The Artown festival paints its way into a culturally rich and globally conscious Ploiesti

The first edition of the Artown festival kicks off today, August 5, in Ploiești with a series of events.

Until August 14, twenty-seven artists from Romania, Italy, Moldova, Finland, Ukraine, Peru, and Germany will turn 1,800 square meters of the city's buildings into works of art, in an urban and social manifesto for a more lively and expressive city.

This year's theme is Urban Synesthesia which aims to inspire audiences to turn their gaze to current global issues expressed through art. The participating artists' works will feature important moments and people from the city’s history.

The festival also focuses on sustainability and many of the concepts chosen to be part of Artown draw attention to the sustainable development goals proposed by the UN.

The urban interventions are meant to spark dialogues for the community and inner monologues for the individual viewers, being an open invitation to inner and outer transformation.

In addition to the murals, the festival will include several types of events such as poetry evenings, open-air theatre, alternative rock and classical music concerts, live modular performances, ballet and contemporary dance performances, action painting, magic acts, and art workshops for children and young adults.

"We want to bridge the gap between place and inhabitant by bringing art to the street and offering it to people to conceptually and emotionally redefine their city," says Livia Florea, founder of the festival.

"Ploiesti is my hometown and I really wanted to bring the buchARTest project, which we do in the capital, to Ploiesti, in a bigger and more developed form – in order to give back to the city that has given us so much," she adds.

The Artown Festival is organized by buchARTest, endorsed by the Municipality of Ploiesti, and supported by the Danube Engineering Hub.

The event's full schedule is available on their Facebook page, Instagram page, and on the official website.

(Photo source: buchARTest & Artown)