This year’s edition of the speculative design workshop series Interakcije hosted by the Arts Academy, University of Split was organised as part of the SUrF project. The four-day intensive event was held in November and featured lectures, discussions and a workshop for 21 master and postgraduate students, researchers, and emerging practitioners engaged in creative practices across diverse fields such as architecture, design and tourism, selected through an open-call.

The umbrella theme for the workshop, as introduced to the participants, was Tourism in the context of the Adriatic part of the Mediterranean..
Today, it is difficult to find a cultural or natural heritage site in the Mediterranean that is not under great pressure from unstoppable tourism, which continues to change the way of life in this part of the world. Most of the fetishised destinations in the Mediterranean irreversibly depend on only one service sector – tourism. In the 21st century, the consequences of tourism are widely visible and critically discussed, from the displacement of the local population from the historic city centres, the gentrification and Disneyfication of these areas, the increase in living costs for the local population, to the extreme pressures placed on local infrastructure, which turns the local population into second class citizens. In the post-Covid world, we witness daily the outcomes of excessive tourism, from mass protests in Palma de Mallorca, the introduction of the Venice entry fee, to this summer’s closure of the Acropolis in Athens due to queues combined with extreme heat. In addition to “tourist disasters”, climate changes are inevitable, which will be especially strong in the European part of the Mediterranean. Rising air and sea temperatures will bring extreme changes to the sea and coast, irreversibly transforming one of Europe’s most desirable climates and natural landscapes.

The event was hosted by Ivica Mitrović and Oleg Šuran (Arts Academy, University of Split, UMAS). The workshop was divided into two ateliers, one led by the Split team (Ivica Mitrović, Oleg Šuran, Kristina Tešija, Dario Dunatov and Dora Vanette) and the other by the TU Delft Faculty of Architecture group, TUD (Andrej Radman, Heidi Sohn and Stavros Kousoulas). The discursive programme guests (lectures and discussions) were Lidija Petrić (Faculty of Economics, Business, and Tourism, University of Split) and Mario Vrbančić (Department of English Language and Literature, University of Zadar). In the context of the SUrF project for both partners (Delft and Split) this workshop was a chance to test and refine developed pilots Sensing, intuiting, imaging and Community resilience in different contexts and out of local institutions, within a short and intensive time frame. The workshop resulted in five different projects.

1Sensing, intuiting, imaging (TUD)
The participants embarked from different trajectories but focused on a single, shared interest: the production of speculative and intuitive problematisations. These speculations demanded both the formation of new sensibilities and new forms that can express their potential. The Delft group called these forms ‘images,’ but following a non-representational approach that does not equate them with shapes, outlines, or tracings. On the contrary, images opened to an untapped affective potential that provides not only an account of ‘what has been’ but can also invent ‘what is to come.’ To do so, the group followed Simondon and his ontology of images. Simondon refuses to relate images with human consciousness and intentionality alone, claiming instead that images are external to the thinking subject and are to be seen in connection with the action potential of (living) bodies. Understood as transducers between bodies (which can be interchangeably called subject or object), the images produced in this workshop established vital linkages that allow organisms and their environment to form a joint system.

Coffeelion (Maja Glibota, Anna Meregalli, Goran Prolić, Stjepan Sorić, Petra Špiranec and Zhu Wanmei)
This project drew on philosopher Gilbert Simondon’s ideas to creatively address Split's tourism issue. Inspired by his concept of the "motor image," the project analyzed urban flows, focusing on coffee as a cultural element. Coffee, significant in Croatian heritage, became the tool to connect tourists to local culture. Abstract diagrams tracing coffee’s journey from plantations to city cafes, showing how its energy spreads through people, were developed. Split's energy flows, identifying low‐energy areas were mapped. To enhance these, the project proposed revitalising a northern park with new paths, a coffee kiosk, benches, and interactive exhibitions to attract visitors.



Let me Stop (Tihana Balić, Niks Božović, Mauro Cilić Dalmatin, Chenlei Liu and Isidora Nikolić)

One of the default human intuitive tendencies is the tendency to yearn for nature. We as people feel this deep connection to nature that sometimes gets repressed with the over-stimulation of artificial objects and the busy way of life. It is important to sometimes stop for a minute and let yourself just “be” like the locals in Split would say: “Pusti me stat” (translation: “Let me stop/stand/be”). This being said, the problem that needs to be addressed and solved is to remind the people of the importance of “taking a break”. The project materializes the “trigger” that makes people stop and listen to nature for a while through the “ears of a tree” in a specific location. The sound installation is based on sounds collected from the location but modified to enhance the experience. The idea of a “trigger” is to put the background noise that usually gets filtered out back in the center, therefore when we leave the installation we become more aware of the sounds surrounding us.



2Community resilience (UMAS)
The community resilience approach, developed as the “Mediterranean speculative approach”, deals with future implications of major global changes (technological, economic, political and environmental) in the local context, through the application of speculative design practice. It was developed in the Adriatic – the periphery of Europe, away from the urban and technological centres, in the contexts where we live and with the people we understand.

Poljud revolution (Chiara Guarin, Federica Pisacreta, Karolina Węglowska and Toma Boljat)
By 2050, Split’s historic center has become a luxury zone for tourists, pushing locals to the
city’s outskirts. Rising costs and environmental degradation have left Split’s core nearly empty during the off-season. In protest, displaced residents, young activists, and small business owners occupy local football club Hajduk’s stadium, Poljud, transforming it into a vibrant community hub with homes, cafés, and classrooms. Together, they reclaim a sense of belonging, chanting “Split za nas!” (“Split for us!”). Despite differing visions, Poljud unites them as a symbol of resistance, preserving Split’s spirit against mass tourism and gentrification.



Family community project (Monika Mlinarević, Luka Šibinac and Josipa Vuko)
In a speculative vision of Split in 2055, hypercapitalism has overtaken the city with tourism spreading beyond the city core and reshaping neighbourhoods into exclusive, visitor-centric zones. Marginalised and frustrated locals have formed the Zidić Pokret, an underground guerrilla movement aimed at reclaiming their city. Equipped with unique wristbands that symbolise unity, members engage in playful acts of resistance: swapping sugar for salt in busy cafés, releasing the pungent scent of fish in crowded tourist spots to clear space, and other creative interventions. These small yet impactful acts serve as a humorous reminders that Split’s soul belongs to its people. The Zidić Pokret’s subtle defiance embodies the locals’ determination to reclaim their city from commercialisation, celebrating community and local identity in the face of unchecked tourism.



Ecosystem 2040 (Laura Siegl, Teodora Simić, Elisa Barca and Grgur Rajković)
In 2035, Split is devastated by a disaster that disrupts both its ecosystem and the tourism industry. Locals who had previously abandoned the city centre return to reclaim their homes. With tourists gone and the city reduced to a post-apocalyptic wasteland, they learn to adapt to life among creatures remaining after the catastrophe—rats, seagulls, pigeons, and more. By 2040, as curiosity draws in a new wave of tourists, the locals seize the opportunity to profit from the city's unique, destroyed appeal. They offer unconventional attractions like seagull hunting, rat-stew cooking, and immersive stays with locals, turning this new form of tourism into a sustainable livelihood.



Interakcije (Eng. Interactions) is an informal educational platform at the Department of Visual Communication Design at the Arts Academy in Split, connected with its master program, aiming to go beyond the limits of design definitions and re-thinking what design is today. Activities started in 2001 (during summer school at Interaction Design Institute Ivrea) with the first event in 2004 – the International Interaction Design Summer School “Convivio – Communities in Transition”. The platform was a part of various European projects, collaborations and events such as the UrbanIxD project (2013 – 2014), the SpeculativeEdu project (2018 – 2021) and the discursive programme of the Croatian Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (2023). Among others, hosted many workshop leaders and lecturers: James Auger, Tuur Van Balen, Nelly Ben Hayoun, Nicolas Nova, Liam Young, Noam Toran, Tobias Revell, Anab Jain, Demitrios Kargotis and Dash Macdonald (Dashndem), Michael Smyth, Steffen P. Walz, Chris Hand, Victor Vina, Erik Sandelin and Magnus Torstensson (Unsworn industries), Gordan Savičić, Martin Avila, Liam Healy, Dionysia Mylonaki, Gennaro Asscione and many more.