The Jammin’ Kiosk

By playing with the word (jam)ming we created the Jammin’ Kiosk; a place not only to make confiture but to gather, improvise and share, similarly to what happens during musical jamming sessions. The Kiosk’s bulgarian name, Sladki Prikazki (Sweet Talks), was inspired by the double meaning of sladki as sweet and as the name for a sugar based jam typically eaten to sit together and converse, equally evoking a gathering feeling.

The project took place during the festival of One Architecture Week in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Curated by studio BASAR , this year focus was set on citizen participation in the creation of urban environment. More specifically in the context of Trakiya, a socialist collective housing neighbourhood and in the implication of the neighbourhood in its public spaces.

Built in the 80’s by a group of neighbours and eventually runned down by time and use, the original kiosk we worked on had become a debate between different groups in the area. Through activities set as a series of ‘’jamming sessions’’, the initial kiosk was transformed. Walks around the block to gather plums, apples and kiwis. A spoon, a knife and a pot, to make them into jam through improvised cooking sessions. An old pillow stitched up with fruit graphics to become the kiosk’s flag, and a continuous flow of hands, hammers, screwdrivers and paint to fix up the main structure.

In the span of one week, confiture making, graphic interventions and woodworking simultaneously transformed kiosk. Bringing different people together around moments of making, throughout which knowledge on how to cook and build, stories about the neighbourhood and the kiosk, as well as problematics regarding it and its use were shared.

A small publication, gathering the stories and jam recipes, was made in order to share them around with the rest of the neighbours.