“Here you are”: the artistic world gathers for the Venice Biennale, Bulgaria participates for the tenth time – Culture
After a one-year postponement of the coronavirus pandemic, the 59th Venice International Biennale officially opens today. The artistic director of the publication is Cecilia Alemanni, and this time it bears the artistic title “Milk of Dreams” (The milk of dreams) – based on the book by the surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, describing a magical world in which the imagination is the main driving force of life and everyone can transform into something or someone else.
The oldest and most prestigious forum for contemporary art will last until November 27 and is traditionally located in the Giardini Park, where most of the international pavilions are located, as well as in the former naval shipyard Arsenal, with its adjoining warehouses.
In addition to these two main areas, the event includes additional historic buildings, apartments, galleries, dock vessels and areas with street installations.
Bulgarian participation
Bulgaria is part of the international exhibition of the Biennale for the tenth time. The previous participations of our country are in 1910, 1942, 1948, 1964, 1993, 1999, 2007, 2011 and 2019.
And for the second time our representative at the prestigious artistic forum was broadcast with a competition organized by the Ministry of Culture, which will be held between November 29 and December 29, 2021.
The winning project is “Here you are” by artist Mihail Mihailov and curator Irina Batkova.
The exposition of Bulgaria is located in the exhibition space “Spacio Rava” (Spacio Rava), located in central Venice in the San Polo district near the Rialto Bridge.
“Here you are”
Human existence, the connection between people and the imperfections of architecture with the three themes embedded in the project for the Biennial of Mikhail Mihailov and Irina Batkova. That is why this is the first significant joint work, although they have collaborated on various projects before. They are brought together by the philosophical approach to art, which this time focuses on recreating the idea of the next that is left behind, and the connection between the minds of individuals.
Mihail was born in 1978 in Veliko Tarnovo. He graduated from the Faculty of Visual Arts with a special degree in painting in his hometown, and a recent art history at the University of Vienna. There you start experimenting with the so-called urban interventions and performances. From 2006 to 2009 he worked in collaboration with the artistic group “Gelitin” (gelatin). In 2007 he participated in the summer academy “Situation and Spectacle” at the Paul Klee Center in Bern. He has over 100 participations and projects, as well as 14 solo exhibitions in various cities around the world.
Irina Batkova is a curator and writer. She was a private at the Sofia City Art Gallery and director of several other galleries. He is currently the artistic director of “Gallery +359”, Sofia. He is the founder of the contemporary art platform Art Project Depot. Her projects are presented at the “Künstlerhaus”, Vienna, “Jerebatan Sarnaci”, “Akbank Art Center” and “Gaya Gelliri” in Istanbul, the State Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow and others.
You can read more about the Bulgarian participants in the biennial here.
For the project “Here is where you are” Mihailov spends a lot of time studying the exhibition space of “Spacio Rava”, because the building itself is an organic part of the exhibition, and the works are an element of the physical space in which it is located.
Over 200 artists
The big event includes 80 national appearances at the historic pavilions in Giardini, the Arsenal and downtown Venice.
Five countries will participate in the biennial for the first time: Cameroon, Namibia, Nepal, Oman and Uganda. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have their own pavilions for the first time.
The total number of artists who will take part until November 27 is 213, and 180 of them are debuting at the international exhibition. The exhibitions include 1433 works and objects, 80 new projects created especially for the Biennale.