Mestoláska

Mestoláska is a lecture series about life in the city and urban planning. We pay attention to the city because its future is shaped by everyday life in the present — by the relationships we have in the city, the ones we could have, and the ones we choose to build together as its residents.

The lectures host both international and local experts. Through moderated discussions, we explore global topics in urban planning and their relevance within the local context of Košice. The audience consists of people who care deeply about their city - whether professionally (architects, urban planners, public officials, politicians, developers, students, economists, sociologists, activists) or simply as city lovers.

In 2025, Mestoláska evolved into a series of workshops that build on the previous lectures and allow participants to engage with the topics in a more practical way. In the same year, we created a Menstrual Cabinet, which now serves its purpose at Kino Úsmev, and organized a dinner prepared from locally sourced ingredients.

Our effort to further expand the knowledge and insights generated through Mestoláska is embodied in Plagazin — a designed poster and zine that, through essays written by Košice-based authors, captures the key themes discussed in one of the Mestoláska lectures.

Plagazins are available in our “To Go” section, where you can find the following editions:

  • City × Trees (essay by Tomáš Filo)
  • City × Bees × Insects (essay by Klára Hrenykóová)
  • City × Art (essay by Zuzana Kupcová)
  • City × Mobility (essay by Martin Dubéci)
  • Caring Cities × Never Never School (essay by Gréta Čandová)
  • City × Home (essay by Juliana Sokolová)
  • City × Wilderness (essay by Tomáš Straka)
  • City × Care × Vulnerability (essay by Gréta Čandová)
  • Ideal × Compromise (essay by Gréta Čandová)
  • City × Planet (essay by Zuzana Révészová)

Mestoláska is organized by Spolka in collaboration with Kinom Úsmev. The lecture series was supported by the Slovak Arts Council - Fond na podporu umenia. For more information about upcoming and past lectures, follow us on Facebook or Instagram.