Can art resist? And if yes, to what? How? And why? 

Twenty years ago I argued: art, the act of creation, is itself resistance. Today, in an age of collapse of the model of the world in which such a thesis was affirmed, we must ask the metacritical question: has art failed? Have all projects that sought to change the world, to overcome limitations, inequalities and global injustice, failed? Or on the contrary, beyond melancholic apocalyptic tendencies, should we argue that the resistance of creation has yet to bear fruit?

Boyan Manchev is a philosopher and writer, Professor at New Bulgarian University and Visiting Professor at Berlin University of the Arts and Hollins University. Manchev is the author of twenty books, among which “Metamorphosis, the World” (with Jean-Luc Nancy, 2024), “World and Freedom” (2023), “What is Ontology?” (with Dimitar Vatsov, 2023), “The End of Contemporary Art?, or The Future of Art” (2023). He has also contributed as author, theorist, dramaturge, actor or curator to visual arts, theatre, cinema and contemporary dance projects. 

8 May 2025, 18:30, Goethe-Institut Bulgarien

At the core of the lecture is the topical issue of climate justice and environmental protection. According to the data of the European Parliament, in 2020 the average textile consumption per person in the EU required 400 sq.meters of land, 9 cubic meters of water, 391 kg of raw materials and caused a carbon footprint of 270 kg of CO₂ emissions. Textile production, dyeing of large quantities of fabric and finishing products account for 20% of global clean water pollution. Less than half of unwanted clothes are collected for reuse and recycling, and only 1% are turned into new clothes. Instead of being exported or reused, 87% of textile waste is incinerated or landfilled.

Which designers and “fashion activists” offer models of counteraction? We will look at the acts of resistance of the Austrian activist Elisabeth Prantner and give examples from the engaged work of the American designer and activist Jeff Garner.

Neli Mitewa (Nelmit) graduated in Fashion Design from the University of Applied Sciences and Design in Trier, Germany. She develops her own collections under the “nelmit” brand. She also works as a freelance designer, in the field of teaching (with experience as a professor of fashion design at AMD Akademie Mode & Design Munich), consulting on design concepts, fashion journalism and costume design. 

She won a number of awards for design and innovations. In 2007, Neli created IVAN ASEN 22 as a conceptual platform for presenting young progressive fashion designers in Sofia, and in 2009 she founded the IVAN ASEN 22 Foundation for presenting and supporting contemporary designers. Since 2015 she has been focusing her interests on conceptual fashion and its role in the context of contemporary arts. 

Mitewa is an author of the book Voices of Fashion - Anthology of Contemporary Bulgarian Fashion Design and Ideas for Wearing - Conceptual Bulgarian Fashion Design.

9 May 2025, 18:30, Goethe-Institut Bulgarien

Maud Blandel's workshop is an invitation to explore her approach to open composition, based on notions of interdependence and reciprocity. Through a series of collective practices and improvisation exercises, the workshop will invite participants to explore the gaze, the walk and the space between two bodies as tools for developing a common language.

Tackling questions of extended listening, presence and performativity, the workshop will also be a time for conversation about the respective choreographic practices and experiences of the participants. 

Read more about Creative Crossroads artist Maud Blandel here. And find more information about the workshop here.