The Pelion Summer Lab for Cultural Theory and Experimental Humanities (PSL) -an initiative of the Department of History, Archaeology and Social Anthropology (University of Thessaly)- announces the Call for Participation for Pelion Summer Lab 2026, titled “The Planet in the Port: Infrastructures & Undercurrents”. The 10-day programme will take place in Neochori, Pelion, from 26 June to 6 July 2026.
Now in its 7th edition, PSL is directed by Associate Professor Penelope Papailias and brings together MA students, PhD candidates, early-career/independent researchers, artists, cultural practitioners, activists, and local communities for interdisciplinary exchange, collective inquiry, and experimental practice around urgent political, social, and ecological questions.
Theme 2026
This year’s theme approaches ports as planetary sites of friction and convergence, where financialised capitalism, militarisation and war, border regimes, the legacies of slavery and colonialism, energy infrastructures, labour precarity, overconsumption, mass tourism, and climate breakdown intersect. Drawing on decolonial ecologies, maritime anthropology, Black geographies, environmental humanities, mobility studies, and artistic practice, the lab explores ports both as infrastructures of extraction and securitisation and as archives of resistance and solidarity.
Programme format
The programme includes seminars, workshops, concerts, screenings, and site-based experimental activities in ports of different scales along the coastlines of the Aegean Sea and the Pagasetic Gulf. The working language of the lab is English.
Who can apply
The call is open to MA students, PhD candidates, independent researchers, artists, and early-career scholars/practitioners.
How to apply
- Online application form
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Application deadline: 20 April 2026
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Contact: pelionsummerlab [at] gmail.com (pelionsummerlab[at]gmail[dot]com)
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More information: PSL website and social media (Facebook & Instagram)
Collaborating partners
Department of History, Archaeology and Social Anthropology (University of Thessaly); Diachronic and Empirical Landscape Observatory (University of Thessaly); Region of Thessaly; Municipality of South Pelion; Cine-Caravan Volos; Euchorion Zin; Neochori Pelion Cultural, Environmental and Folklore Association; Propan Cultural Association.