A Deeper Dive into the City of Public Art
NBU student Roberta Koleva describes her experience during an ERUA traveling seminar to University Paris 8.
Unveiling a different Paris with Five Students from a Reform University
As a student with a strong passion for art, being part of the Alliance of European Reform Universities (ERUA) is an incredible opportunity. Especially if the same academic consortium offers an intensive one-week course on “Art in the Public Space”, and it takes place in the city with the oldest traditions of this type of works – Paris.
In May, I had the privilege of embarking on an adventure with the very same scenario together with five fellow art enthusiasts from New Bulgarian University, with whom we temporarily ventured as students of Paris 8 – the university hosting the course. The program offered us a unique opportunity to experience the French capital in a different light, closely studying its public art secrets – from the allegories in the Tuileries Garden and Burin’s columns to the famous street art district “Belleville” with its Space Invader mosaics, and all the way to the Fernand Léger Public Art Gallery and the large-scale works in the Defense Business District…
Our group included students from different majors, but all with an interest in culture and art: my grace – Roberta Koleva (BP “Anthropology”), Teodora Vuchkova (BP “Anthropology”), Vesela Marinisheva (MP “Cultural and Social Anthropology “), Dimitar Daskalov (former chairman of the Student Council, BP “Web Design and Graphic Advertising”) and Alexandra Petrova (MP “Tourism Business Management”).
Roberta Koleva is a sociocultural anthropologist, researcher and journalist. She is author of both scientific publications and journalistic and popular science materials, having worked in numerous Bulgarian and international media outlets, including as editor at BBC Knowledge magazine. In the end of 2022 she graduated from the Department of Anthropology in New Bulgarian University with a minor program in Psychology, where she was a recipient of the “Contacts Without Limits” Foundation scholarship and served as Chairman of the “Culture” committee of the NBU Student Council. Currently Roberta is the communication manager of Creative Europe Desk Bulgaria – Office Culture and hosts the cultural column of Channel 4 Podcast, focused on promoting active citizenship among the youth. She is also a contributing writer for Balkans In-site, which brings together young researchers and PhD students in the field of social sciences across the Balkans. Additionally, she participates in different research and social European projects, such as READ TWICE (R2), VALUES ML and Forum KLYUCH.
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