SOPRA SOTTO

Bridging Inner/Outer Worlds - ​ Speaking to the Unseen through Colour, Shape and Symbol ​ This August 2026, SOPRA SOTTO invites an interdisciplinary group of artists, creatives, and culture shapers to the International Theosophical Centre (ITC) for a one-week residency to explore the theme: Bridging Inner/Outer Worlds: Speaking to the Unseen through Colour, Shape, and Symbol. ​The residency explores art and creativity as a language that bridges the tangible and the intangible. The theme looks at the meeting point between the material world of sensory perception and the immaterial world of spirit, intuition, the subconscious, and inner knowing. Art becomes a form of communication with the subconscious through symbol, myth, and archetype, expressed beyond the rational or intellectual. A message is not only received by the conscious mind, but by the whole being as vibration, frequency, and emotion, through colour, sound, geometric form, and light. Through resonance rather than explanation, art becomes a conduit for new forms of meaning, connection, and understanding. This SOPRA SOTTO residency is a transdisciplinary gathering of creatives from diverse practices and backgrounds. A process-based and experimental framework emphasizes communal exploration and collective learning, with the program largely co-created by the residents themselves. Through shared workshops and creative exchange, the cross-pollination of ideas, perspectives, and inspiration naturally emerges. This residency is organized by SOPRA SOTTO and hosted at the International Theosophical Centre (ITC) in Naarden, a centre dedicated to spiritual inquiry and reflection. Set in a serene natural environment, the residency also offers space to slow down, rest, and reconnect with self, others, and the more-than-human world. DETAILS - Dates: Sunday 9 August - Sunday 16 August, 2026 - Location: International Theosophical Centre (ITC), Naarden, The Netherlands - Organization: SOPRA SOTTO; facilitator: Constance van Berckel - 8-10 interdisciplinary residents - € 545 - € 775 per person (prices differ per sleeping situation - tent or cabin) - 1x Scholarship position available for € 350 per person - Costs include: location, stay; meals; program; workshops - Costs do not include: travel costs to ITC SOPRA SOTTO is a transdisciplinary art residency inspired by the philosophy "as above, so below" (come sopra, così sotto), and functions as a living laboratory grounded in experimentation, co-creation and creative exchange. The residencies are communal living experiences that explore how we relate, live, and create together beyond dominant systems. Slower daily rhythms offer space to reconnect with oneself, others, and nature. Everyday life centers around shared cooking and meals, time in nature, creative workshops, rest, occasional excursions, and open dialogue. Art is approached as a lens, co-living as a method, relationship as a research, and presence becomes practice.