Cooperation between the Sofia City Art Gallery and one of Europe’s most interesting and active museums, namely the MUMOK in Vienna is a remarkable undertaking, which is a powerful indication of SCAG intentions and ambitions. The long-term cooperation project sets out to present several large-scale exhibitions following the development of modern art between the 1960’s and the present day.

“Viennese actionism” is the first exhibition in the said series. This is the most emblematic Austrian movement, which, though very short-lived (1960-1971), had a significant impact on the international development of avant-garde, making the notion of the latter a much more inclusive one. The movement fights against conservative values in both art and life, opposing the conventional genres of painting, sculpture and drawing by highlighting direct work in space with the human body, as well as with various liquids and objects. Actions by representatives of the movement violate a number of taboos in an attempt to gain more genuine experience of both physical and mental reality. Other means of expression, besides performances, are film and photography.

Artists Günter Brus, Otto Mühl, Hermann Nitsch and Rudolf Schwarzkogler are the major representatives of Viennese Actionism and it is their work that the exhibition focuses on. It also features works by world-famous artists such as Jackson Pollock, Emilio Vedova and Yves Klein, who herald Viennese Actionism in their attempts to move away from conventional styles in painting. The exhibition also features works by Marina Abramovic, Vito Acconci, VALIE EXPORT, Yoko Ono, Carolee Schneemann, whose actions are reminiscent of Viennese actionists’ critical tone with regard to social, political and artistic issues.

The exhibition features 61 works, including photographs, prints, videos, paintings. Exhibition catalogue in Bulgarian and English is also available.

HELVETICA FOREVER STORY OF A TYPEFACE Installation, documentation

06 June 2009 - 12 June 2009

The exposition is dedicated to the 50th anniversary since the creation of one of the most widely used typefaces known as Helvetica.

The result of the efforts of two typeface designers – Max Miedenger and Eduard Hoffmann – Helvetica turns into an aesthetic constant and bridges the abrupt transition from the lead press to the digital processing of the text in the sixties. The typeface is characterized by simplicity and minimalism, the drawing is compact, legible and expressive. That makes Helvetica an efficient instrument for graphic designers from the sixties of the 20th century to the present day. The stately delicacy of this typeface gives freedom in finding an adequate outward representation of different ideas.
Having found application in various areas of graphic design, advertising, book printing etc. Helvetica, with its simplicity, modern lines and proportions is still valid and widely used in different languages even today.

Among the items of the exhibition one can find original sketches recording the process of creating Helvetica. The exposition traces also the implementation of the typeface during different historical periods and offers evidence for its use in a variety of contexts.

Helvetica Forever: Story of a Typeface is a sequel to Lars Müller and Victor Malsy’s book with the same title. The exhibition comes to Bulgaria after being to the USA and Japan and is part of the events included in the Sofia Design Week festival organized by Magazine 1.

NEDKO SOLAKOV Curators Maria Vassileva and Iara Boubnova

07 May 2009 - 05 June 2009

This is Nedko Solakov’s first large exhibition in Bulgaria since 1988, as well as the first retrospective presentation of his work in his home country. One of the most interesting „story tellers” of contemporary art will „recount” his artistic biography specially for the Bulgarian public.

The SCAG exhibition is an attempt to give an idea of the artist’s dynamic and versatile work between 1981 and the present day. The oil paintings featured in the exhibition belong to various Bulgarian museums (the National Art Gallery, the art galleries of the cities of Plovdiv, Botevgrad, Sliven, Gabrovo, Dimitrovgrad, the House of Humour and Satire in the city of Gabrovo), as well as to private collections. They reveal the artistic style and approaches that brought Nedko Solakov critical acclaim and public recognition on the Bulgarian art scene in the early 1980’s through the mid-1980’s. The exhibition also features later works by the artist, where he starts incorporating various non-traditional elements in his work thus declaring his interest in a socially-oriented, provocative and interactive art. The public will be able to see objects created at an early stage of the artist’s career, pertaining to the development of conceptual art in Bulgaria in the late 1980’s.

The 1990’s see a significant, yet logical, change in Nedko Solakov’s art, which was triggered by frequent travels round the world, participation in numerous group exhibitions and biennials, delivery of lectures, participation in conferences and workshops. Gradually he became one of the leading figures in contemporary art. Many of his works belong to major museums and private collections showed to the public. Presentation of the work belonging to this stage of his career turned into a challenge for both the artist and the exhibition’s curators. Led by the desire to create as broad a picture of Nedko Solakov’s art as possible, the artist and the curators choose a specific mode of presentation, where original works are alternated with documentary material. The public will be able to get acquainted with the various ways of installing some of the artist’s most prominent works, to study in detail the artist’s notes accompanying them, to have a look at projects, invitations, etc. And what is most valuable about the exhibition – they will be able to read Nedko Solakov’s comments made exclusively for this very exhibition of his work. Among the works featured in the exhibition are: New Noah's Ark, 1991-2007, The Truth (The Earth is Plane, the World is Flat), 1992-2003, The Collector of Art, 1992-, This is me too..., 1996-2005, Discussion (Property), 2007, A Recent Story with Ghosts, a Pair of High-Heeled Shoes, (a couple of floods) and Some Other Mischievous Acts, 2008, etc. Presented in such a manner, the works turn into a single monumental work of art with a life of its own – a portrait of the artist and his development over the past three decades.

This “picture” of the artist’s art and life is framed by his work „A Life (Black & White)”, 1998-, presumably his most popular one, shown at numerous venues around the world and owned by various prestigious museums and collectors. In the space of a month two workers/painters will constantly repaint the walls of the exhibition space in black and white, day after day, following each other, thus leaving the exhibition space neither entirely white, nor entirely black, which is an excellent metaphor of the world we live in.

Of all Bulgarian museums, the Sofia City Art Gallery is the one paying the greatest tribute to modern Bulgarian art, as revealed by its consistent policy setting the latter as a priority. Nedko Solakov’s exhibition is a logical result of the said policy crowning the efforts of the gallery team to present the best of late 20th and early 21st century Bulgarian art.

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Nedko Solakov (born in 1957 in the town of Cherven Briag, currently living in Sofia) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts – Sofia in 1981 and went on to work mainly in the filed of painting. He has been part of the world art scene ever since the early 1990’s contributing his trademark drawings, installations, videos, objects and interventions in specific spaces.
Nedko Solakov has participated in La Biennale di Venezia, Venice (1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2007), the Istanbul Biennial (1992, 1995, 2005), the São Paulo Biennial (1994), Manifesta 1 (Rotterdam, 1996), the Kwanju Biennial, South Korea (1997, 2002), the Lyon Biennial (2000), the Seville Biennial, Spain (2006), the Moscow Biennial (2007), Documenta 12, Kassel (2007), the Sydney Biennial (2008), the New Orleans Biennial (2008), etc. Over the last years he has had solo exhibitions hosted by: the Chiado Museum, Lisbon, the Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid, De Appel Foundation, Amsterdam, Kunsthaus, Zurich, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, etc. Over the period 2003-2005 three cultural institutions, namely the Rooseum Center for Contemporary Art, Malmö, Sweden, the Casino Luxembourg - Forum d’art Contemporain, Luxembourg and O.K. Centrum für Gegenwartskunst, Linz, Austria hosted a large retrospective exhibition entitled "Nedko Solakov. A 12 1/3 (and even more) Year Survey". In 2008-2009 the „Еmotions” project was presented in Kunstmuseum, Bonn, Kunstmuseum, St. Gallen and Mathildenhoehe, Darmstadt.
Nedko Solakov’s works are to be found in major museums throughout the world, namely: the Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna; Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich; the Ludwig Museum, Budapest; Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana; the Tate Modern, London, S.M.A.K. Ghent, as well as in art foundations and private collections shown to the public: Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna; the Dakis Joannou Collection, Athens; the Ella Fontanals Cisneros Collection, Miami, USA, etc.
In 2007 the artist received an “Honourable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition”, 52 La Biennale di Venezia, Venice for his work „Discussion (Property)”.
Nedko Solakov is a co-founding member of the Institute of Contemporary Art-Sofia.
www.nedkosolakov.net

The Temptation of CHALGA Curators Svetlana Kuyumdzhieva, Vessela Nozharova Chronology and documentation Venzislav Dimov

30 April 2009 - 31 May 2009

Sofia City Art Gallery
Altera Association
Art Affairs and Chronology Foundation

The project was made possible with financial support from the Sofia City Municipality

Media partners: Programme Weekly Culture Guide, 24 Chasa newspaper, VAGABOND MEDIA

A potent cultural phenomenon has had tangible presence in Bulgarian society over the last 20 years. Unbearable for some, yet blissful for others, chalga (the most commonly used term to refer to Bulgarian pop folk music) has become an inseparable part of our everyday life. Over all those years we have involuntarily become “witnesses” and “accessories” to the complicated process of a marginal suppressed genre turning into a profitable industry, firmly establishing itself as a value system and lifestyle.

Gaudy, lustrous, noisy, scandalous, kitschy, chalga (also called „ethno pop” and „pop folk”) is a true reflection of the endless period of transition in Bulgaria and the social, political and economic change triggered by it. It is a remarkably candid celebration of the most typical features of our national mentality. Full of love and tears, the chalga euphoria triggered a post-socialist Balkan sexual revolution, defying all norms and taboos.

It is all the above and also the numerous assets it uses to fully engage all senses that make chalga a rich source of ideas for contemporary artists.

This project’s curators dare remove the heavy barrier separating “chalga” and “culture” inviting modern Bulgarian artists to come up with their responses to this topical issue. Chalga is present in the exhibition in the shape of music, vision, text, history, mood, specific sites and events, namely everything that made it such a significant social factor. Each project participant has found something touching, shocking, confusing or gladdening about chalga, yet, most of all, something tempting enough to trigger an artist’s response in the shape of a work of art.

Artists featured in the exhibition include Georgi Toushev, Daniela Kostova, Boris Missirkov/Georgi Bogdanov, Adelina Popnedeleva, who were the first to treat chalga in their works in the mid-1990’s through the late 1990’s, when the latter was at its peak. In the years to follow other acclaimed artists like Alla Georgieva and Krasimir Dobrev were also provoked the luscious visions and intense emotions. Some of the said artists contributed new works, specially created for this project. They were joined by two Bulgarian artists, namely Konstantin Bozhanov and Ergin Chavoshoglou, who are better known abroad, rather than at home. Their works offer an outsiders’ view of Bulgarian chalga and its equivalents worldwide, analyzing the phenomenon from a more distanced perspective.

Representatives of the new generation of modern Bulgarian artists, namely Boriana Ventsislavova, Svetozara Alexandrova, Stanimir Genov, Vikenti Komitski, Orlin Nedelchev, seem to be as tempted as the rest.

DJ JORO-BORO from the Bulgarian bar in New York City, who is the star in Daniela Kostova’s video, will be a special guest of the exhibition.

A timeline of chalga culture in Bulgaria including information connecting it to major political and social events comprises an important part of the exhibition. It was made by Dr. Ventsislav Stefanov from the Institute for Art Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, who is the author of the first monograph on chalga, “The Ethno-pop Boom”, Sofia, 2001. His years-long research in the field of ethno music, as well as his rich collection of unique artifacts associated with the heroes of pop folk culture, complement the overall impression of the works featured in the exhibition.

Besides providing an eclectic response, making social criticism and defying all standards and taboos, “The Chalga Temptation” is also the moment of awakening in art, when both our cultural identity and surrounding reality become clearly distinguishable.

The exhibition curators would like to kindly thank their loyal associate, Iurii Vulkovski, the SCAG team and everybody, who helped make this project a success: Donka Angelova, Rozmarie Statelova, Viara Mlechevska, Svilen Stefanov, Dimitur Grozdanov, Dosiu Amoudzhiev, Yovo Panchev, Roudolph Barch, Vania Koubadinska, Ivailo Evtimov.

Nikola Mihov Sofia City Art Gallery an inside glimpse

09 April 2009 - 26 April 2009

An exhibition becomes accessible to the public once the exhibits’ arrangement is complete. What is left unseen is the huge daily effort applied “behind the scenes” to ensure the gallery’s proper functioning. This involves consideration of the gallery’s policy, the process of designing each specific exhibition and the management of the gallery’s collection. The „Sofia City Art Gallery – an inside glimpse” video exhibition is an attempt at a look beyond exhibition halls, meaning to present gallery employees and the various aspects of their work.

All six videos are comprised exclusively of photographs to create a kaleidoscope of vision, events and portraits flashing on screens and situated at different places in the gallery. The public is allowed for the first time to follow the processes of exhibition consideration and design, the transformation of gallery space and the addition of new art works to the gallery’s collection. The videos also pay homage to outstanding works by modern Bulgarian artists (Luchezar Boyadjiev, Nedko Solakov, Pravdoliub Ivanov, Kalin Serapionov, Ivan Moudov).

The project was completed in cooperation with Daniela Radeva, Maria Vassileva and the whole SCAG team.

Nikola Mihov was born in 1982 in Sofia. He works mainly in the field of photography. He has had solo exhibitions in Sofia, Paris, Zagreb and Thessaloniki. He has participated in numerous international group exhibitions and film festivals. Nikola Mihov is a Gaudenz B. Ruf Award – 2008 nominee and winner of the Nikon Profiled Award of the 2007 PHODAR International biennial exhibition (www.nikolamihov.com)

DIALOGUES WITH TIME Paintings from the Sofia City Art Gallery collection dating from the mid-20th century through the beginning of the 21st century

09 April 2009 - 26 April 2009

This exhibition is part of the “Sofia Days in Moscow” initiative seeking to present Bulgarian art in Moscow.
The exhibition, featuring more than 80 paintings by 46 Bulgarian artists, is a showcase of the Sofia City Art Gallery collection. Works included in the exhibition date from the mid-20th century through the beginning of the 21st century. They give an idea of the spirit of the time they were created in, as well as of the artistic trends and changes in Bulgarian art.

The exhibition features the works of prominent artists such as Ivan Nenov, Dechko Uzunov, Vera Nedkova, Vassil Barakov, Stoyan Sotirov, KIril Petrov, who studied in Munich, Paris, Vienna and whose artistic career started before World War II to be continued after the war ended. Their works, as well as those of applied artists having worked in the 1920’s, 1930’s and the early 1940’s provided the basis and inspiration for the generation of artists whose career started in the 1960’s, namely Svetlin Rousev, Ivan Kirkov, Yoan Leviev, Dimiter Kirov, Georgi Bozhilov, Genko Genkov, Georgi Baev, Alexander Petrov, Magda Abazova, Peter Dochev, Ivan Voukadinov, Lika Yanko. The latter generation brought painting back to prominence in the Bulgarian art scene leading the way for many decades through its works and truly distinctive artistic approaches.

The trends set by the generations to follow are presented in the works of Nikolai Maistorov, Ivan Dimov, Dimiter Bouyukliyski, Toma Trifonovski, Hristo Simeonov, Dimiter Kazakov-Neron, Yordan Katsamounski, Dinko Stoev, Sasho Stoitsov, Milko Bozhkov, Andrei Daniel, Svilen Blazhev, Ivailo MIrchev, as well as in the early 21st century works of the youngest generation of artists represented by Mihaela Vlasseva, Ivan Kostolov, etc.

ON A SHEET OF PAPER Prints and drawings from the collection of Sofia City Art Gallery

31 March 2009 - 26 April 2009

The exhibition presents 80 prints and drawings by 52 artists chosen among 3300 works kept in storage at Sofia City Art Gallery. Some of them have been displayed in certain general exhibitions, yet such a complete exposition with an accent on the specific features of the two genres hasn’t been set up for more than a decade.

The exhibition reflects different periods of the development of graphic art and drawing in Bulgaria. The selection aims at emphasizing the artistic quality and the variety of technical and artistic means of expression. The works displayed give an idea of the stylistic changes in the development of Bulgarian art from the dawn of the twentieth century till nowadays as well as of the dynamics in the use of different techniques (in graphic art these are dry point, etching, lithography, aquatint, monotyping, woodcut, mezzotint, vernis mou; in drawings – pencil, crayon, ink, chalk, tempera).

Some of the works included are by artists emblematic for the history of Bulgarian art from the first half of the 20th century: Vassil Zahariev, Ivan Milev, Nikolay Rainov, Vesselin Staikov, George Papazoff, David Peretz. What follows is some of the authors who have determined the trends in our art and have given a serious push to the development of graphics in terms of stylistic variety and techniques since the sixties of the 20th century till the present day. The exhibition presents Todor Panayotov, Borislav Stoev, Zlatka Dubova, Anastasia Panayotova, Roumen Skorchev, Peter Chouklev, Maria Nedkova, Atanas Neikov, Hristo Neikov, Simeon Venov and others. The next generations of artists, whose work has been contributing to the enrichment of the two genres, have also been included: Ivan Ninov, Georgi Lechev, Nikolai Maistorov, Svetla Georgieva, Hristo Kurdzhilov, Vassil Popov, Stefan Bojkov, Yavora Petrova, Valentin Stefanoff, Nina Kovacheva, Milko Pavlov, Emil Mirazchiev and others.

Globally and on a Long-term Basis the Situation Is Positive Nadezhda Oleg Lyahova

05 March 2009 - 26 April 2009

The “Globally and on a Long-term Basis the Situation is Positive” Project comprises a series of short videos shot in 2007/08 on the streets of Sofia, as well as a series of digital prints on canvas („motifs”) featuring static images from the said videos.

As a result of its EU accession on January 1, 2007, Bulgaria was granted a full member status. Hence the opportunity to participate in all these „special”, „regional”, „innovative”, „cross-border”, „multicultural” projects aimed at the implementation of “EU norms” and also allowing us to take advantage of a „wide range of opportunities” offered by the EU.

Our capital, already a „European” one, experienced a construction boom in its efforts to meet „progress indicators”. Buildings of glass and concrete were erected in neglected small city parks and children’s playgrounds, filling the spaces between apartment buildings.

Even our short, narrow, pot-holed street with hardly any pavement was not missed out in the rush to fill empty spaces between apartment buildings, prompted by the desire to make it more “European-like”. There came entrepreneurial investors, bringing equipment and people of all sorts. Intensive construction work started. Construction equipment roared in the neighborhood. Concrete and iron replaced the green grass. In the midst of thunder, mud and clouds of dust enthusiastic people and machines do their daily bit to build our European future.

Nadezhda Oleg Lyahova

From Yesterday till Tomorrow. Monuments of Sofia

05 March 2009 - 26 April 2009

The exhibition is devoted to Sofia’s sculptural and architectural monuments as the carriers of urban memory. It features paintings, drawings and contemporary art form works created between the early 1900’s and the present day.

Highlights of the exhibition feature the images of both emblematic and controversial city landmarks. Among the former are the Alexander Nevski Cathedral, the St Sofia Church, the Monument to the Tsar Liberator, while the latter include the Monument to the Soviet Army, the Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum, the “1300 years of Bulgaria” Monument. There are also the images of landmark city parks, gardens and squares, which comprise part of the building blocks of the city’s organism. Each of the aforementioned landmarks is presented in several works of art created at various points in time during the abovementioned period. This allows a comparison between images of the same landmark, thus revealing the changing perception of the city – starting from the intimate atmosphere exuded by old Sofia, through the monumentality of the 1970’s and up till the present day and the traumatic changes associated with it. Comparison between individual artistic approaches does not only point to stylistic diversity, but also to a variety of personal stances. The interpretation of a specific monument turns into a litmus test for historical change.

Elaborating on urban memory, we inevitably turn to material culture monuments that are old enough to reflect the attitudes of various generations. Being symbols of the city, they become part of its inhabitants’ DNA, encoding their belonging to the place on a subconscious level. Therefore taking care of those monuments is equivalent to sustaining our own harmonious functioning. Paintings by numerous artists feature the said monuments and this has not happened by mere accident, but rather as part of the constant process of tracing our roots, creating a unique portrait of a city’s population through the symbols that outlive it.

The Sofia City Art Gallery collection features hundreds of art works having captured the essence of Sofia. Through them the images of buildings, both existing and irreversibly lost ones, live on. They could also serve as a constant reminder of the fact that the destruction of any such monument inevitably destroys the balance of the sophisticated city organism.

Exhibition catalogue available. Curator – Maria Vasileva.

TIMM ULRICHS

27 February 2009 - 22 March 2009

Tim Ulrichs is one of the most prominent conceptual artists of the 20th century. Born in 1940 in Berlin, he starts his career as an artist in the early 1960’s, quickly drawing the public’s attention with his actions and manifestos.

Tim Ulrichs’ works belong to a variety of genres: sculpture, photography, collage, installation and performance. His concept of art is simple: to him life is art and art is life. He calls his art works „total art”. His place of residence frequently turns into an art gallery and he likes exhibiting himself like a work of art. He even registered himself in the District Court of Hannover (the city he lives in) under No 1535 in the register of specimens thus proclaiming his uniqueness as a work of art in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Tim Ulrichs is an artist and thinker considering art to be first and foremost an intellectual act. He focuses on routine repetitive situations in everyday life, nature and language, being taken for granted, to take them back to their original interconnection through his specific thinking and perception, starting off a process that encourages viewers and readers to make sense of them. Tim Ulrichs does not only have the gift of using his intelligence and humour to give us food for thought, but also the gift of captivating us by placing his own self in the centre of each of his interpretations.

The exhibition, organized jointly with the Goethe Institute – Bulgaria, features a selection of the artist’s original work from the Robert Simon collection in the Celle Museum of Art. „His work and activity place him among the most charismatic modern German artists. As an autodidact and an anarchistic and provocative thinker, Ulrichs not only challenged on numerous occasions the aesthetic framework of his own works, but, also, I think, turned all art upside down, giving it a pitiless shake, to head along the path of a new understanding of art.”, says the collector about Tim Ulrichs.

The exhibition features 60 works of art including drawings, collages, objects and installations created in the period between the late 1960’s and the present day.

An exhibition catalogue is available.

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