Common Grounds

Common Grounds is a European project supported by the Creative Europe programme, bringing together artists, researchers, and local residents around issues of urban and rural regeneration. The project is led by a consortium of three partners: La Citadelle de Marseille (France), Gradoscope (Bulgaria), and Fundación RIA (Spain).

At the intersection of the ecological, democratic, and urban challenges we face today, the project addresses soil pollution by exploring the stories and networks of interdependence that connect our green spaces. Its aim is to contribute to renewing our collective imaginaries of the living world. The project ran from late 2024 to mid-2026.

The Project: Three Sites, Three Realities

Over an 18-month period, collaborations developed around three European sites facing soil pollution challenges, bringing together a wide range of people, expertise, and perspectives.

• A former military site located in the heart of Marseille and home to more than three hectares of neglected green space, la Citadelle de Marseille today confronts the legacy of three centuries of military history and urban development, which have left parts of its soil contaminated. As the site is gradually being reactivated and opened to the public, questions arise about the future of its green spaces within a city centre marked by significant social and spatial inequalities.
• Stochna Gara, a former railway freight station in central Sofia, is being reimagined by the Gradoscopeassociation together with professionals and local residents. Its industrial past has affected the health of its soils, which remain partially contaminated today, raising important questions in the site's redevelopment process: how can new uses be conceived while taking soil pollution into account?
• Home to former mines once used to produce munitions and now closed, the communal forest of Froxán is a woodland area that has been managed and maintained for generations by the residents of this Galician village in the municipality of Lousame. Mining activities affected not only the forest and the soil, but also the region’s socio-economic fabric. Following a major wildfire in 2016—one of the consequences of the ecological impact of these extractive activities—local residents, together with the Barbanza Ecosocial Lab and FundacionRia, have been working to regenerate the forest while facing the prospect of a possible reactivation of mining operations.

Through artist residencies and collaborative work involving ecologists, artists, cultural mediators, local residents, public authorities, and businesses, Common Grounds sought to contribute to the creation of new narratives and foster new ways of understanding the role of soil in contemporary societies.

The Podcast: Voices of a Shared Landscape

Voices of a Shared Landscape is a three-episode podcast series developed as part of the European project of the same name, supported by the Creative Europe programme. Moving between Marseille, Sofia, and Galicia, it follows a collective investigation into soil pollution and the narratives that shape our relationship with green spaces.

Through interviews, field recordings, and archival audio, the series explores what this project has brought into being by listening to the people who made it happen.

🎧 Listen to the podcast

Episode 1: Artists in Residence

Common Grounds

What happens when artists take the time to listen to a place? This first episode follows Virgile Haëck, Andrea Popyordanova, and Mar Ramón Soriano. Through landscape, drawing, publishing, painting, and ceramics, each explores the connections between people, places, and the living world. The episode captures first encounters and field observations, as well as the doubts, discoveries, and ideas that emerge throughout the residencies.

Episode 2: Scientific and Institutional Partners

Shared Perspectives

How can art, science, and local knowledge come together to transform the way we understand and inhabit our environments? This episode takes listeners behind the scenes of the project. It features voices from LPED (Aix-Marseille University), the Calanques Agricultural High School, Fundación RIA, Gradoscope, and La Citadelle de Marseille. Urban ecology, soil bioremediation, sustainable agriculture, territorial planning, and contemporary art each bring their own methods and perspectives. Questions of interdisciplinary dialogue and the circulation of knowledge from one territory to another lie at the heart of the episode.

Episode 3: Citizen Initiatives

Common Purpose

What happens when a European artistic and scientific project becomes part of everyday life? This final episode gives voice to residents, communities, and citizen-led initiatives in Marseille, Sofia, and Froxán. Through personal stories, conversations, and the sounds of daily life, it shows how art and science can transform the way people perceive their environment and, at times, inspire action. It brings the series full circle—from artistic research to scientific collaboration, and finally to the people who live in these territories.

A podcast co-produced by La Citadelle de Marseille and Radio Grenouille – Euphonia.

The Artworks

Common Grounds is a project co-funded by the European Union and the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation.

This publication reflects the views of the author(s) only, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information it contains.