Experiences stemming from the Blue Residency in Gothenburg

In mid-October (13–17 October), the initiators of the WATERFRONTS initiative – LATRA (Greece), GOTALAND Engineering AB (Sweden) and IM Industries (Croatia) – convened in Gothenburg for a transnational meeting. Alongside project partners, the gathering brought together participating artists and experts in engineering, restoration, ecology and cultural practice from Sweden, Greece, Croatia, and the Netherlands.

Following the completion of the WATERFRONTS project planning phase during the April 2025 residency on Lesvos, artists embarked on “Blue Residencies”: local, community-based activities dedicated to water justice, climate resilience and emotional ecology. The Gothenburg meeting marked the moment when the first outcomes of these residencies were shared with the wider network, offering an opportunity to reflect on the artistic and social dimensions of the project.

Croatian artist Anđela Bugarija opened the presentations, showcasing an experimental film created in collaboration with performing and visual artists. The work comprises three movement-based micro-narratives: “Eco-Anxiety”, “Echoes of the Deep”, and “The Unseen”. Accompanying the film, three paintings by a local artist Kristina Bugarija extend the visual language of the project, mirroring its palette, themes and emotional contours. She titled her work “Sea Stories”, which consists of paintings of the Adriatic Sea: “Sunny Day”, “Tidal Wave”, and “Sea Side Town”. Together, the two mediums ask a central question: “Will harmony survive us?”, forming a unified meditation on emotion, environment and collective responsibility.

Textile and mixed-material designer Darja Nordberg then presented the “Form, Color & Emotions” workshop, co-created with designer Martina Claesson. More than twenty participants first explored emotional states such as resilience, anxiety, balance and transformation through color, before translating these states into textured glass objects. The workshop fostered a tactile dialogue between feeling and environment, resulting in a series of glass works that visually embody emotional and ecological sensitivity. These creative explorations reinforced the theme of emotion-environment interaction.

Greek ceramic artist Aspasia Gianneta introduced her sculptural series “Vessels”, a collection of ceramic forms that merge environmental awareness with emotional insight. Each piece treats water as both material and metaphor, symbolizing connection, scarcity and care. Through these works, Gianneta transforms eco-anxiety into reflection and conversation, shaping earth and empathy into sustainable creative practice.

While each work stands on its own, the presentations in Gothenburg highlighted an equally significant outcome: the formation of artistic bonds and the emergence of future collaborative directions. The meeting affirmed that art can serve as a catalyst for social and ecological imagination, offering creative pathways for responding to climate challenges across the North, Adriatic and Aegean seas.