Visual Culture, Economy and Public Space as a Context for Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Art

11 November 2015

The lecture considers the work of the artist Christo and Jeanne-Claude in the context of the current issues in contemporary art – its relation to visual culture, the process of production and post-production, and the use of public space as a space of negotiation. Regardless of the fact that this author’s work and prominence are rooted in the early 1960’s, the presentation explores the relevance of the artist’s work now. The process of appearance and disappearance, of promotion and intimate sharing, of vision and realization in the works of this artist is a challenge to both the senses, and the intelligence of the audience, and not only the art audience at that. An art practice is only as relevant as the debate it generates – from this perspective Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s art is super relevant in Bulgaria. 

Luchezar Boyadjiev is an artist, curator and lecturer. His work is about visual culture and the process of globalization in art as issues and languages; about personal interpretations of public space and the visuality of the global city; about the ‘public vs. private’ in the artist’s inner world; as well as about fostering involvement with audiences through the breaking up of the local/global, the active/passive participant, and the artist/audience divides. His media are installation, photography, drawing, object, text, video and performative lecture. Recent exhibitions include: “Stand Out! …& Standstill!”, One Night Stand Gallery, Sofia (solo, 2014); “Commercial Show with a Non-Profit Goal”, 0gms–drawer Gallery, Sofia (solo, 2013); “Not a Library Artist either”, SALT Galata, Istanbul (solo, 2013); “Artist in the Storage”, City Art Gallery, Sofia (solo, 2010); “Inside Out – Not So White Cube”, City Art Gallery, Ljubljana; “The Grammar of Freedom: Five Lessons”, GARAGE MCA, Moscow; “Art for Change 1985-2015”, Sofia City Gallery, Sofia (all in 2015); “Disconsent”, Ancient Bath – CCA, Plovdiv, Bulgaria (2014); “Economics in Art”, MOCAK, Cracow (2013); “The Best of Times, the Worst of Times”, 1st Biennial, Kiev and “The Eye Never Sees itself”, 2nd Biennial, Yekaterinburg (2012); “The Global Contemporary”, ZKM, Karlsruhe (2011).

The lecturer has known Christo and Jeanne-Claude since the early 1980’s when he also started studying their work. He has participated in numerous conferences and has many publications on the subject such as: Boyadjiev, Luchezar. Christo & Jeanne-Claude – the Beauty (yours), the Money (theirs), the Publicity (everybody’s). In: Kultura Weekly, # 23 (2815), 12 June, 2015 

http://www.kultura.bg/bg/article/view/23568