‘Nine Elephants’ Urban Art Festival to Begins in Sofia on July 9

The third edition of the Nine Elephants Urban Art Festival will take place in Sofia from 9 to 19 July, the organisers have announced.

The festival's third edition features more than 20 artistic projects, delivered in partnership with two Sofia district administrations, cultural organisations, institutions and local communities. For the second consecutive year, the festival is opening its programme to international participation. The projects were selected through an open call that attracted more than 100 submissions from Bulgaria and abroad.

Nine Elephants will open on 9 July at 18:00 with an exhibition by internationally renowned Croatian artist Vlatka Horvat at the Swimming Pool space. A preview of the exhibition and a conversation with the artist will take place from 17:00 to 18:00. On 8 July, a workshop led by Vlatka Horvat will also be held. Among the programme's highlights is Sofia Night Performance, titled Choreographies of Labour, which will take place along Madrid Boulevard and surrounding locations. The evening will feature performance art, artistic interventions, theatre, poetry and workshops.

On 18 July, Opera Ecologica will be held at the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Botanical Garden on Sofia's Ring Road, where a series of artistic interventions, talks and a film programme will be presented. The festival will conclude on 19 July in the Fondovi Zhilishta neighbourhood, one of Sofia's historic working-class districts. Participants will include New Choir from Vienna, conducted by Pavel Naydenov, and artist Vasilena Gankovska.

The festival will also host the international professional forum Spontaneous Cities, a platform for the exchange of experience and practices in artistic interventions, urban research and cultural work in public space. To coincide with the festival, the first edition of the urban art handbook Cities with Imagination will also be published.

This year's festival is held under the theme Everything We Do and focuses on the relationship between the city and our actions — from everyday habits and small gestures to labour, care and the possible changes we imagine but rarely bring about, the festival team said. The organisers added that one of the festival's principal international partners is Kadist, a contemporary art organisation based in Paris. Works by seven internationally recognised artists from the organisation's collection will be presented during the festival.

The festival continues its policy of decentralisation by developing artistic projects beyond Sofia's central districts and fostering long-term engagement with local communities. In 2026, the programme extends to the Fondovi Zhilishta, Iztok, Dragalevtsi and Krastova Vada neighbourhoods, Robov Dol Park, as well as the villages of Busintsi and Zheleznitsa.

The festival was founded by Victoria Draganova, who also serves as its artistic director. Nine Elephants is organised by the Blue Cube Foundation and a team comprising Reneta Georgieva (communications), Anna Ivanova (coordinator), Kristiyana Barzynska (assistant), Crunchy Oyster (graphic design), Rosina Pencheva (photographic documentation), among others.

The Nine Elephants Festival is supported financially by the Sofia Municipality.