The project curator Dr. Maria Vasileva has invited 43 prominent Bulgarian art and cultural historians belonging to different generations and fields of work (lecturers, researchers, museum curators, directors of art galleries, museums and nongovernmental organizations, art critics, curators and freelance researchers) to each choose an artwork from the Sofia City Art Gallery collection regardless of historical period, genre or media, an artwork they like and consider to be important, justifying their choice in a text comprising a single page.
The project aims to look into the factors that single out an artwork as valuable and important for the development of Bulgarian art from today’s perspective; to establish whether selection criteria have changed as compared to the ones applied in decades past; whether the best textbook examples of artworks have stood the test of time; whether the language of art criticism has changed; what is the personal stance of the most prominent Bulgarian art historians. The point is to look closely at an artwork and analyze it both in view of its specific features and the features it shares with other works belonging to the same historical period.
It has been more than 20 years since radical political changes in Bulgarian society took place, yet the reconsideration of the official history of Bulgarian art has been made at a very slow pace. Permanent museum exhibitions have remained the same as they were in the 1980’s, representative exhibits featuring, out of sheer habit, the same old familiar names.
Within this context, the “The Choice” exhibition is an attempt to analyze and reconsider the situation. The project reveals significant changes in the Bulgarian art scene, where alongside examples of classical and modern painting, sculpture and graphic arts, there stand convincing works of contemporary art employing a variety of means of artistic expression. Alongside the collection’s masterpieces there appear somewhat forgotten names, as well as some totally unfamiliar ones; alongside classical artists there stand young artists, who provoke the interest of the public and critics.
The project comprises part of the Sofia City Art Gallery’s efforts to view the history of Bulgarian art from various angles. It is also yet another experiment involving nontraditional methods of handling the museum collection. As it was done before, the principle of selecting the artworks is on a conceptual level, connecting classical and modern painting, sculpture and graphic arts with video, photography, objects, installations, etc., lead by the ambition to reveal what is it that “speaks” most convincingly to the viewer today, and keeps his/her attention, regardless of the point in time and the media related to the artwork’s creation.
The exhibition aims to make the profession of art and cultural historians more visible. Bringing together professionals from different fields is conducive to a more diversified and in-depth dialogue between them. It is through the combination of all the activities performed by writing, researching and curating experts that what we call art history is being built.
An exhibition catalogue is also available (in Bulgarian and English).

14 May 2011 - 14 May 2011

IN HARMONY WITH NATURE Sofia Paper Art Fest 2011

04 May 2011 - 29 May 2011

The “In Harmony with Nature” exhibition is featured within the Paper Art Biennial, Sofia, 2011.

Alexander Thieme, Anna Bojadjieva, Gahae Park, Dimitar Ovcharov, Jinwong Chang, Zornitsa Piskuliiska, Iva Krachmarska, Kumoi Yajima, Liisa Malkamo, Michael Kukla, Audrey Stone, Richard Sweeny, Seung Woo Hwang, Susan Schwalb, Helene Tcshacher, Helen Frederick, Helen Hiebert, Hiroaki Asahara, Qin Chong, Charmian Pollock, Jaanika Peerna present various ways of rendering paper material so as to convey different artistic ideas and messages.

Paper is vulnerable, tender, yet also rough and hard. It is plastic and is able to vibrate and create a sense of movement. It may be flat, relief, of differing texture and volume. It may be colored or perfectly white, multilayered or transparent.

Burning, layering, folding, cutting, punching, weaving, pressing, pasting – these are the methods of paper handling shown in this exhibition. They reveal the outcomes of the contemporary artist’s attempt to creating unexpected forms and invent new techniques, drawing on ancient techniques, thus preserving them.

The Paper Art Biennial is featured within the Paper Art Fest Sofia 2011, which is to be held for the first time ever. This is a project of Daniela Todorova and Todor Todorov.
It is organized by the Amateras Foundation. It presents the work of more than 100 artists from 36 countries at the Sofia City Art Gallery, the National Art Gallery, the National Gallery for Foreign Art, the Museum of Natural History, the temporary exhibition hall and sculpture yard at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Arena di Serdica, the Mazda Gallery.

Curators: Thalia Vrachopulos, Ph. D., Liisa Malkamo, Daniela Todorova