We are keen to hear from attendees and participants of this year’s Prespa Encounter – were you there? What were your highlights and how would you like the Encounter to evolve? If you have been to a previous Encounter in Prespa, but were unlucky enough not to be there earlier this month, we would still like to hear about the highlights and memories you have too.
Was it meeting old friends, meeting new friends, discovering new ways of making walking art, testing out a work-in-progress, building connections, sharing knowledge, developing trust or was it merely the scenery or the affordable booze?
Guided by Yannis Ziogas and Geert Vermeire the co-Artistic Directors, with more than 120 walking art submissions, the Prespa Encounters 2025 in July was a logistical challenge tackled by Aspasia Voudouri and colleagues from the University of Western Macedonia and the local community. The key challenge now is how to foster and grow the exchanges and inspiration that the Encounter generated – we are open to your suggestions.
The proposed theme of the Prespa Encounter 2027 “7 plus 7 Places to Walk” will be presented. The University of Western Macedonia and the Prespa Encounter Organising Committee are looking forward to the initiation of the participatory process that will lead to the 2027 Encounter in Prespa.
Download the text with the concept of the participatory process below.
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The co-funded EU Walking Arts and Local Communities (WALC) project offers an opportunity for public scrutiny of the project, by running bi-monthly free “Confluence events”, in which project partners come together to present how the aspect of the project for which they are responsible is progressing.
Hosts
Walking Arts & Local Communities (WALC) is an artistic cooperation project, co-funded by the European Union, Creative Europe, starting in January 2024 for four years. With seven partners from five countries, WALC establishes an International Center for Artistic Research and Practice of Walking Arts, in Prespa, Greece, at the border with Albania and North Macedonia, backed up by an online counterpart in the format of a digital platform for walking arts.
WALC builds on the previous work of hundreds of artists and researchers already practicing Walking Arts as a collaborative medium, and having met at the significant previous walking arts events and encounters in Greece, Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, and during online activities at walk · listen · create.
We acknowledge the support of the EU Creative Europe Cooperation grant program in the framework of the European project WALC (Walking Arts and Local Community).
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
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Thank you for this beautiful space for reflection. My highlight was not a single event, but the emergence of a shared “field of attention.” I felt it during my own performance, during the incredible walkshops of others, and in the quiet conversations in between.
For the future, I believe the potential lies in strengthening the bridges between these moments of presence. To think of the “in-between” spaces – the journeys, the transitions – not just as logistics, but as artistic material in itself.
Prespa was a powerful experience of reconnection. The real work begins now: weaving the threads of the encounters we’ve had. I look forward to continuing this conversation with you all.
Thank you Rhida for your insightful comment. We will need to ascertain how much of the Prespa Encounter budget we can apply to creating meaningful exchanges beyond the Encounter itself. We hope this event will bring forward suggestions for further online and on-the-ground exchanges.