“Socialism’s Material Residue” group exhibition: Nikola Mihov, Missirkov & Bogdanov, Krassimir Terzief, Neli Georgieva, Marie Bromander 3.11 – 8.12.2012
November 3, 2012 12:33 pm |
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Anthropologists in Art in collaboration with
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| About the exhibition “Socialism’s Material Residue”:The exhibition ”Socialism’s Material Residue – legitimacy & (re)appropriation of Bulgaria’s socialist monuments” focuses on Bulgaria’s monumental socialist sculptures and their use in Bulgaria today, since they have outlived the political period that they were supposed to represent. “Socialism’s Material Residue” seeks to explore the issues of spatial discourse, politics, legitimacy and (re)appropriation surrounding existing socialist monuments in a post-socialist era. Do socialist monuments still have a function today, after the political transition? What is the role of socialist monuments in the contemporary urban and non-urban environment? Have individuals, artists, public institutions or civic (re)organisations appropriated these monumental socialist structures in recent years? And, taking a broader perspective, can the discursive and artistic polemic surrounding these public monuments in Bulgaria today, have significance for other societies, both post-socialist and those without a socialist past, in the sphere of spatial use and re-use.
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 Photograph from the series ‘Forget Your Past’ by Nikola Mihov. |
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| Blaton & Rypson in collaboration with Marie Bromander bring together five Bulgarian artists who give an artistic interpretation concerning issues of legitimacy of socialist monuments and their role in the contemporary urban and non-urban space in post-socialist Bulgaria. ”Socialism’s Material Residue” aims at exploring the relationship between the contemporary art scene in Bulgaria and the discourse about the role of socialism’s material heritage in a post-socialist reality. Moreover, the initiators of this project believe that the polemic surrounding the destruction, use or re-appropriation of these politicised megaliths provide a tantalising case-study in the discourse surrounding the use and re-use of public art and public space in other societies worldwide. | ||
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Photograph by Nikola Mihov, from the series ‘Forget Your Past’
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Videostill from ‘Trace’, by N. Georgieva, 2008
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| About the artists:
Krassimir Terziev (1969 Dobrich, Bulgaria) is a trained painter who also produces photographs, installations and computer mediated works. However, it is the moving image that has proven to be his most expressive artistic idiom. He is acclaimed for his works in experimental film and video art, and is co-director of XFILM festival for Experimental Film, Video & New Media in Sofia. Terziev’s work has been shown on television, media art festivals (Impakt, Utrecht and Video positive, Liverpool), Group shows (NEW VIDEO, NEW EUROPE, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and TATE Modern London & ST. Lois MOCA, etc). Terziev will be showing his video work “MONU-MENTAL” (2011): an observation of a public space that is popular among the youth in Sofia. Nikola Mihov (1982 Sofia, Bulgaria) photographer and video artist. He has held solo exhibitions in Sofia, Paris, Zagreb and London. He has also been participating in numerous international group exhibitions. The artist received the “Photo School Award” at the 6th international photography biennial “Phodar” and the Award for Photojournalism from the Bulgarian Photographic Academy annual contest. He will show his photographic series “Forget your past” where he reveals 14 of the most impressive socialist era monuments in Bulgaria. Mihov traveled around Bulgaria photographing and exploring the history of the monuments that are still standing and investigated their present state today. Neli Georgieva (1973 Varna, Bulgaria). Georgieva works with film and video art, and is actively involved in the debate surrounding the meaning and place of socialist monuments in contemporary society. She co-founded the art-group “Images-a-Mots”, she followed the ETNA experimental film academy. She also presented “Plusieurs Bouches, Plusieurs Langues” at the Gravity Art Fest at the Red House in Sofia. She will show her documentary “Trace (1)” from 2008. Through interviews with the author of one of the most impressive socialist monuments in Bulgaria, the documentary focuses on cultural memory, identity and how to integrate history with the present. Missirkov (1971 Sofia, Bulgaria) & Bogdanov (1971 Varna, Bulgaria). Their work mainly deals with unreal situations in everyday life, which are evocative of borderline situations and question experiences that surpass our imagination of normality. Good examples are the internationally renowned documentary films “Georgi and the Butterflies” and “The Boy Who Was a King” by director Andrey Paounov. They have exhibited in solo shows as well as in major group exhibitions. Missirkov & Bogdanov are an artist duo who work primarily within the realm of manipulated and staged photography. Their work “Weekend 2126” combines monumental socialist settings and absurdist futuristic imagery, thereby reflecting on the possible future imaginations of Bulgaria’s soc-realistic past.
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Videostill from ‘MONU-MENTAL’ by K. Terziev, 2011
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Photograph by Missirkov & Bogdanov, from the series ‘Weekend 2126’
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This exhibition is made possible with the support of Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst
For more info please contact: |
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Gallery WM, Elandsgracht 35, 1016 TN Amsterdam tel: 020-4211113, email: gallery@gallerywm.com Website: www.gallerywm.com Open donderdag tot en met zaterdag, 1e zondag vd maand 14-18 uur |
Tags: Krassimir Terziev, Marie Bromander, Missirkov & Bogdanov, Neli Georgieva, Nikola Mihov