Creative Hubs as forges of possibilities

4-6 JUNE
Timișoara, Romania
Current Edition:

With the support of

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DAY.1

DAY.2

DAY.3

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DAY.1

Porto Innovation Hub
& UPTEC Baixa

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DAY.2

Palácio dos
Correios

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DAY.3

UPTEC Baixa &
Dinamo10 Creative Hub

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BauTopia third edition

Creative Hubs as forges of possibilities.
Reclaiming the role of hub managers as professional place-makers.

4-6 June 2023
Timișoara , Romania

This year’s Hubs Meetup is organised by the European Creative Hubs Network with the support of FABER and FOR, our hosting hubs in Timișoara, European Capital of Culture 2023.

BauTopia 3 puts the spotlight on creative hub managers and sets up a platform to reflect on the professional practice of creative-hubs-making. By uniting professionals and experts, BauTopia 3 invites participants to join a series of interactive sessions and networking activities that will facilitate an exchange of stories, know-how and inspirations that form the mosaic of the diverse ECHN family. 

BauTopia means “building a place”, setting hub managers as craftful place-makers. Creative hubs are places that coin alternative solutions of place-making, becoming forges of experimentation, innovation and impact. From this perspective, hub managers are the forgers of possibilities and will have the chance to share their tools, practices and experiences with their peers during BauTopia. For this, the theme of this year’s Meetup is “Creative hubs as forges of possibilities”.

Most of the activities of the program are led by hub managers from the ECHN community. The program is composed of a series of guided networking activities and themed interactive sessions, ending up with the pitching of the next ECHN Workshop.

Our host will be FABER, a long-standing member of the ECHN family. The FABER team will welcome us in their hub’s spaces and help us explore the city of Timișoara, European Capital of Culture 2023.


Register

for in-person participation in the BAU TOPIA 3 Conference
CONFERENCE DAY 1

Sunday, 4 June 2023

MORNING/AFTERNOON

EVENING

Location: Lloyd Timisoara
Piața Victoriei Nr. 2, Timișoara, Timiș, 300006
18:00ARRIVAL OF PARTICIPANTS
18:30-19:00
Greetings by the local organisations

Ruben Lațcău | Vice-Mayor of Timisoara City Council
Cosmina Goagea | European Capital of Culture 2023

19:00-19:30
Speed dating 

Guided networking activity

Jessie Goldman from AZIL hub

19:30-21:00
Introducing Timișoara: the Art Nouveau gem of the Balkans 

Guided city walk

Tur de Arhitectura (TA)

21:00SOCIAL DRINKS

Location: Aethernativ
Strada Mărășești 14, Timișoara 300064, Romania
CONFERENCE DAY 2

Monday, 5 June 2023

Location: FABER
Splaiul Peneș Curcanul 4-5, Timișoara, TM 300124

MORNING

09:30-10:00REGISTRATION AND COFFEE
10:00-10:15
WELCOME WORDS by ECHN

Vassilis Charalampidis, President of the Board – ECHN

Rita Cortes, Community & Communication manager – ECHN

Davide Amato, Project Officer – ECHN
10:15-10:30
WELCOME WORDS FROM THE HOSTS

Oana Simionescu – Co-founder & CEO FABER, Co-founder FOR

Pepe Peralta Guerrero – Co-founder F O R makerspace & FABER

Andreea Iager-Tako – PLAI

10:30-11:15
FABER EXPLORATION 

Tour of the FABER building in the Fabric district

Oana Simionescu – Co-founder & CEO FABER, Co-founder FOR

11:15-11:30

SHORT COFFEE BREAK

11:30-12:30
GUIDED NETWORKING

from Design Thinkers Academy

Dalibor Vasiljevic, Diana Simion, Vlad Icleanu

12:30-14:00LUNCH BREAK
AFTERNOON
14:00-14:30
INSPIRATIONAL KEYNOTE
RECLAIM PRODUCTION- CARGO BIKES AS AN ARTISTIC MEDIUM. 
How do we start to build a better world?
 
Ion Sørvin, Founder N55, architecture and design platform
14:30-16:30
BREAK-OUT ACTIVITIES
Facilitated by Design Thinkers Academy
 
1. Green Practices and Hubs
Circular Fashion Business Toolkit – Train The Trainer from the S4Fashion project
What Can Creative Hubs Learn from the Fashion Businesses and Crafter’s Path to Circular Economy Transition
Speaker: Leekei WH Tang
2. Hubs and Place-making with Urbanism & Architecture
Place-making with Architecture: How can Urbanism and Architecture help to craft identities and communities
Speaker: Pepe Peralta Guerrero, F O R makerspace
3. Social Inclusion & Community Building
From the Future DiverCities case studies: Rethinking spaces by leveraging the role of artists as key factors for social & civic change 
Speakers: Andreea Iager-Tako, PLAI & Ilaria Esposito, LAMA | Future DiverCities project
16:30-17:00 COFFEE BREAK
17:00-18:00
Wrap up and share 
Outcomes of break-out activities 
19:00-21:00 Party @ surprise location
CONFERENCE DAY 3

Tuesday, 6 June 2023

Location: FABER
Splaiul Peneș Curcanul 4-5, Timișoara, TM 300124

MORNING

09:30-10:00REGISTRATION AND COFFEE
10:00-11:00
ECHN COMMUNITY

Pushing the boundaries of creativity with community-powered platforms 

Atilim Şahin, Co-founder of Neol 

1st ECHN Workshop on Rural Hacking

feedback by Marina Batinic, Co-founder of Culture Hub Croatia

The impacts of collaborative workspaces 

Survey preliminary results presented by Lorenzo Marmo, CORAL-ITN Researcher

Find the survey here

11:00-11:30COFFEE BREAK 
11:30-12:30
CLOSING WORDS 
ECHN’s Discord channel 
by Diana Monsberger
(Blivande)
 
Farewell from  
ECHN
FABER & FOR
 
 
12:30-13:30LUNCH 
14:00-onwardsInformal hanging @FABER
AFTERNOON

The program is in local Romania time zone

All timings are GMT+2

Keynote speaker: Ion Sørvin, founder of N55

About N55:

 
“N55 is a platform for artistic collaboration. N55 works with art as a part of everyday life. Since the start in 1996, N55’s projects have received widespread acclaim both in professional circles and among a broad public. N55’s notion of art is grounded in a perception of art as a part of daily life, with the artist as a generalist who can orient her/himself towards any field of knowledge. N55 is first and foremost concerned with relations between ethics and aesthetics, and hereby politics. By reformulating certain features of our daily life and surroundings, it is possible to create meaningful situations and social surplus. Art is not restricted to certain methods, techniques and theories, but must take all possible media into consideration, and by means of a general approach, be concerned with fundamental conditions of existence.
The practice of N55 is interdisciplinary, multifaceted and include basic philosophical work on language and art, development of a range of functional things, sculptures and installations, collaboration and dialogue with researchers, activists, artists and others, and research on social, scientific, artistic and political issues. The work is shown locally and at international art exhibitions and all systems and manuals are available on the Internet (http://n55.dk) and in publications. Most of N55 works are Open Source provided under the rules of Creative Commons. Other persons can copy or build upon the work. Thereby the traditional distinction between artist and audience is blurred and intellectual ownership is rejected to some extent. All along N55 have sought an independent position in relation to art markets and maintained a critical and constructivist position. N55 wish to demonstrate that art as a way of living and acting can be of considerable relevance for other areas of society, and raise attention about basic relations between art and politics, aesthetics and ethics.”
 

A glimpse into the work of N55

N55 suggests that we find a different approach to urban planning and take into consideration what is right and wrong. Intelligent urban design would require the design of systems which adjust themselves to the persons who live in them and to their needs.
N55 proposes a critical approach to city design by daring to give the inhabitants real and meaningful influence on the form and function of their city, and by using friendly technologies, which allows our urban environment to exist in symbiosis with our planet rather than as a parasite.
 
The XYZ OPEN CITY can be seen as part of N55's ongoing research aiming to find new ways of using public space while respecting persons and local communities.
 

The N55 SPACEFRAME is a low-cost, movable lightweight construction that can easily be transformed. It is dimensioned as a living unit for 3-4 persons and demands practically no maintenance. The construction can be erected by anybody in a short time. The entire unit is constructed from small lightweight components which all can be handled without the use of cranes or other heavy machinery. The construction is assembled by hand. It can be erected directly onto the ground, since a cast foundation is not necessary. The structure can be dismantled and rebuilt many times over without damaging any of the components. The construction can be moved either fully assembled, or partly dismantled.

N55 propose a critical approach to city design by daring to give the inhabitants real and meaningful influence on the form and function of their city, and by using friendly technologies, which allows our urban environment to exist in symbiosis with our planet rather than as a parasite.The PARKCYCLE SWARM is a modular system that empowers persons to build an instant public park whenever and wherever they want to. The PARKCYCLE SWARM consists of a number of human powered mobile gardens. The individual gardens can be combined to form public parks. The PARKCYCLE SWARM is a collaboration between N55, Till Wolfer and John Bela from the Rebar group
WALKING HOUSE is a modular dwelling system that enables persons to live a peaceful nomadic life, moving slowly through the landscape or cityscape with minimal impact on the environment. N55 was asked by Wysing Arts Centre to collaborate with a group of travellers in the area around Cambridge, where there has traditionally been a large population of travelers living in a symbiotic relationship with the settlers, making a living as seasonal workers on the farms. This is very much a question of the differences in aesthetics between the nomadic culture and the settlers. Our working theory has been that by introducing a design that both are inspired by traditional nomadic culture and contemporary design solutions, some of these differences could easier be overcome.

Timișoara: European Capital of Culture

Timișoara – Creative Hubs in the 2023 European Capital of Culture

Timișoara, as the European capital of culture for the year 2023, places the focus on strengthening the sense of community in the city. Boosting the confidence of its citizens to  actively participate in the cultural production of their local communities is among the main objectives of the ECC institution this year. In this regard, Timisoara’s vibrant community of creative hubs leads the way into a common creative future. 

 

 

Organisers

Creative FLIP

The overall objective of this Preparatory Action, co-funded by the European Union, is to build a stronger resilience of the cultural and creative sector, by further strengthening the overall CCS ecosystem and supporting the capacities of its actors in the areas of Finance, Learning/Skills, Innovation and Intellectual Property Rights.

Building on the outcomes of the Pilot phase (2019-2021) and the success of its outputs such as the “So You Need Money Guide” and the Creatives Unite platform, the Creative FLIP consortium, led by the Goethe-Institut in partnership with the European Creative Hubs Network, IDEA consult, 3s Unternehmensberatung and Intellectual Property Institute Luxembourg, is further increasing its efforts in supporting the CCS actors in their search for relevant and latest information on financing and other opportunities for and by the sector.

www.CreativeFLIP.eu

ECHN Project

The European Creative Hubs Network Project activated a 3-year program coordinated by ECHN for the members of its network. This project has been funded since 2021 by Creative Europe, as one of the European networks supporting the cultural and creative sector.

The program aims at empowering creative hubs as main focal points for creative professionals and businesses. The central fronts of action include mobility opportunities for hub managers and community members, learning exchanges and workshops, advocacy at local and European level and academic research to highlight the role of creative hubs within the cultural and creative industries. Two annual meetups will gather members of the network, local stakeholders and international guest speakers. The first BAUTOPIA took place in June 2022; the second edition will travel to Porto in October, with the title “Glocalization in Culture & Creativity”.

The European Creative Hubs Network is a peer-led network with a mission to enhance the creative, economic and social impact of hubs around Europe and neighbouring countries.As focal points for creative professionals and businesses, hubs offer the most effective way to support the growth and development of cultural and creative industries.

www.creativehubs.net

With the support of

FABER creative hub 

A mixed team of community builders, professionals with background within the creative industry, education, arts and culture and technology have come together to design a sustainable and impactful creative and community center and hub. With focus on collaboration, continuous education and capacity building, talent and know-how management, heritage conservation and urban regeneration the space is a multi-function, multi-purpose sustainable ecosystem that hosts a co-working space, private and shared meeting spaces, a makerspace, a social bistro, accommodation facilities and community social and educational areas, while preserving a piece of industrial architectural heritage.

F O R is a design and architectural studio linked to a space for collaboration -coworking space and a makerspace- or maybe the other way around. FOR activities are based on 4 pillars: Space, Education, Design and Architecture. F O R is also one of the founding members of FABER.

 

Dinamo10 

This co-working space located in one of Portugal’s rural areas serves the small but vibrant creative community of Viana do Castelo. Dinamo10 has established the concept of collaborative work among members as the main source of innovation, creativity and professional growth and is working on 3 main areas: D10 Residencies (multidisciplinary focus), D10 Services (multidisciplinary team delivering value to corporate and public sector) and D10 Mentoring (for students and young entrepreneurs), all focused towards a co-creation approach.

Speakers

Ruben Lațcău

Vice-Mayor of Timisoara City Council

Cosmina Goagea

European Capital of Culture 2023

Jessie Goldman

AZIL hub

Pepe Peralta Guerrero

Co-founder FOR makerspace & FABER

Vassilis Charalampidis

President of the Board
ECHN

Rita Cortes

Community & Communication manager
ECHN

Davide Amato

Project Officer
ECHN

Oana Simionescu

Co-founder & CEO FABER, Co-founder FOR

Ion Sørvin

Founder N55

Dalibor Vasiljevic

Design Thinkers Academy

Diana Simion

Business Consultant & Facilitator at Design Thinkers Academy

Vlad Icleanu

Design Thinkers Academy

Atilim Şahin

Co-founder of Neol

Leekei WH Tang

Founder of ALOE Development

Andreea Iager-Tako

PLAI

Ilaria Esposito

LAMA | Future DiverCities project

Diana Monsberger

Blivande

Marina Batinic

Co-founder of Culture Hub Croatia

Lorenzo Marmo

CORAL-ITN Researcher

European Creative Hubs Network /
Pireos 84, 104 35 Athens Greece /
+30 210 3425335 /
info@creativehubs.net