21 September 2011 - 30 October 2011

This year marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Petrov - one of most remarkable and valuable talents, having contributed to the history of Bulgarian art with his innovative approach. Nikola Petrov’s paintings belong to the category of artworks that are still relevant in the present day, also looking ahead into the future. His extraordinary gift and skill, his short life and untimely death – he died when he was only 35 – turned him into a legend enveloped in mysticism. This mysticism stems from his remarkable life story. It is an intense, over-eventful story. Qualitative changes, having occurred within short time periods, are easy to spot in various artworks of his.

This artistic dynamics started very early, namely in his student years. He was only 22, when became a founding member of the “Modern Art” Association in 1903. In the same year he received a state grant and visited Rome. From this point on, he would participate every year in various events held in Sofia, Belgrade, Liège, London, Zagreb, Munich, Venice, Rome, Berlin. In addition to the multitude of drawings, watercolor and oil paintings, Nikola Petrov also illustrated works by Pencho Slaveykov and Todor Vlaykov, and created the mural composition “Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary” in the northern altar of the “Alexander Nevski” Cathedral. His painting “Lions’ Bridge in the City of Sofia”, featured at an international exhibition in Rome in 1911, was bought by the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome. In the same year his painting “St. Sofia Church” was the first one of his paintings to be bought by the Bulgarian state.

His life story and artistic career will always feel incomplete because of what failed to be created by a remarkable talent within a life cut short. A talent and a life that could have given many a new direction in Bulgarian art, had they had more time on this earth.

The exhibition features works belonging to the Sofia City Art Gallery, the National Art Gallery, the National Academy of Arts, the Sofia History Museum, the “Nikola Petrov” Vidin City Art Gallery, the Plovdiv City Art Gallery, the “Ivan Funev” Vratsa City Art Gallery, the Stara Zagora City Art Gallery, the National Museum of Military History, the National Museum of Literature, the “Svetlin Rousev” Studio-Collection, Sofia, the “Svetlin Rousev” Art Gallery-Donation, City of Pleven, the “Indzhov” Collection, the “Zhivko Chubriev” Collection and other private collections.

An exhibition catalogue is available, published with the support of the Ministry of Culture and the “Culture” Directorate of the Sofia City Municipal Council.

15 September 2011 - 09 October 2011

The exhibition is an attempt to touch upon the issue of darkness and shadow, as seen in works, created within a nearly hundred-year period, by thirty Bulgarian artists belonging to various generations, namely Ivan Murkvichka, Nikola Petrov, Vladimir Dimitrov – the Master, Ivan Milev, Zhorzh Papazov, Nikola Tanev, Bencho Obreshkov, Iliya Beshkov, Vasil Ivanov, Genko Genkov, Nikola Daskalov, Georgi Baev, Atanas Patsev, Nikola Terziev, Peter Dochev, Ivan Georgiev – the Rembrandt, Tomas Kochev, Stoyan Tsanev, Angel Stanev, Dimitur Lalev, Dimitur Koulev, Milko Bozhkov, Stanislav Pamoukchiev, Yulia Stankova, Krasimir Iliev, Ziyatin Nouriev, Dimitur Iliev, Nadezhda Karapencheva, Antonia Angelova and Mina Angelova.

For them darkness and shadow have various meanings: the are masters of passions; a nurturing environment that engenders form; ghosts, prophesying doom, yet also the enchanting poetry of darkness, its designated time for ecstatic prayer, opening ajar the gate between life and death. The shadow may be a delicate weapon of female coquettishness. It may dance together with the light and be its counterpoint. The shadow is concentrated spirituality, and in order for form to be eternal, it has to contain a shadow. The shadow of a human is not only his/her essence, but also his/her entirety. Darkness is the fabric of the devil, yet also the haven of beauty. Darkness is the sadness of being aware of human imperfection. Darkness is a womb, yet also a snare for humans. It weaves its thread, entangling light in its attempt to devour it, but not its creator.

Works selected for the exhibition also present light and darkness in a continuum whose extremities are the Christian view of the fight between the two and the Chinese idea of their indivisibility and mutual complementation. It is obvious that in the course of time, especially after the 1970’s, black does not simply take over larger and larger territories in Bulgarian art, but frequently loses its negative meaning, even turning into the essential image-representing device. Consciously or not, this process draws it closer to this part of Far Eastern art, which is rooted in the Zen view of representation, namely the sudden reaching of this darkness-extracted shattering moment, that was prompted by enlightenment.

08 September 2011 - 09 October 2011

The exhibition seeks to reconsider Édouard Manet’s famous painting “The Luncheon on the Grass” – a theme that was subject to various interpretations long before Manet approached it, while his own painting inspired the creation of numerous replicas in the decades to follow. 

“The Luncheon on the Grass” prompted Roumen Skorchev to recapitulate his years-long life and artistic experience, to reconstruct well-established notions, to provide his own interpretation of aesthetical and moral values. In his variations on the theme, complete with his signature dynamic stroke of the brush and intense colors, he creates an intense sensation of the anxiety of the modern day and age, while searching for various perspectives on timeless questions and unresolved conflicts of human life. Going beyond the subject of Manet’s painting, the artist turns the theme into a field of his visual revelations, as well as into an intimate spiritual space of his own.
The Sofia City Art Gallery-hosted exhibition features exclusively new, previously un-exhibited works, created over the last few years. Roumen Scorchev presents his interpretations of the theme in 20 paintings and a selection of the numerous sketches and studies preceding them.

A richly illustrated exhibition catalogue is available*.

Academician Roumen Skorchev was born in 1932 in the town of Turgoviste. He earned a major in park construction and engineering in 1957, and in 1964 he graduated from the Academy Arts, where he has been holding a professorship ever since 1984. He has won more than 40 awards home and abroad. He has illustrated a large number of books for both children and adults. He was awarded a fellowship by the Japanese Kokucai Koryu Kikin Foundation. Works of his are featured in the Japanese two-volume edition presenting 300 leading graphic artists of the 20th century. In 1970 he was awarded a gold medal at the International Florence Biennial, the awarded work having been added to the Uffizi Gallery collection. Paintings of his present Bulgaria at the Albertina Museum, Vienna, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht, the Netherlands, and many other museums and private collections around the world.

12 July 2011 - 28 August 2011

The exhibition features works by Otto Horeishi, Josef Oberbauer, Ivan Murkvichka, Tsanko Lavrenov, Sirak Skitnik, Ivan Milev, Detchko Ouzounov, Ivan Penkov, Ivan Lazarov, Ari Kaluchev, Boris Denev, Vladimir Loukarov, Nikola Kozhouharov, Atanas Mihov, Pencho Georgiev, Mario Zhekov, Boris Mihaylov, Ivan Hristov, Simeon Velkov, Ivan Getsov, Naoum Hadzhimladenov, Peter Morozov, Yordan Kyuvliev, Marin Georgiev – Oustagenov, Georgi Hadzhidimitrov, Vladimir Rilski, Slavi Genev, Nayden Petkov, Zdravko Alexandrov, Vasil Marinov,`Radi Nedelchev, Dimitur Andreev, Veselin Paroushev, Maxim Tsankov, Georgi Nikolov, Vladimir Peshev, Boycho Grigorov, Lika Yanko, Andrey Daniel, Cyril Gerasimov, Dimitur Stefanov, created over various periods between the late 19th and the late 20th centuries to take us back in time and remind us about the significant role these holy places that monasteries and churches are, have played for our spirituality, morals, and the virtues of the Christian Orthodox faith throughout more than a thousand years of history. 

The exhibition aims to reveal how and the extent to which Orthodox Christianity and secular art are related, while raising numerous questions of various nature, which require comprehensive, in-depth answers. Why would only individual artists or groups of artists be inspired by Orthodox Christianity, by churches and monasteries, by biblical stories? How, when and why did we come to ignore our Christian heritage and the individuals related to it, as well as its unique art, literary and philosophical works?

The exhibition features a selection of more than 120 works belonging to the genres of oil painting, water color painting and sculpture, created by different generations of artists. Their simultaneous presentation helps trace yet another trend in Bulgarian art. For some artists, interest in churches and monasteries was related to a comprehensive study of the past, as they believed that it to be the source of our native heritage, providing the basis for modern art. Others demonstrated interest in church painting either sporadically, or permanently, an interest also reflected in their secular works. Still others, came in touch with the spirit of Orthodox Christianity by mere accident. Yet, all their paths crossed in the temple, in the act of creating artworks telling stories about churches and monasteries where Bulgarian cultural heritage and national spirit were created and preserved. These are works that we classify as secular, which give off an authentic light of their own within the context of the exhibition. They give us yet another chance to get near the Christian truth, as they appeal to people’s sense and sensibility. 

The exhibition comprises part of the ancillary events for the 22nd International Congress of Byzantine Studies. An exhibition catalogue is available.

Exhibition curator: Adelina Fileva

09 June 2011 - 10 July 2011

The American Foundation for a Civil Society manages the Young Visual Artists Awards international network (YVAA). This international fellowship award program has so far been launched in ten European countries, which annually award an artist a travel fellowship to the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP), New York. Bulgaria joined the program in 2008 on the initiative of Maria Vassileva, establishing the BAZA Award under the auspices of the Institute of Contemporary Art – Sofia. The annual exhibition of nominated works is hosted by the Sofia City Art Gallery, which takes exclusive responsibility for the exhibition’s organization, thus continuing the tradition of presenting young artists within the “Meeting Point” program. The BAZA award comprises a six-week travel fellowship to New York and a solo exhibition at the gallery of the Institute of Contemporary Art – Sofia. The first three BAZA award winners are: Rada Boukova (2008), Samuil Stoyanov (2009) and Anton Terziev (2010). 

BAZA award applicants traditionally present a portfolio of completed projects and works presented at otherexhibitions, yet a decisive factor in choosing the winner is the quality of the work presented at the nominees’ exhibition. Nominees may participate in the exhibition with a showcase of projects completed in the past, yet, it is often the case that the exhibition triggers the development of new projects, specially completed for the event. More than 120 artists have applied for the award so far, 21 of whom have been nominated.

In 2011 the BAZA Award will be presented for the fourth time. The works featured in the exhibition belong to the genres of painting, interactive and spatial installations, objects, video, photography. 

Members of the 2011 jury are as follows: Iara Boubnova, Luchezar Boyadjiev, Nadezhda Oleg Lyahova, Svetoslav Kokalov and Daniela Radeva.

The BAZA award winner for 2011 is Vikenti Komitski

01 June 2011 - 26 June 2011

The exhibition presents 33 of the most innovative achievements of industrial design for the past year. Each of the exhibits was awarded the prestigious Les Étoiles de l’Observeur (Stars of the Observer) award of the French Agency for the Promotion of Industrial Design (APID).

APID has been promoting the importance of design in any aspect of human life ever since its foundation in 1983, launching in 1999 the annual "Observeur du design" (design observer) exhibition, which aims to single out the best examples of everyday object design covering a wide range of objects - from vehicles, passing on to furniture and interior design, through to children’s toys and very simple everyday objects, such as toothbrushes. 
To be awarded the "star of the observer", an object must be innovative, comfortable, inexpensive and universally accessible, yet also original, environmentally friendly and of good quality. It should also provide a response to modern needs, bringing a modern take on traditional know-how. 

The exhibition, which is featured within the Sofia Design Week Festival, commemorates the 20th anniversary of launching the French Cultural Institute in Bulgaria.

28 May 2011 - 28 August 2011

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

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
 

12 April 2011 - 15 May 2011

The exhibition ABC. Contemporary Belgian Art is part of the intercultural and educational project A Digital Take on Contemporary Art. It will be presented at the Sofia City Art Gallery, simultaneously with the exhibition Le Fresnoy – National Studio of Contemporary Arts at the National Academy of Art.

This is the first event of its kind, introducing the Bulgarian public to two fascinating and highly creative art scenes which are representative of contemporary artistic processes. The one scene is Belgium, a country emblematic of contemporary challenges with its many artists who have always been at the forefront of avant-garde art. The other scene is Les Fresnoy, the National Studio of Contemporary Arts in France inspired by Bauhaus, which has gained international acclaim and influence.

ABC. Contemporary Belgian Art is an exhibition that does not claim to be a comprehensive portrayal of the diversity of the contemporary art scene in Belgium. It focuses on video and photography. These are areas in which Belgium has been excelling over the last twenty years. The exhibition presents key artists from major Belgian cities (Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, Liège) who have influenced the development of contemporary European art. It is an illustration of the curatorial idea that at first sight incompatible trends coexist in Belgium – such as minimalism and conceptualism, parallel with a playful, post-Dadaist art with a lively sense of humour. The exhibition comes to Sofia after being shown at Le Fresnoy – National Studio of Contemporary Arts.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue.

Organizers: Patrick Sandrin, Culture and Development Foundation, and Le Fresnoy – National Studio of Contemporary Arts.

In partnership with:
Sofia Municipality, National Academy of Art, Embassy of Belgium, Embassy of France, Institut Français, Societe Generale Expressbank, Technopolis.