The SEAS Platform 2008-2010

Black/North SEAS

SEAS continues to connect European urban issues with inventive artistic production. The new cycle: Black SEAS/North SEAS connects two very different European regions...


By WAVE Team
from Belgrade, SERBIA


Black/North SEAS is a major multi-lateral European platform which links the Arts with other sectors of political and social life through a series of international and intercultural co-productions that will tour seaports, coastal cities and resorts around the North Sea and the Black Sea between 2008 and 2010. The works will be presented in non-conventional paces and in public spaces. It is formed from a partnership of over fifty European artists and over forty European organisations led by Intercult as executive producer. It is support by a Multi-annual Grant from the EU's Culture 2007 programme.

Black/North SEAS will commission, create and distribute interdisciplinary artworks that will develop unique encounters between artists and audiences in unexpected places and re-cycled public space. The SEAS productions will travel together, invading and transforming port cities and resorts on the coasts of the two seas. The touring is supplemented with major conferences "CityScape Seminars" on significant themes such as Environment, Urban Planning, Cultural Tourism, Active Citizenship, Migration: themes that are common to all or many of the places that the project will visit.

The cities that will host Black/North SEAS are - in 2008: Odessa, Ukraine (May 2008, World Premier), Constanta/Mangalia, Romania and Varna/Balchik, Bulgaria (June 2008), Istanbul, Turkey (September 2008); in 2009: Göteborg, Sweden (June 2009), Helsingor, Denmark (June 2009), Rotterdam, Netherlands (July 2009), Tromso, Norway (August/September 2009, date to be confirmed), Skegness/Lincolnshire, UK (September 2009, date to be confirmed); in 2010: Georgia (place and date to be confirmed), and satellite events in cities in Montenegro and Slovenia: "The Other SEAS".

Each SEAS event will host a diverse combination of visual art installations, multimedia presentations and performances commissioned by Intercult and its co-producing partners, supplemented by smaller seminars or more complex CityScape conferences, in cooperation with local NGOs, universities and citizen organisations.

The Black/North SEAS partners are: Intercult/Sweden and Arts Council - East Midlands/UK, Association New Music/Ukraine, BADco/Croatia, Constanta City Council/Romania, Garajistanbul/Turkey, Hotel Pro Forma/Denmark, International Summer Theatre Festival - Varna Summer/Bulgaria, KERA, Varna/Bulgaria, Kobenhavns Internationell Teater (KIT)/Denmark, Lincoln Center for the Arts/UK, Menthor Foundation, Constanta/Romania, Odin Teatret/Denmark, Rotterdam Schouwburg/Netherlands, SantralIstanbul/Turkey and Bilgi University, Stavanger 2008 - European Cultural Capital/Norway, The City and Region of Odessa/Ukraine, The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and the Arts/Turkey, The Istanbul International Theatre Biennale, The National Theatre, Plovdiv/Bulgaria, The Romanian Cultural Institute/Romania, The Swedish Consulate - Istanbul/Turkey, Theatre Sfumato, Sofia/Bulgaria, Treaty of Utrecht International Cultural Program/Netherlands, Trom Fylkeskommun/Norge, Tromso kommune/Norway, Tromso Kunstforening/Norway, Ukrainian Drama Theatre - Odessa/Ukraine, University of Lincolnshire/UK, 25++ initiated by CulturesFrance with, Intercult, Theatre Sfumato/Bulgaria & Institut A.Mickiewicz/Poland, culturebase.net - Europe NOW/Europe NEXT a partnership of The House of World Cultures/Berlin, Intercult/Stockholm, Visiting Arts/London, Danish Center for Culture and Development/Copenhagen and The Baltic Sea Cultural Centre/Gdansk.


(Published: 10.02.2008.)

Send your comments