International Trans-Balkan Art Project

Open Call for Artists – 2026

Artists from across the Balkan region are invited to participate in The Singing of the Nightingale, a collaborative trans-Balkan art project exploring how artists from different Balkan countries can work together through shared artistic gestures, local histories, and a shared cultural space.

The project aims to build a network of artistic participation across the Balkans, demonstrating that cooperation between artists and cultural communities is possible beyond national divisions.

The project is organized by BUFF (Greece).

The NI Manifestation “Smilevo Congress” joins the project through the Kooperacija Sessions concept.

The project unfolds as a moving and gradually expanding artistic initiative across the Balkan region.

It will be first introduced in May 2026 in Smilevo (North Macedonia) within the framework of the Smilevo Congress commemorative events.

Following this introduction, the project will continue in the trinational Prespa region, a landscape shared by Greece, Albania, and North Macedonia, where it will culminate with the main exhibition hosted at the Cooperative space Pelekanos, the local bean producers’ factory and a vital link in the region’s cycle of sowing and production (Prespa region, Greece).

Prespa has been selected as a symbolic location: a lake shared by three countries where nature, culture, and memory unfold within a continuous landscape that exceeds national borders.

PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION

Participants must photograph their sculpture within a meaningful local context.

The photograph should connect the work with local history, memory, or community identity.

Artists are encouraged to relate the image to individuals connected with ideas of freedom, cultural dialogue, or Balkan solidarity, such as:

• partisans
• intellectuals
• writers
•  poets
• philosophers
• artists
•  activists.

The photograph must be accompanied by a short text (maximum 100 words) explaining the location and the historical reference.

Please also include the date and time the photograph was taken, as well as the latitude/longitude (lat/long) or Google Maps pin link where the image was captured, for inclusion in the interactive map.

SOUND MATERIAL

Participants are invited to submit an audio recording of 30–60 seconds.

Possible recordings include for example:

• nightingale songs or other bird sounds
• natural environments
• urban soundscapes
• environmental or social acoustic atmospheres

The recording is preferably made in the same or a nearby location where the photograph was taken. These recordings will become part of a collective Balkan sound archive accompanying the exhibition.