Sofia Contemporary

"Near, Closer, Together- Exercises for a Common Ground" departs from the basic question of constructing publics in context sensitive ways. The city of Sofia with its changing economic, social, political and cultural systems becomes a performative field where a number of installations, environments, and performances will be grounded on and responding to. A layered program with activities, events, and lectures will engage the audience further.

From past to future there is no single established truth. ‘Near’, ‘closer’, ‘together’ refer us to the place and the moment we are in, demanding a transformation in the taken positions. Thus the necessity to exercise towards a common ground which comprises mutual knowledge, hopes, and dreams; an essential for conversation.

The methods employed by the participants spring from the poetics and politics of everyday structures, in their potential for success and failure. They trigger mutual spaces of imagination, proposing new forms and environments of living, acting, and thinking together. Different participant institutions and organisations hosting the festival imply the necessity of open communication and solid networking for an elevated cultural field.

How do we imagine ourselves together today? What do we imagine together? How and what can we share? How do we become a public? In answering these questions, art does not offer relief or affirmation; it is rather a field of possibilities, exchange and comparative analysis.

Curator: Övül Durmusoglu

Partcipants:

Rossella Biscotti
Iskra Blagoeva
Blood Becomes Water
Banu Cennetoglu
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev
Nilbar Güreş
Lubomir Dimov
Dessislava Dimova
Charles Esche
Gülsün Karamustafa
Hiwa K
Eva Kotátková
Lis Magic Laser
David Maljkovic
Boyan Manchev
Vera Mlechevska
Ahmet Öğüt
Andrea Phillips
Cesare Pietroiusti
Kathrin Rhomberg
Yorgos Sapountzis
Dimitar Shopov
Kamen Stoyanov
Samuil Stoyanov
Vlado Velkov
Anton Vidokle