Balkan Radikal Beauty Salon “Practicing Care”

In times of multiple crises, people must turn to one another and strengthen their bonds more than ever. In today’s fast-paced climate, attentiveness is an underestimated form of care.

How can people learn to pay attention to one another? How can they find and nurture connection through mutual care and the shared use of space and time? And how can they preserve practices of ecological care?

The search for answers begins with a look at the economic and ecological crises in the mining town of Majdanpek and how these clash with the magical practices of the dragon hunters.

*Flotacija* follows a family whose fate is intertwined with both and who are doing their best to ensure the survival of their traditions and future generations.

The following day, the focus is on practices of physical care. In an eco-cyber nail salon, Petja Ivanova invites us to understand intimacy as infrastructure. Drawing on her research into Bulgarian caves, rivers, and water mythologies, fingernails become navigators of ecological and subconscious memories.

The workshop offers a space to paint each other’s nails, spend time together, and share stories and memories.

Bujrum is an open space for conversation about diaspora, memory, and spirituality as forms of care and resistance. Dalila Daut leads a group coffee-ground reading, creating moments of listening, storytelling, and sharing. Between personal stories and collective experiences, a space opens up for questions of belonging, loss, and memory(ies).

The program concludes with a communal dinner and music.

Full Program:

• June 19, 2026, 6:00 PM | Caring for Ecology and Magic Practices: Film screening of *Flotacija* & Q&A with director Zoë Aiano
• June 20, 2026, 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM | Eco-Cybernails with Petja Ivanova
• June 27, 2026, 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM | Bujrum. Diaspora Spirituality as Care with Dalila Daut
• June 27, 2026, 6:00 PM | Music and Dinner