Lab 1

Raffaele Fiorella’s artistic work spans installation, sculpture, video, and new media, exploring memory, landscape, and perception at the intersection of traditional knowledge and digital experimentation. With over ten years of experience in artistic, educational, and community-based contexts, he has organized residencies and collaborative projects with Erasmus students, artists, and local stakeholders. His practice emphasizes participatory methods, connecting material heritage with contemporary processes and fostering dialogue between diverse participants. In the Creative Living Labs, he aims to contribute by facilitating collaborative artistic research, integrating local craft traditions, promoting intercultural exchange, and developing site-responsive projects that reactivate collective memory and community engagement. His role would combine creative production, coordination of participatory processes, and translating complex artistic concepts into accessible, inclusive experiences.

Implemented by the Kvarner Region Tourist Board, the Creative Living Lab took place throughout April 2026 and brought together cultural institutions, artists, associations, sustainability experts, and local stakeholders with the shared goal of co-creating an innovative and sustainable tourism experience rooted in the identity of Opatija.

Developed under the title “The Camellia’s Path – inspiration, slowing down, creation”, the experience combines an interpretative walk through Angiolina Park, mindfulness practice, artistic expression, and tasting of local camellia products into a unique slow-tourism concept focused on wellbeing, creativity, and authentic connection with place.

The Lab was carried out in collaboration with the Croatian Museum of Tourism, artist Kristina Kinkela Valčić, the Urbani Separe Association, Italian mentor Raffaele Fiorella, and the Sustainability Office, which provided professional support in the facilitation process.

Throughout the ten-day Creative Living Lab process, participants explored Opatija’s cultural and natural heritage, experimented with artistic techniques, developed interpretative approaches, and designed the structure of the experience together with local stakeholders. Particular emphasis was placed on sustainability, community involvement, and the creation of meaningful, experience-based tourism content. The newly developed tourism experience was publicly presented and tested on 27 April 2026 in Opatija. The pilot gathered members of the local community, media representatives, and project stakeholders, who participated in the full programme and provided positive feedback on the concept and implementation.

The experience began with a guided educational walk through Angiolina Park, followed by an outdoor mindfulness session designed to encourage slowing down and conscious engagement with nature. Participants then joined a creative collage workshop at the Croatian Museum of Tourism, where they transformed their impressions into personal artistic souvenirs inspired by camellias and the atmosphere of Opatija. The programme concluded with a tasting of locally produced camellia products, connecting gastronomy with storytelling and local heritage.

As highlighted during the press conference held within the pilot event, the SOCRAT project promotes innovative tourism development through cooperation between cultural institutions, artists, associations, and local communities, with a strong focus on sustainability and participatory approaches.

The “Camellia’s Path” experience represents an example of how collaboration between different sectors can result in authentic tourism products that encourage visitors to experience destinations in a slower, more personal, and meaningful way.

At the same time, this newly developed experience can serve as an excellent example of good practice, with strong potential for replication and adaptation in other parts of Kvarner and beyond. It actively fosters collaboration between artists, associations, and cultural professionals, further strengthening the local creative ecosystem and contributing to sustainable destination development.

Kristina Kinkela Valčić is a visual artist who specializes in abstract art.

Her exclusively abstract work allows her to constantly explore new painting techniques, inviting the viewer to see and feel her art in diverse ways. In her expressive-emotional manner, she is transmitting abstract mental maps onto the canvas. That manifests in multiple layers of acrylic and mixed media. All those layers intertwine, complement, flirt and negate each other and form harmonious imaginary landscapes.

Kristina Kinkela Valčić received her MA in Art Education and Art History at the Academy of Applied Arts, University of Rijeka and she is also a Ph.D. student in Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology at the University of Zagreb.

She exhibited both nationally and internationally and she is a member of the Croatian Association of Artists, Salvador Club and the online art project Art Ćakula.  She works in her studio in Opatija and teaches Visual Arts at Adria international school, also in Opatija, Croatia.

Nataša Ivančević is the director of the Croatian Museum of Tourism. She graduated in Art History and Comparative Literature from the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, where she also obtained her Ph.D. She worked as a museum advisor and head of the Collections Department and the Sculpture Collection at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU) in Zagreb. She has participated in numerous significant exhibition projects and has also worked at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka.

The Croatian Museum of Tourism, located in a one hundred and seventy year old villa in the center of Opatija’s Angiolina Park, tells the story of tourism in Croatia and how tourism affects us all today – how our cities change, how we change while traveling and welcoming travelers.

Tanja Blašković is a multidisciplinary artist and cultural entrepreneur, currently the Head of Development and an active member of  Urbani Separe. Her work merges contemporary art, design, culture, and socially engaged practices with the goal of creating new models of collaboration and sustainable development through art. In her practice, she explores the intersections of art, ecology, and community, believing that creative collaboration is the foundation for regenerative development and cultural sustainability.

Urbani separe was founded in 2014 in Rijeka with the aim of strengthening communities and their public and natural spaces through a juicy blend of participation and culture. Via tactical urbanism and urban pedagogy they question problematic areas of their city and region. Through long-term, layered and participatory methodologies, they bring culture and green practices to places and communities where they are truly lacking.