The Educational programme “Without Distance” 2025 is part of the project „Life Long Burning – Future Lost and Found (LLB 3) and is realized with the financial support of the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, National Culture Fund, programme “Creative Europe”, and in partnership with Goethe-Institut Bulgarien.
At the core of the lecture is the topical issue of climate justice and environmental protection. According to the data of the European Parliament, in 2020 the average textile consumption per person in the EU required 400 sq.meters of land, 9 cubic meters of water, 391 kg of raw materials and caused a carbon footprint of 270 kg of CO₂ emissions. Textile production, dyeing of large quantities of fabric and finishing products account for 20% of global clean water pollution. Less than half of unwanted clothes are collected for reuse and recycling, and only 1% are turned into new clothes. Instead of being exported or reused, 87% of textile waste is incinerated or landfilled.
“Buy less, choose well and make it last longer,” urges Vivienne Westwood, the iconic British designer and pioneer of sustainable fashion. As designers creating in an age of over-consumption, unethical and inhumane production technologies and processes, we are aware of the responsibility we have for a more meaningful (fashion) future. We are looking for new ways to consume consciously, reuse already created products and turn them through recycling and upcycling methods into innovative sustainable design objects with added value.
Which designers and “fashion activists” offer models of counteraction? We will look at the acts of resistance of the Austrian activist Elisabeth Prantner and give examples from the engaged work of the American designer and activist Jeff Garner.
Neli Mitewa (Nelmit) graduated in Fashion Design from the University of Applied Sciences and Design in Trier, Germany. She develops her own collections under the “nelmit” brand. She also works as a freelance designer, in the field of teaching (with experience as a professor of fashion design at AMD Akademie Mode & Design Munich), consulting on design concepts, fashion journalism and costume design.
The awards she won at international competitions include the Design-Innovation Award of the Ministry of Economy of North Rhine-Westphalia, the qualifications for the finals of the Smirnoff Fashion Awards, of the Grand Prix International Fashion Design Berlin 2003, etc. In 2007 and 2009, Grazia magazine nominated her for „Woman of the Year“ in the Design category.
In 2007, Neli created IVAN ASEN 22 as a conceptual platform for presenting young progressive fashion designers in Sofia, and in 2009 she founded the IVAN ASEN 22 Foundation for presenting and supporting contemporary designers and is its artistic director and curator. Since 2015 she has been focusing her interests on conceptual fashion and its role in the context of contemporary arts. In 2018, Neli Mitewa was awarded the Big See Inspirational-Visionary Award.
Mitewa is an author of the book “VOICES OF FASHION – Anthology of Contemporary Bulgarian Fashion Design” and “IDEAS FOR WEARING – Conceptual Bulgarian Fashion Design”.
“Without Distance” is the educational platform of “Antistatic” festival, which aim is to stimulate professional skills in the field of contemporary dance and performance, meetings and contacts between colleagues, as well as to provoke artists to new meanings and expression.
The content of the platform is a reflection of the theme of the festival and in 2025 completely immerses in different aspects of resistance, following the motto “Signs of Resistance”.