Kozani Unfold Festival
12 & 13 September 2026
The Kozani Unfold Festival is coming this September 12th and 13th at a two-day, multi-thematic festival designed to re-shape public space while enhancing community interaction and collaboration through artistic intervention.
The festival will host artists from Greece, Serbia, and Portugal, fostering a creative dialogue with the local community of Kozani. Its central theme focuses on “Place” and its relation to climate change, collective memory, and just transition. Within the framework of the festival, artistic interventions will take place in the public space, including a sound walk, a participatory installation, a neighborhood dinner, film screenings, and other events.
More specifically, the public will have the opportunity to participate in the creation of a participatory mural at Iroon Square, curated by artist Ana Zdravkovic from Serbia. Drawing inspiration from the region’s natural color palette and local motifs, she will work in collaboration with the city’s youth. At the same time, she will coordinate an anthotype and experimental seed paper workshop. The seed paper will be planted in pots integrated directly into the artwork itself, creating a living piece that invites the local community to transition from mere observers to active curators of public space.
The public will also participate in an original soundscape by artist Bruno Caracol from Portugal, based on material from a creative writing workshop with local residents. The work connects memories from the past of the Ptolemaida lignite mine with hypothetical and speculative scenarios for the crater’s future in the post-lignite era, inviting visitors to experience an immersive audio walk.
The residents of Kozani will have the opportunity to enjoy a special short film screening curated by the Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival as part of the “BBB Shorts Travel Around Greece” initiative. Titled “Topos Reflection”, the film selection explores the concept of place through stories of collective memory, landscape, and identity—showing that place is never just a geographic point on a map, but a deep emotion that shapes human lives.
The screening highlights the voices of emerging filmmakers from across the Balkans, whose stories travel to new audiences through the festival, fostering dialogue, connection, and cultural exchange throughout the region.
Screening Programme:
- VSEMIR – The Border at the Miren Cemetery | Lea Vucko, Damir Grbanovic | Slovenia | 2:51 min.
- Fragmented Skies | Letitia Popa | Republic of Moldova | Romania | 8:20 min.
- Lime Kiln Worker | Nevena Micić, Katarina Micić, Filip Marojević | Serbia | 9:56 min.
- The Circle of Violence | Andreas Lazidis | Greece | 15:42 min.
- Missing Home | Yağmur Canpolat | Türkiye | 11:00 min.
- мала чешма | Tiny fountain | Stratis Alvanos | Greece | 2024 | 8.5 min.
The European project Unfold views public space as a shared cultural good, where art is not restricted to an institutional role but is integrated into everyday life. Public space serves as a living platform where diverse voices are not only heard but actively shape the narratives and experiences that unfold within it. In Greece, the UNFOLD project will take place in autumn 2026 across three stops: Kalamata, Kozani, and Athens.
UNFOLD is co-funded by the European Union and implemented by the organizations Klara i Rosa (Serbia), Iminente (Portugal), and Balkans Beyond Borders (Greece).
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