ABOUT
Association INDI+E is a Bosnia and Herzegovina based NGO, founded in 2023 in Sarajevo. From this often-overlooked edge of Europe, we try to make sense of contradiction, and find ways to act within it.
We’re a collective of educators, designers, artists, researchers, scientists, and thinkers from different generations and geographies. What connects us isn’t a fixed mission, but a shared urgency: to use resilient creativity and creative resilience to confront complexity, ask harder questions, and when possible, make what’s missing.
We act through projects, workshops, and collaborations, connecting education, design, and research with real-world challenges.
Our work is grounded in the lived experience of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a place shaped by extremes: war and peace, collapse and reinvention, love and hate, division and unity. We are not from a problem, we are from a place. INDI+E began as a personal calling and became a shared platform. Today, that platform connects local voices with international partners, projects, and institutions who see value in what we bring.
We don’t choose contradiction over comfort for the sake of it – it just happens to be the biggest thing around. And maybe the most honest place to start if we want to create anything real. In places like ours, disruption is the baseline. But lately, it’s becoming the norm even in societies that once considered themselves untouchable. Which makes our thirty-plus years of lived experience relevant beyond borders.
That’s why we value trust over spectacle, dialogue over scale, and actions that may be modest — but meaningful.
SMALL STEPS. REAL WORLD. NO PRETENDING.
COLLECTIVE
WORK
ANTI CITY GUIDE, 2025
SEPTEMBER 2025
PROJECT TYPE
Publishing / Post-industrial Urban Culture
PARTNERS
Maurice Hermans, NAI010 publishers, INDI+E, IK Vrijeme publishers
EVENT
Kick-off at Cultura Nova Festival, Heerlen
No gloss, no postcards — just raw stories of post-industrial cities. Conceived by Maurice Hermans and nai010 publishers, the Anti City Guide looks at places like Parkstad – a former coal-mining region around Heerlen (NL) and Zenica (BiH) as texts to be read differently.
Parkstad, built on coal, still wrestles with what comes after. Zenica mirrors that path: from 25,000 steelworkers to fewer than 2,000, with a plant that once sprawled across a quarter of the city. The coking factory — the city’s biggest polluter — finally shut down in 2024, after 130 years. Officially for business reasons. In reality, the fight continues. As Samir Lemeš of Eko Forum, a leading voice for environmental protection in Zenica, once put it: “If you think this looks normal, I’m Brad Pitt.”
The furnaces and factory gates are more than ruins. They’re landmarks, tangible heritage in steel and concrete. Zenica itself was designed around the plant — a city planned by leading architects and engineers of the socialist era, leaving behind unique monuments of modern architecture. The culture of steelworkers and coalminers is the city’s intangible heritage, no less defining than an old town square.
At the kick-off in Heerlen in September 2025, during Cultura Nova, a festival of performances, installations, and interventions reshaping the city, the film Sky Above Zenica (2024) will be screened. A reminder that resistance is part of the story.
IK Vrijeme told this story in books like Penitentiary (on Zenica’s notorious prison) and Moja Fabrika (My Factory, an intimate account of the steelworks). INDI+E pushes it further – creativity, art, design, and culture as survival gear, not decoration. The Anti City Guide connects Zenica’s voices with Parkstad’s, making sure cities like these don’t stay invisible, and showing we share more than we think.
INDI+E+ARCHITECTURE, 2025
MARCH-JULY, 2025
Project Type: Educational Collaboration & Competition
Date: Spring Semester 2025 – Special Recognition Award, July 2025
Location: Faculty of Architecture, University of Sarajevo
In spring 2025, INDI+E joined the Faculty of Architecture in Sarajevo — the oldest and most established architecture school in Bosnia and Herzegovina — for a course collaboration with Prof. Vedad Islambegović, a valued INDI+E member and collaborator. From the start, students formed teams and took on a shared brief: using our design methodology to reimagine the unused Ciglane Tunnel through the lens of the Deep Underground framework.
Deep Underground is rooted in the urgency of climate change and rapid urban growth, searching for alternative, sustainable ways to live. It challenges how we build underground, aiming for approaches that are less expensive, more effective, and far more sustainable than the ones we know today.
Over the semester, all teams researched the tunnel’s history, context, and potential, then developed their own proposals for its transformation. The tunnel, a second tube originally planned to connect to an overpass road that was never built, became a testing ground for ideas about space, culture, and memory.
In late July 2025, SANC(UL)TUARY by Merjem Zekaj, Šein Taletović, Marija Popović, and Halima Avdić — received a Special Recognition Award in the Deep Underground Challenge 2025. Their project reimagines the tunnel as a cultural artery for the city, a sanctuary for the forgotten and a place for the exiled. The proposal went on to be shared with the wider Deep Underground platform.
CULT TECH SUMMIT, 2024
OCTOBER, 2024
PROJECT TYPE
International Conference — Culture, Technology & Sustainability
LOCATION
Vienna, Austria
At the CultTech Summit in Vienna, INDI+E joined the panel Arts Leading the Way — Culture as a Bridge to Sustainability to bring a perspective shaped by post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina — a place where disruption has been the norm for decades. The panel, moderated by Florian Schneider (Director of the Institute for Creativity at the University of Galway, Professor at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art – NTNU, and President of the Society for Artistic Research), also featured Jose Luis de Vicente (Museu del Disseny, Barcelona) and Tuğçe Akbulut (What Design Can Do, Holland), bringing together diverse perspectives from across culture, technology, and design.
We discussed creative resilience and resilient creativity as tools for adaptation, survival, and impact, particularly in environments where resources are scarce and systems are slow to change. In our context, culture holds the potential to connect, inspire, and build bridges — yet it also carries the weight of political and social divisions. We challenged the idea that culture alone can close these gaps, making the case for partnerships where transitional societies and more stable ones exchange knowledge, methods, and perspectives to create solutions neither could achieve alone.
We also presented Mineavoiders — a game-based learning concept born from local urgency but designed with global relevance in mind. Still in development, it reflects our approach: creativity in the context, for the context, by the context. Even in its conceptual form, it shows how creative thinking, grounded in necessity, can be shaped into tools that save lives and influence futures far beyond where they begin.
ARTISTIC INTELLIGENCE (COST), 2024
OCTOBER, 2024
Project Type: International Research Network – Artistic Intelligence
Date: 14–15 April 2025
Location: Porto, Portugal – Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto
We were in Porto, at the Faculty of Fine Arts, for the launch of COST Action Artistic Intelligence — a new European network exploring how artistic and practice-based research can connect, grow, and matter beyond individual projects.
Different takes on #AI and #ArtisticIntelligence came to the table. Not all of them aligned. And that’s a good thing. The real challenge isn’t getting everyone to agree — it’s finding ways to work together when our perspectives pull in different directions.
INDI+E, as Management Committee members representing Bosnia and Herzegovina, we pushed for broader participation — not as “representation” for its own sake, but because new insight happens when voices outside the EU are part of the conversation from the start.
The launch also set the stage for working groups that will shape how this Action moves forward — turning ideas into shared projects and tangible impact. Big thanks to Paulo Almeida and the team at Universidade do Porto for creating the space, energy, and structure that made this beginning possible.
This is just the start of a three-year project. Now the real work is making it count.
If you’re working in or around artistic research, cultural practice, or creative technology — particularly from the Balkans — we invite you to connect with us and explore how you could be part of this network. Let’s see how we can make it useful, relevant, and impactful for more contexts than one.
KONTURA-FUTURA, 2024
MARCH-MAY, 2024
PROJECT TYPE
Fashion Design
SPONSORS
Unicredit, ZIRA, Agram polilklinika, Lutrija BiH, BH Pošta, Porsche
PARTNERS
INDI+E, EVENT TIM, Druga Kuća, Oaza
LOCATION
Sarajevo, BiH
In 2024 Project Kontura (Projekat Kontura) evolved into Kontura Futura, again led by designers Amna Kunovac-Zekic and Jasna Hadžimehmdović-Bekrić. The project nurtures young talent, with two emerging designers from the Academy of Fine Arts, Dalila Bristrić and Amra Kurtic from the Faculty of Architecture – University of Sarajevo, showcasing their collections alongside Amna and Jasna in Sarajevo City Hall, in front of a large audience.
With Bosnia and Herzegovina’s fashion industry struggling, Kontura Futura aims to revitalize the profession by offering mentorship and practical experience to the next generation. By focusing on creativity, inclusion, and sustainability, the project inspires young creatives while encouraging established professionals to support the future of fashion.
At INDI+E, we proudly support initiatives like Kontura Futura that align with our mission to foster creativity and empower young people as agents of change. Together, we are building opportunities for young designers to thrive and contribute to a more sustainable, inclusive, and innovative future.
STORIES OF IMPACT: 30 YEARS OF WORLD BANK IN BiH, 2024
May-June 2024
PROJECT TYPE
Partnership
PARTNERS
World Bank Group in Bosnia and Herzegovina
LOCATION
Bosnia and Herzegovina
As the World Bank Group in BiH marked three decades of transformative efforts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the INDI+E team was honored to contribute with an innovative augmented reality project. This initiative, part of a broader series of anniversary activities, utilized AR technology to highlight significant progress in infrastructure, private sector development, and cultural heritage preservation. By supporting these efforts, INDI+E helped bring these impactful stories to life, ensuring they resonated with a global audience and deepened the understanding of the World Bank Group’s contributions.
Looking forward, this collaboration is just the beginning of our commitment to exploring creative and innovative solutions that benefit BiH society. We are excited about the potential for future projects with the World Bank Group in BiH, harnessing creativity for social good.
INDI+E & WORTH ACTIVITIES, 2023-25
NOVEMBER 2023 – MAY 2025
PROJECT TYPE
Partnership
PARTNERS
WORTH Partnership Project
LOCATION
Bosnia and Herzegovina
After becoming the WORTH ambassador for Bosnia and Herzegovina, INDI+E kept the momentum alive by explaining, motivating, and connecting local creatives to a European platform that had, until then, been unknown in our context.
We spent this period in conversations with schools, studios, and individuals, showing them what WORTH offers and why it matters. A clear example was our session at the Secondary School of Applied Arts in Sarajevo. With guidance from their professors, students decided to apply.
In 2024, TAKO Ceramics Studio, became the first project from Bosnia and Herzegovina ever selected for WORTH support. For INDI+E, it proves that opening doors and connecting can have an impact. Our role was to keep insisting that BiH belongs in this kind of European process, and to encourage those willing to step in. TAKO Studio did — showing that resilience, skill, and vision from Bosnia and Herzegovina can stand on equal ground in Europe.
Our thanks go again to Ms. Korina Molla and the WORTH team. Their persistence matched ours, and together we’ve seen something shift: Bosnia and Herzegovina is now part of WORTH not as a guest, but as a participant with results to show.
WORTH, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT, 2023
AUGUST 2023
PROJECT TYPE
Partnership
PARTNERS
WORTH Partnership Project
LOCATION
Bosnia and Herzegovina
INDI+E has become an ambassador for the WORTH Partnership Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to Korina Molla, the WORTH Project Coordinator, for the opportunity to embark on this exciting venture. We deeply appreciate the recognition of our work, initiatives, and potential for collaboration.
The WORTH Partnership Project II is funded by the COSME Program of the European Union. It creates and supports transnational collaborations among designers, creative individuals, manufacturing enterprises (SMEs), crafters/makers, and technology firms aiming to develop design-driven and innovative products. WORTH Partnership Project II is the second edition of the program, which ran from 2017 to 2021. In its first edition, 152 transnational partnerships were selected between 2017-2020, involving 349 partners from 34 EU-COSME countries.
WORTH Benefits
The selected projects will benefit from an incubator program valued at €60,000, which includes:
– A media kit encompassing international media relation activities, advertising, and social media marketing
– Funding ranging from €10,000 to €20,000
– Participation in two international design-related events to showcase the developed products
– A tailor-made mentoring program
– Training
– Opportunities for cross-sector collaboration and participation in networking events
– Professional connections
– Visibility of their professional profiles on the WORTH gallery
It’s important to emphasize that WORTH also sparks the birth of an inclusive community resonating with a shared vision and values centered around design and innovation, aligning seamlessly with INDI+E’s core essence. INDI+E takes great pleasure in introducing Bosnian and Herzegovinian creatives, for the first time, to the valuable opportunities and advantages of joining this transformative project, which has the potential to support social impact.
BRČKO DESIGN DISTRICT, 2023
8-9 JULY, 2023
PROJECT TYPE
Workshop
IGNITING CHANGE: Design District Brčko Workshop
LOCAL PARTNERS
BKZ Preporod Brčko
LOCATION
Brčko District, BiH
On 8–9 July we held the Design District Brčko Workshop. Twenty young people spent two days looking at the problems around them and trying out design as a way to respond.
It wasn’t about solutions on paper. It was about asking questions, testing ideas, and seeing what can be done differently. Together with our team – Lea Leleta, Emir Hambo, Baysal Sumer, Enida Mulamujić and Kenan Zekić – the group worked through what matters in Brčko today.
What came out is not final. But it’s a start, and it shows that there are voices ready to act. We’ll stay close and keep supporting whatever grows from here.
EFAP(COST)/INDI+E FORUM SARAJEVO, 2023
21-23 JUNE, 2023
PROJECT TYPE
Public Event
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capabilities and challenges in EFAP & EIT KIC”
EFAP Forum Sarajevo EFAP (COST CA18136)
LOCAL PARTNERS
INDI+E, History Museum of BiH
LOCATION
Sarajevo, BiH
From 21–23 June 2023, INDI+E hosted a three-day event at the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina with EFAP (European Forum for Advanced Practices) and COST. We brought together 17 EFAP participants from 11 countries and 28 Bosnian creatives and professionals to look at artistic research, creative practices, and the place of the creative industry between the EU and the Balkans.
Day one started inside the History Museum, where participants got to know the space and began shaping ideas for the EFAP White Paper — a document that gathers insights and recommendations. Day two was the Forum: Bosnian participants met international colleagues and exchanged views on how local creative resilience connects with European practices. The goal wasn’t theory alone, but to map where collaboration can actually happen.
On the third day we visited Sarajevo’s key art institutions: Manifesta Gallery, Ars Aevi, and the Academy of Fine Arts. Each place carried its own story — from young talent, to solidarity during the war, to the foundations of art education in BiH.
For us, the event was about starting connections. It showed how European networks and Bosnian realities can meet on equal ground. The White Paper and the Forum discussions will carry that forward — not as a final word, but as a base for what comes next.
CREATIVE YOUTH - AGENTS OF CHANGE, 2023
7 JUNE, 2023
PROJECT TYPE
Lecture
CREATIVE YOUTH—AGENTS OF CHANGE
PARTNERS
Secondary School of Applied Art Sarajevo, (US Embassy) American Spaces Sarajevo and City Library Sarajevo
LOCATION
Sarajevo, BiH
We recently held a lecture at the American Corner Sarajevo with students from the Secondary School of Applied Arts. The session opened up questions around design, the creative industry, and technology — and how these connect to society here and now. The students brought strong energy, asked real questions, and tested ideas through examples from practice.
We shared stories of where design has made a difference, not as theory but as lived experience. The point was simple: creativity can open doors, and young people already have the strength to step through them.
Our thanks go to the US Embassy, American Corner, and Sarajevo City Library for making the event possible. For INDI+E, this was another chance to work with young people and to show that creativity is not decoration but a way to face challenges and create change — especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
KONTURA, 2023
MARCH-MAY, 2023
PROJECT TYPE
Fashion Design
SPONSORS
Unicredit, ZIRA, Agram polilklinika, Lutrija BiH, BH Pošta, Porsche
PARTNERS
EVENT TIM, Druga Kuća, Oaza, INDI+E
LOCATION
Sarajevo, BiH
Kontura was a fashion and art event in Sarajevo City Hall, created by designers Amna Kunovac-Zekić and Jasna Hadžimehmdović-Bekrić. Inspired by the outlines of the city, it paid tribute to the resilience, strength, and elegance of Sarajevo women.
The event promoted female entrepreneurship and supported women in their struggle for work, income, and independence. Over the past two decades, the creators of Kontura have provided jobs, training, and internships for young people, and have kept the fashion scene alive in a country where the industry is often neglected. Around 90% of those involved were women professionals or women-owned companies.
Kontura showcased innovative fashion design and added to Sarajevo’s cultural scene. With the right support, it could grow into an annual platform for BiH fashion designers. INDI+E was proud to stand alongside other supporters and collaborators who share our commitment to responsible creativity.
THE FUTURE OF BOOKS, 2023
MARCH-APRIL 2023
PROJECT TYPE
Speculative Design
PARTNERS
INDI+E; IK Vrijeme Publishing House; International University of Sarajevo FASS/VACD Progam
LOCATION
Sarajevo, BiH
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, publishing struggles with many obstacles, but there are still spaces to try something new. One of them was an INDI+E initiative with Vrijeme Publishing House, exploring how books and readers can connect through digital tools.
The work caught the interest of Vrijeme Publishing House and showed how young creatives can be part of shaping new directions. Students Emina Memija, Amina Mujić, and Ivan Štefanjuk stood out with strong design proposals that were recognized and appreciated.
For us, the project showed what happens when creativity, education, and publishing meet: a small step, but one that points to possible futures for books in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
MINE AVOIDERS
2017 – ongoing
PROJECT TYPE
Resilient Creativity, Gamification, Landmine Awareness
PARTNERS
In development – Open to strategic collaboration
CONCEPT DEVELOPED IN
Bosnia and Herzegovina; USA
Mineavoiders is a learning and awareness tool built from direct experience — designed where war, division, and fragility are not abstract ideas, but lived realities.
The project was initiated by the founder of INDI+E during a Fulbright exchange at Penn State University, drawing on personal experience with humanitarian work and creative education in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina. With early support from students and faculty at Penn State’s DART program, it started in 2017 as a mobile game to help children understand the risks of landmines. Since then, INDI+E has developed it into a hybrid, modular platform — adaptable across geographies and levels of access.
Designed for children aged 6 to 10, the system uses mobile gameplay, storytelling, physical puzzles, and team-based interaction. In low-tech environments, it functions offline via board-game and puzzle components. In more advanced settings, it includes AI-powered adaptive learning, region-specific avatars, and weather-based gameplay dynamics.
Mineavoiders embodies INDI+E’s philosophy of resilient creativity — using design to navigate complexity and create meaningful, localized solutions. With technical contributions from collaborators like AR developer Baysal Sumer, the project is ready to be localized and deployed wherever it’s needed: in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan — or any place where children still live with the silent threat of war’s aftermath.
To explore collaboration , get in touch.
Mineavoiders is a proprietary concept currently undergoing documentation for protection. All rights reserved by INDI+E.
Glad you are interested.
Udruženje INDI+E
(INOVACIJA,DIZAJN+EDUKACIJA)
Association INDI+E
(INNOVATION,DESIGN+EDUCATION)
Sarajevo,Bosnia and Herzegovina
CONTACT
infomail@indipluse.org
k.zekic@indipluse.org
OUR PARTNERS
