The International Prespa Walking Arts Encounters 2025 (WAC 25) is titled Walking Home / Walking in Transition. Artists, writers and other creative practitioners, critics, and researchers will gather in Prespa, Greece from Monday, June 30 to Sunday, July 6 in a unique exchange of ideas and practices based on walking arts.
The International Prespa Walking Arts Encounters 2025 (WAC 25) is an event in the framework of the Creative Europe co-funded project Walking Arts & Local Communities (WALC), starting in January 2024 for four years. Initiated by seven partners from five countries, WALC establishes a larger 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.
The Prespa area, a unique environment with two lakes (Megali Prespa and Mikri Prespa), is the locus where the field research of the walking arts project Visual March to Prespa is taking place, organized by the 1st Painting Workshop of the School of Visual Arts of the University of Western Macedonia. This was initiated in 2007 while the current International Prespa Walking Arts Encounters 2025 (WAC 25) is a continuation of the three previous International Encounters/Conferences (WAC) in 2019, 2021 and 2023, during which over 600 participants from all over the world met in Prespa. WAC originated in collaboration with Made of Walking/the Milena principle. Since 2024 WAC has been part of the WALC program.
The International Prespa Walking Arts Encounters (WAC 25) will feature 130 artists presenting 64 walkshops and 36 papers. Originating from 21 countries across 4 continents (Europe, America, Asia, Oceania), they represent 26 universities and organisations worldwide. Participants will join from the following countries and regions: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Portugal, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.
The partners of WALC are Visual March to Prespes, University of Western Macedonia (Leader, Πανεπιστήμιο Δυτικής Μακεδονίας, UOWM, Greece), walk · listen · create (WLC, Belgium), WalkLab2.PT at the University of Minho (UMINHO, Universidade do Minho, Portugal), Contemporary Art Center Nau Côclea (Centre de Creació Contemporània Nau Côclea, Catalonia, Spain), Association Temps Réel (Gigacircus, France), Action Synergy SA (AS, Greece). The Co-ordinators of the WALC project are Geert Vermeire (WLC) and Yannis Ziogas (UOWM).
Links, Social Media, Contact
@wac_encounters_conference | @walctogether
WEBSITE https://icowaf.eetf.uowm.gr/2025/ | https://www.walctogether.eu/
FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/WACInternationalEncountersConference | https://www.facebook.com/walctogether
INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/wac_encounters_conference | https://www.instagram.com/walctogether
University of Western Macedonia
