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Sunday 01 December 2024
25 November 2024 - 01 December 2024
December 2024
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
16.10.2024 - 15.12.2024

IN FRONT OF THE EYES | Kalin Serapionov

The Palace
Opening on Wednesday, 16 October, 6 p.m.
Curator: Iaroslava Boubnova
Among the most acclaimed artists in Bulgaria, Kalin Serapionov is closely associated with unleashing the potential and development of the vast possibilities of video in the context of art. He is focused on its potential to hold attention, form an image and generate suspense with no narrative techniques and literariness of the subject.
Serapionov was already devoting himself to video back in the 1990s, independently studying the possibilities of cameras using magnetic tape and the VHS format. Today, he steps confidently in the domain of digital technologies, with a markedly critical attitude to the clichés that impose themselves in their ubiquity.
The exhibition ‘Before Our Eyes’ is of a retrospective nature, presenting some of Kalin Serapionov’s emblematic works. The outrageously ironic video, ‘The Museum—Cause of Meeting and Acquaintance’ (1997), was among the earliest, filmed almost 30 years ago in the building that is hosting the current exhibition...
Kalin Serapionov’s exhibition, ‘Before Our Eyes’, was specifically assembled for the traditional architecture of The Palace. Screens pulsating with colours and shapes, large-format thematic projections and portrait messages form the shared space of the entire video installation.
General sponsor: MFG Foundation. With the support of Beyond Data Bulgaria LLC and Gaudenz B. Ruf.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
01.12.2024

THE THREE PIGGIES

Musical by Alexandar Raichev
Duration 1:00
Chamber hall
Performed in Bulgarian.
Music and Dance Events
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
01.12.2024

ADRIANA LECOUVREUR

Opera by Francesco Cilea / Premiere
Duration: 2:30
Main Hall 1
It is performed in Italian, with Bulgarian and English subtitles
Music and Dance Events
01.12.2024

Dance invitation Concert or Bella Voce

Chamber Hall
Solоist/s
Ensemble
Bella Voce
Music and Dance Events
01.12.2024

THE GREEN BIRD

A musical fairy tale - Premiere
Chamber hall
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
16.10.2024 - 15.12.2024

IN FRONT OF THE EYES | Kalin Serapionov

The Palace
Opening on Wednesday, 16 October, 6 p.m.
Curator: Iaroslava Boubnova
Among the most acclaimed artists in Bulgaria, Kalin Serapionov is closely associated with unleashing the potential and development of the vast possibilities of video in the context of art. He is focused on its potential to hold attention, form an image and generate suspense with no narrative techniques and literariness of the subject.
Serapionov was already devoting himself to video back in the 1990s, independently studying the possibilities of cameras using magnetic tape and the VHS format. Today, he steps confidently in the domain of digital technologies, with a markedly critical attitude to the clichés that impose themselves in their ubiquity.
The exhibition ‘Before Our Eyes’ is of a retrospective nature, presenting some of Kalin Serapionov’s emblematic works. The outrageously ironic video, ‘The Museum—Cause of Meeting and Acquaintance’ (1997), was among the earliest, filmed almost 30 years ago in the building that is hosting the current exhibition...
Kalin Serapionov’s exhibition, ‘Before Our Eyes’, was specifically assembled for the traditional architecture of The Palace. Screens pulsating with colours and shapes, large-format thematic projections and portrait messages form the shared space of the entire video installation.
General sponsor: MFG Foundation. With the support of Beyond Data Bulgaria LLC and Gaudenz B. Ruf.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
02.12.2024

Gala Concert

Bulgaria Concert Hal
Conductor
Konstantin Dobroykov
Solоist/s
Atanas Krastev
Anne Gastinel
Denis Severin
Thomas Demenga
Ensemble
Sofia Soloists Chamber Orchestra
Program
Antonio Vivaldi – Concerto for two Violoncellos and Orchestra
Joseph Haydn – Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 1 in C major
Joseph Haydn – Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No.2 in F major
Robert Schumann – Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in A minor, Op.129
Martin Ulikhanyan – “Vergnügte Ruh”
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
16.10.2024 - 15.12.2024

IN FRONT OF THE EYES | Kalin Serapionov

The Palace
Opening on Wednesday, 16 October, 6 p.m.
Curator: Iaroslava Boubnova
Among the most acclaimed artists in Bulgaria, Kalin Serapionov is closely associated with unleashing the potential and development of the vast possibilities of video in the context of art. He is focused on its potential to hold attention, form an image and generate suspense with no narrative techniques and literariness of the subject.
Serapionov was already devoting himself to video back in the 1990s, independently studying the possibilities of cameras using magnetic tape and the VHS format. Today, he steps confidently in the domain of digital technologies, with a markedly critical attitude to the clichés that impose themselves in their ubiquity.
The exhibition ‘Before Our Eyes’ is of a retrospective nature, presenting some of Kalin Serapionov’s emblematic works. The outrageously ironic video, ‘The Museum—Cause of Meeting and Acquaintance’ (1997), was among the earliest, filmed almost 30 years ago in the building that is hosting the current exhibition...
Kalin Serapionov’s exhibition, ‘Before Our Eyes’, was specifically assembled for the traditional architecture of The Palace. Screens pulsating with colours and shapes, large-format thematic projections and portrait messages form the shared space of the entire video installation.
General sponsor: MFG Foundation. With the support of Beyond Data Bulgaria LLC and Gaudenz B. Ruf.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
04.12.2024
Religious Holidays
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
16.10.2024 - 15.12.2024

IN FRONT OF THE EYES | Kalin Serapionov

The Palace
Opening on Wednesday, 16 October, 6 p.m.
Curator: Iaroslava Boubnova
Among the most acclaimed artists in Bulgaria, Kalin Serapionov is closely associated with unleashing the potential and development of the vast possibilities of video in the context of art. He is focused on its potential to hold attention, form an image and generate suspense with no narrative techniques and literariness of the subject.
Serapionov was already devoting himself to video back in the 1990s, independently studying the possibilities of cameras using magnetic tape and the VHS format. Today, he steps confidently in the domain of digital technologies, with a markedly critical attitude to the clichés that impose themselves in their ubiquity.
The exhibition ‘Before Our Eyes’ is of a retrospective nature, presenting some of Kalin Serapionov’s emblematic works. The outrageously ironic video, ‘The Museum—Cause of Meeting and Acquaintance’ (1997), was among the earliest, filmed almost 30 years ago in the building that is hosting the current exhibition...
Kalin Serapionov’s exhibition, ‘Before Our Eyes’, was specifically assembled for the traditional architecture of The Palace. Screens pulsating with colours and shapes, large-format thematic projections and portrait messages form the shared space of the entire video installation.
General sponsor: MFG Foundation. With the support of Beyond Data Bulgaria LLC and Gaudenz B. Ruf.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
04.12.2024

DAS RHEINGOLD

Opera by Richard Wagner / Der Ring des Nibelungen
Duration: 2:35 No intermission
State Opera - Stara Zagora bul. "Mitropolit Metodi Kusev" 30
Performed in German, with Bulgarian and English subtitles
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
16.10.2024 - 15.12.2024

IN FRONT OF THE EYES | Kalin Serapionov

The Palace
Opening on Wednesday, 16 October, 6 p.m.
Curator: Iaroslava Boubnova
Among the most acclaimed artists in Bulgaria, Kalin Serapionov is closely associated with unleashing the potential and development of the vast possibilities of video in the context of art. He is focused on its potential to hold attention, form an image and generate suspense with no narrative techniques and literariness of the subject.
Serapionov was already devoting himself to video back in the 1990s, independently studying the possibilities of cameras using magnetic tape and the VHS format. Today, he steps confidently in the domain of digital technologies, with a markedly critical attitude to the clichés that impose themselves in their ubiquity.
The exhibition ‘Before Our Eyes’ is of a retrospective nature, presenting some of Kalin Serapionov’s emblematic works. The outrageously ironic video, ‘The Museum—Cause of Meeting and Acquaintance’ (1997), was among the earliest, filmed almost 30 years ago in the building that is hosting the current exhibition...
Kalin Serapionov’s exhibition, ‘Before Our Eyes’, was specifically assembled for the traditional architecture of The Palace. Screens pulsating with colours and shapes, large-format thematic projections and portrait messages form the shared space of the entire video installation.
General sponsor: MFG Foundation. With the support of Beyond Data Bulgaria LLC and Gaudenz B. Ruf.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
05.12.2024
Religious Holidays
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
05.12.2024

Requiem by Verdi

Bulgaria Concert Hall
Conductor
Michel Tabachnik
Solоist/s
Boris Lukov
Evgenii Stanimirov
Mariana Pencheva
Zvetelina Vasileva
Ensemble
Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra
Program
Giuseppe Verdi – Requiem
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
06.12.2024
Religious Holidays
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
16.10.2024 - 15.12.2024

IN FRONT OF THE EYES | Kalin Serapionov

The Palace
Opening on Wednesday, 16 October, 6 p.m.
Curator: Iaroslava Boubnova
Among the most acclaimed artists in Bulgaria, Kalin Serapionov is closely associated with unleashing the potential and development of the vast possibilities of video in the context of art. He is focused on its potential to hold attention, form an image and generate suspense with no narrative techniques and literariness of the subject.
Serapionov was already devoting himself to video back in the 1990s, independently studying the possibilities of cameras using magnetic tape and the VHS format. Today, he steps confidently in the domain of digital technologies, with a markedly critical attitude to the clichés that impose themselves in their ubiquity.
The exhibition ‘Before Our Eyes’ is of a retrospective nature, presenting some of Kalin Serapionov’s emblematic works. The outrageously ironic video, ‘The Museum—Cause of Meeting and Acquaintance’ (1997), was among the earliest, filmed almost 30 years ago in the building that is hosting the current exhibition...
Kalin Serapionov’s exhibition, ‘Before Our Eyes’, was specifically assembled for the traditional architecture of The Palace. Screens pulsating with colours and shapes, large-format thematic projections and portrait messages form the shared space of the entire video installation.
General sponsor: MFG Foundation. With the support of Beyond Data Bulgaria LLC and Gaudenz B. Ruf.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
06.12.2024

THE CARNIVAL OF ANIMALS

Children's performance to the music of Camille Saint-Saëns
Duration 1:00
Chamber hall
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
16.10.2024 - 15.12.2024

IN FRONT OF THE EYES | Kalin Serapionov

The Palace
Opening on Wednesday, 16 October, 6 p.m.
Curator: Iaroslava Boubnova
Among the most acclaimed artists in Bulgaria, Kalin Serapionov is closely associated with unleashing the potential and development of the vast possibilities of video in the context of art. He is focused on its potential to hold attention, form an image and generate suspense with no narrative techniques and literariness of the subject.
Serapionov was already devoting himself to video back in the 1990s, independently studying the possibilities of cameras using magnetic tape and the VHS format. Today, he steps confidently in the domain of digital technologies, with a markedly critical attitude to the clichés that impose themselves in their ubiquity.
The exhibition ‘Before Our Eyes’ is of a retrospective nature, presenting some of Kalin Serapionov’s emblematic works. The outrageously ironic video, ‘The Museum—Cause of Meeting and Acquaintance’ (1997), was among the earliest, filmed almost 30 years ago in the building that is hosting the current exhibition...
Kalin Serapionov’s exhibition, ‘Before Our Eyes’, was specifically assembled for the traditional architecture of The Palace. Screens pulsating with colours and shapes, large-format thematic projections and portrait messages form the shared space of the entire video installation.
General sponsor: MFG Foundation. With the support of Beyond Data Bulgaria LLC and Gaudenz B. Ruf.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
07.12.2024

DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE for children

Opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – version adapted for children
Runnig time: 01:00
Chamber hall
Performed in Bulgarian.
Music and Dance Events
07.12.2024

THE THREE FAIRIES AND THE SLEEPING BEAUTY

Musical by Dimitar Kostantsaliev
Chamber hall
Music and Dance Events
07.12.2024

LA TRAVIATA

Opera by Giuseppe Verdi
Duration 3:00 Intermission 2
Main Hall
It is performed in Italian, with Bulgarian and English subtitles
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
16.10.2024 - 15.12.2024

IN FRONT OF THE EYES | Kalin Serapionov

The Palace
Opening on Wednesday, 16 October, 6 p.m.
Curator: Iaroslava Boubnova
Among the most acclaimed artists in Bulgaria, Kalin Serapionov is closely associated with unleashing the potential and development of the vast possibilities of video in the context of art. He is focused on its potential to hold attention, form an image and generate suspense with no narrative techniques and literariness of the subject.
Serapionov was already devoting himself to video back in the 1990s, independently studying the possibilities of cameras using magnetic tape and the VHS format. Today, he steps confidently in the domain of digital technologies, with a markedly critical attitude to the clichés that impose themselves in their ubiquity.
The exhibition ‘Before Our Eyes’ is of a retrospective nature, presenting some of Kalin Serapionov’s emblematic works. The outrageously ironic video, ‘The Museum—Cause of Meeting and Acquaintance’ (1997), was among the earliest, filmed almost 30 years ago in the building that is hosting the current exhibition...
Kalin Serapionov’s exhibition, ‘Before Our Eyes’, was specifically assembled for the traditional architecture of The Palace. Screens pulsating with colours and shapes, large-format thematic projections and portrait messages form the shared space of the entire video installation.
General sponsor: MFG Foundation. With the support of Beyond Data Bulgaria LLC and Gaudenz B. Ruf.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
08.12.2024
Music and Dance Events
08.12.2024

LA TRAVIATA

Opera by Giuseppe Verdi
Duration 3:00 Intermission 2
Main Hall
It is performed in Italian, with Bulgarian and English subtitles
Music and Dance Events
08.12.2024

Dance Invitation Concert of Bella Voce

Chamber Hall
Solоist/s
Ensemble
Bella Voce
Music and Dance Events
08.12.2024

Festive Organ Concert

Bulgaria Concert Hall
Solоist/s
Balázs Szabó
Nora Kiszty
Pieces by: Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, György Ligeti, Dezso d’Antalffy, Maurice Duruflé and others.
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
16.10.2024 - 15.12.2024

IN FRONT OF THE EYES | Kalin Serapionov

The Palace
Opening on Wednesday, 16 October, 6 p.m.
Curator: Iaroslava Boubnova
Among the most acclaimed artists in Bulgaria, Kalin Serapionov is closely associated with unleashing the potential and development of the vast possibilities of video in the context of art. He is focused on its potential to hold attention, form an image and generate suspense with no narrative techniques and literariness of the subject.
Serapionov was already devoting himself to video back in the 1990s, independently studying the possibilities of cameras using magnetic tape and the VHS format. Today, he steps confidently in the domain of digital technologies, with a markedly critical attitude to the clichés that impose themselves in their ubiquity.
The exhibition ‘Before Our Eyes’ is of a retrospective nature, presenting some of Kalin Serapionov’s emblematic works. The outrageously ironic video, ‘The Museum—Cause of Meeting and Acquaintance’ (1997), was among the earliest, filmed almost 30 years ago in the building that is hosting the current exhibition...
Kalin Serapionov’s exhibition, ‘Before Our Eyes’, was specifically assembled for the traditional architecture of The Palace. Screens pulsating with colours and shapes, large-format thematic projections and portrait messages form the shared space of the entire video installation.
General sponsor: MFG Foundation. With the support of Beyond Data Bulgaria LLC and Gaudenz B. Ruf.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
09.12.2024
Religious Holidays
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
16.10.2024 - 15.12.2024

IN FRONT OF THE EYES | Kalin Serapionov

The Palace
Opening on Wednesday, 16 October, 6 p.m.
Curator: Iaroslava Boubnova
Among the most acclaimed artists in Bulgaria, Kalin Serapionov is closely associated with unleashing the potential and development of the vast possibilities of video in the context of art. He is focused on its potential to hold attention, form an image and generate suspense with no narrative techniques and literariness of the subject.
Serapionov was already devoting himself to video back in the 1990s, independently studying the possibilities of cameras using magnetic tape and the VHS format. Today, he steps confidently in the domain of digital technologies, with a markedly critical attitude to the clichés that impose themselves in their ubiquity.
The exhibition ‘Before Our Eyes’ is of a retrospective nature, presenting some of Kalin Serapionov’s emblematic works. The outrageously ironic video, ‘The Museum—Cause of Meeting and Acquaintance’ (1997), was among the earliest, filmed almost 30 years ago in the building that is hosting the current exhibition...
Kalin Serapionov’s exhibition, ‘Before Our Eyes’, was specifically assembled for the traditional architecture of The Palace. Screens pulsating with colours and shapes, large-format thematic projections and portrait messages form the shared space of the entire video installation.
General sponsor: MFG Foundation. With the support of Beyond Data Bulgaria LLC and Gaudenz B. Ruf.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
10.12.2024

LA TRAVIATA

Opera by Giuseppe Verdi
Duration 3:00 Intermission 2
Main Hall
It is performed in Italian, with Bulgarian and English subtitles
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
16.10.2024 - 15.12.2024

IN FRONT OF THE EYES | Kalin Serapionov

The Palace
Opening on Wednesday, 16 October, 6 p.m.
Curator: Iaroslava Boubnova
Among the most acclaimed artists in Bulgaria, Kalin Serapionov is closely associated with unleashing the potential and development of the vast possibilities of video in the context of art. He is focused on its potential to hold attention, form an image and generate suspense with no narrative techniques and literariness of the subject.
Serapionov was already devoting himself to video back in the 1990s, independently studying the possibilities of cameras using magnetic tape and the VHS format. Today, he steps confidently in the domain of digital technologies, with a markedly critical attitude to the clichés that impose themselves in their ubiquity.
The exhibition ‘Before Our Eyes’ is of a retrospective nature, presenting some of Kalin Serapionov’s emblematic works. The outrageously ironic video, ‘The Museum—Cause of Meeting and Acquaintance’ (1997), was among the earliest, filmed almost 30 years ago in the building that is hosting the current exhibition...
Kalin Serapionov’s exhibition, ‘Before Our Eyes’, was specifically assembled for the traditional architecture of The Palace. Screens pulsating with colours and shapes, large-format thematic projections and portrait messages form the shared space of the entire video installation.
General sponsor: MFG Foundation. With the support of Beyond Data Bulgaria LLC and Gaudenz B. Ruf.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
11.12.2024

El Dia del Tango

Bulgaria Concert Hall
Solоist/s
Omar Massa
Martina Tabakova
Kalina Andreeva
Ensemble
Quarto Quartet
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
16.10.2024 - 15.12.2024

IN FRONT OF THE EYES | Kalin Serapionov

The Palace
Opening on Wednesday, 16 October, 6 p.m.
Curator: Iaroslava Boubnova
Among the most acclaimed artists in Bulgaria, Kalin Serapionov is closely associated with unleashing the potential and development of the vast possibilities of video in the context of art. He is focused on its potential to hold attention, form an image and generate suspense with no narrative techniques and literariness of the subject.
Serapionov was already devoting himself to video back in the 1990s, independently studying the possibilities of cameras using magnetic tape and the VHS format. Today, he steps confidently in the domain of digital technologies, with a markedly critical attitude to the clichés that impose themselves in their ubiquity.
The exhibition ‘Before Our Eyes’ is of a retrospective nature, presenting some of Kalin Serapionov’s emblematic works. The outrageously ironic video, ‘The Museum—Cause of Meeting and Acquaintance’ (1997), was among the earliest, filmed almost 30 years ago in the building that is hosting the current exhibition...
Kalin Serapionov’s exhibition, ‘Before Our Eyes’, was specifically assembled for the traditional architecture of The Palace. Screens pulsating with colours and shapes, large-format thematic projections and portrait messages form the shared space of the entire video installation.
General sponsor: MFG Foundation. With the support of Beyond Data Bulgaria LLC and Gaudenz B. Ruf.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions
12.12.2024

Daniel Hope & Nayden Todorov

Bulgaria Concert Hall
Conductor
Nayden Todorov
Solоist/s
Daniel Hope
Ensemble
Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra
Program
Alexander Vladigerov – Overture to the Musical “The Wolf and the seven goat kids”
Kurt Weill – Song Suite (arr. by Paul Bateman)
George Gershwin – Song Suite (arr. by Paul Bateman)
Erich Korngold – Symphony in F sharp minor, Op.40
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
16.10.2024 - 15.12.2024

IN FRONT OF THE EYES | Kalin Serapionov

The Palace
Opening on Wednesday, 16 October, 6 p.m.
Curator: Iaroslava Boubnova
Among the most acclaimed artists in Bulgaria, Kalin Serapionov is closely associated with unleashing the potential and development of the vast possibilities of video in the context of art. He is focused on its potential to hold attention, form an image and generate suspense with no narrative techniques and literariness of the subject.
Serapionov was already devoting himself to video back in the 1990s, independently studying the possibilities of cameras using magnetic tape and the VHS format. Today, he steps confidently in the domain of digital technologies, with a markedly critical attitude to the clichés that impose themselves in their ubiquity.
The exhibition ‘Before Our Eyes’ is of a retrospective nature, presenting some of Kalin Serapionov’s emblematic works. The outrageously ironic video, ‘The Museum—Cause of Meeting and Acquaintance’ (1997), was among the earliest, filmed almost 30 years ago in the building that is hosting the current exhibition...
Kalin Serapionov’s exhibition, ‘Before Our Eyes’, was specifically assembled for the traditional architecture of The Palace. Screens pulsating with colours and shapes, large-format thematic projections and portrait messages form the shared space of the entire video installation.
General sponsor: MFG Foundation. With the support of Beyond Data Bulgaria LLC and Gaudenz B. Ruf.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions
13.12.2024
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
16.10.2024 - 15.12.2024

IN FRONT OF THE EYES | Kalin Serapionov

The Palace
Opening on Wednesday, 16 October, 6 p.m.
Curator: Iaroslava Boubnova
Among the most acclaimed artists in Bulgaria, Kalin Serapionov is closely associated with unleashing the potential and development of the vast possibilities of video in the context of art. He is focused on its potential to hold attention, form an image and generate suspense with no narrative techniques and literariness of the subject.
Serapionov was already devoting himself to video back in the 1990s, independently studying the possibilities of cameras using magnetic tape and the VHS format. Today, he steps confidently in the domain of digital technologies, with a markedly critical attitude to the clichés that impose themselves in their ubiquity.
The exhibition ‘Before Our Eyes’ is of a retrospective nature, presenting some of Kalin Serapionov’s emblematic works. The outrageously ironic video, ‘The Museum—Cause of Meeting and Acquaintance’ (1997), was among the earliest, filmed almost 30 years ago in the building that is hosting the current exhibition...
Kalin Serapionov’s exhibition, ‘Before Our Eyes’, was specifically assembled for the traditional architecture of The Palace. Screens pulsating with colours and shapes, large-format thematic projections and portrait messages form the shared space of the entire video installation.
General sponsor: MFG Foundation. With the support of Beyond Data Bulgaria LLC and Gaudenz B. Ruf.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions
14.12.2024
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
16.10.2024 - 15.12.2024

IN FRONT OF THE EYES | Kalin Serapionov

The Palace
Opening on Wednesday, 16 October, 6 p.m.
Curator: Iaroslava Boubnova
Among the most acclaimed artists in Bulgaria, Kalin Serapionov is closely associated with unleashing the potential and development of the vast possibilities of video in the context of art. He is focused on its potential to hold attention, form an image and generate suspense with no narrative techniques and literariness of the subject.
Serapionov was already devoting himself to video back in the 1990s, independently studying the possibilities of cameras using magnetic tape and the VHS format. Today, he steps confidently in the domain of digital technologies, with a markedly critical attitude to the clichés that impose themselves in their ubiquity.
The exhibition ‘Before Our Eyes’ is of a retrospective nature, presenting some of Kalin Serapionov’s emblematic works. The outrageously ironic video, ‘The Museum—Cause of Meeting and Acquaintance’ (1997), was among the earliest, filmed almost 30 years ago in the building that is hosting the current exhibition...
Kalin Serapionov’s exhibition, ‘Before Our Eyes’, was specifically assembled for the traditional architecture of The Palace. Screens pulsating with colours and shapes, large-format thematic projections and portrait messages form the shared space of the entire video installation.
General sponsor: MFG Foundation. With the support of Beyond Data Bulgaria LLC and Gaudenz B. Ruf.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions
15.12.2024

Christmas Stories with the Magic Quartet

11:00
Chamber Hall
Solоist/s
Kamen Asenov
Ensemble
Children’s Philharmonic Choir
Philharmonica String Quartet
Music and Dance Events
15.12.2024

My father the painter

Music - Peter Stupel, Konstantin Dragnev
1:00 without intermission
Chamber hall
Music and Dance Events
15.12.2024

Christmas Stories with the Magic Quartet – Second Concert

13:00
Chamber Hall
Solоist/s
Kamen Asenov
Ensemble
Children’s Philharmonic Choir
Philharmonica String Quartet
Music and Dance Events
15.12.2024

ADRIANA LECOUVREUR

Opera by Francesco Cilea / Premiere
Duration: 2:30
Main Hall 1
It is performed in Italian, with Bulgarian and English subtitles
Music and Dance Events
15.12.2024

CHRISTMAS INSPIRATION

Chamber concert
Chamber hall
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions
17.12.2024

Christmas Concert of Sofia Quartet

Chamber Hall
Solоist/s
Ensemble
Sofia Quartet
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions
19.12.2024

Lora Markova & Viliana Valtcheva

Bulgaria Concert Hall
Conductor
Viliana Valtcheva
Solоist/s
Lora Markova
Ensemble
Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra
Program
Bedřich Smetana – Symphonic Poem “Vltava” from Cycle “Má vlast”
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D Major, Op.35
Edward Elgar – “Enigma” Variations
Music and Dance Events
19.12.2024

THE NUTCRACKER

Ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Duration 2:00 Intermission 1
Main Hall
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
20.12.2024
Religious Holidays
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions
20.12.2024

THE CARNIVAL OF ANIMALS

Children's performance to the music of Camille Saint-Saëns
Duration 1:00
Chamber hall
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions
21.12.2024

THE NUTCRACKER

11:00
Ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Duration 2:00 Intermission 1
Main Hall
Music and Dance Events
21.12.2024

ClassicArt Christmas Concert

Chamber Hall
Solоist/s
Maria - Desislava Stoycheva
Svoboda Bozduganova
Veronika Todorova
Ensemble
Children’s Philharmonic Choir
Classic Art
Music and Dance Events
21.12.2024

THE NUTCRACKER

19:00
Ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Duration 2:00 Intermission 1
Main Hall
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions
22.12.2024

THE NUTCRACKER

11:00
Ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Duration 2:00 Intermission 1
Main Hall
Music and Dance Events
22.12.2024

Christmas in Children’s Movies – Second Concert

15:00
Bulgaria Concert Hall
Conductor
Nayden Todorov
Solоist/s
Alexander Slavchev
Morgane Dessislava
Zhivko Stanev
Ensemble
Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra
Music and Dance Events
22.12.2024

Christmas in Children’s Movies

17:00
Bulgaria Concert Hall
Conductor
Nayden Todorov
Solоist/s
Alexander Slavchev
Morgane Dessislava
Zhivko Stanev
Ensemble
Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra
Music and Dance Events
22.12.2024

THE NUTCRACKER

17:00
Ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Duration 2:00 Intermission 1
Main Hall
Music and Dance Events
22.12.2024

ESPERANZA FOR BALLET

Chamber ballet for piano and three ballerinas. Music by prof. Vasil Kazandzhiev
Chamber hall
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
24.12.2024
National and Official Holidays Religious Holidays
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
25.12.2024 - 26.12.2024
National and Official Holidays Religious Holidays
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions
25.12.2024

Christmas Concert – Matinee

Bulgaria Concert Hall Solоist/s
Ensemble
Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
25.12.2024 - 26.12.2024
National and Official Holidays Religious Holidays
26.12.2024
Religious Holidays
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions
26.12.2024

THE NUTCRACKER

11:00
Ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Duration 2:00 Intermission 1
Main Hall
Music and Dance Events
26.12.2024

THE NUTCRACKER

17:00
Ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Duration 2:00 Intermission 1
Main Hall
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
27.12.2024
Religious Holidays
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions
29.12.2024

With the music of John Williams

Bulgaria Concert Hall
Solоist/s
Ensemble
Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra
Program
John Williams – Indiana Jones March from Movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark”
John Williams – “Somewhere in My Memory” from Home Alone
John Williams – “Double Trouble” from Harry Potter
John Williams – Hedwig’s Theme
John Williams – Music from Movie “Jurassic Park”
John Williams – Music from Movie “Superman”
John Williams – Somewhere in my memory – Holiday Christmas Song from Home Alone
John Williams – Suite “E. T. – The Extraterrestrial”
John Williams – Theme from Schindler’s List
John Williams – Themes from “Star Wars”
Music and Dance Events
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions
17.10.2024 - 27.05.2025

ALEXANDER DENKOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS FOR HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’ BY NARODNA KULTURA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1969

Kvadrat 500, 4th floor
Alexander Denkov (1925–1972) was an artist with a short lifespan, but an extremely rich, meaningful, and prolific oeuvre. He was most productive in the genres of illustration and book design, although his unabating energy also flowed into cinema and the theatre: he was the scenographer for the theatrical performances ‘The Iron Oil Lamp’ and ‘The Bells of Prespa’; and the production designer of films including ‘The Law of the Sea’, ‘The Sun and the Shadow’, ‘Stars’, and ‘The Five from Moby Dick’. His contribution to the development of science fiction illustration remains significant, while his curiosity for hidden natural beauties and his extreme nature made him one of the pioneers of diving and cave exploration in Bulgaria.
In 1969, Denkov produced his remarkable illustrations for Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Iliad’. Respecting the theory that this art visualised the word, enriching the author’s text, the artist transformed one of the most ancient literary works into images. The illustrations draw the reader into the atmosphere of Hellenic culture. The distinctive iconography and stylistics of the art of that time were interpreted to excellence, yet without being deprived of a personal style and individual expression. Through the contrast of the black lines with the white paper, he built perfect compositions, in which the strokes of differing intensity and density are predominant. This play between airiness and definiteness creates a feeling of dynamics of the image and density of tones and halftones. The works are part of the National Gallery’s extensive graphic stock.
Team
Curator: Dr Tanya Staneva
Restorer: Kristina Beleva
Graphic designer: Dimitrina Nenova
Translation into English: Nigrita Davis
Avgust Spasov
Iliya Shapkaroski
Exhibitions
07.11.2024 - 05.01.2025

HOW I LIKE YOU

Bojidar Bonchev, Georgi Ruzhev, Iva Yaranova, Mariana Vassileva, Momchil Georgiev, Yuliy Takov
Curator: Nadezhda Dzhakova
‘How I Like You’ presents the poetically ironic view of their surroundings by six contemporary artists. They reveal the way they perceive themselves, how others perceive them, and in what times they are living. Using the autobiographical approach as a means of self-expression and the search for a personal identity, the artists examine cultural, religious, political and social themes, focusing on self-reflection and criticising the notion of private and public space. The exhibition is part of the long-term Autobiography Project of curator Nadezhda Dzhakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA
Exhibitions
31.05.2024 - 12.01.2025

NEDKO SOLAKOV

The Palace
Nedko Solakov, who lives in Sofia, is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.
Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project.
In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.
At the core of Nedko Solakov’s immense success is his art’s ability to resonate with a diverse spectrum of viewers. His stories resonate with all, from sophisticated curators to those who find themselves in museums by chance. His visual language is a dynamic ‘conversation’ between drawing, painting, objects, space, and almost always text – narrative, description, commentary, and word games. His stories themselves are a kind of encyclopedia of the present time – art and artists, nature in all its diversity, current politics, social issues, and the heroes of the day, all woven together by the author with a wealth of emotion and humor, often with self-irony.
The project “A Cornered Solo Show” began back in 2021, when the artist approached directors and chief curators of well-known museums with the request to provide him with an “insignificant” corner in their buildings – a corner that has never been used for exhibitions, but which the public has access to.
So far, three “corners” have been realized in major European museums: #1 at MUDAM – the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at MAXXI – the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and at the Belvedere in Vienna, which is hosting the “Cornered Solo Show #3 (with Charles Escher as my artistic conscience),” until June 19 this year.
All three exhibitions, united by an unusual, strange, previously unused corner space, tell completely different stories created specifically for their context. At the National Gallery, in such a previously unused “new,” albeit obvious and easily accessible space in the Palace, “A Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4” tells the imaginary story of a humble court painter and his friend, a tiny mouse, who are living under the staircase of the palace. Iaroslava Boubnova, curator of the exhibition.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Exhibitions
06.06.2024 - 31.05.2025

The Wall Vol. 5: Filipina Stamenkova REFLECTIONS

Kvadrat 500 Atrium Entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd.
Curator: Martin Kostashki
The fifth edition of the National Gallery project, ‘The Wall’, presents ‘Reflections’, a site-specific installation by artist Filipina Stamenkova.
The mirror is a unique object, and an aspect of a deeply personal experience within the space where we find ourselves. What we see changes as we move—much like the sequence of frames in a film, an experience based on the principle of anamorphosis.
The artist explains: ‘When visitors reach this wall, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and thus occupy a central place in the installation. In the context of architecture and exteriors, mirrors retain the magical ability to bend, distort, expand and transform images and, through them, our perception of those images and our relationship with the living space. A sometimes pleasant, sometimes surprising or even comforting, often strange and confusing experience, the act of capturing oneself in a reflective surface is so fundamental to our continued assessment. The mirrored surface is strangely passive, yet intrusive and energetic, not only because it reflects the environment and the people around but, because of the very nature of its reflective quality, it transforms the way we see the world that surrounds us.’
When viewers see themselves reflected in a work, art immediately inspires a pronounced interest and creates a magical fascination similar to that in the myth of Narcissus.
The scale of the mirrored sculptural installation expands the visual space of the Kvadrat 500 Atrium, adding another aspect to its entry into the inner life of the gallery—by changing it and creating a new space.
The installation was designed and built by Woood Makerspace, a shared workplace for people with ideas who are skilful with their hands, with tools, and who have an aptitude for engineering. A place for bold projects, design developments and creative workshops in ceramics and woodcarving, the atelier is well known for its production in Georgia, Morocco, South Africa, as well as throughout Europe. To this day, a condition for accepting a commission is that it be complex and require brainstorming and creativity. The Woood brand is also popular for its work with the fashion giant Louis Vuitton, for which it has produced various façade and interior installations for the brand’s boutiques in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. In Bulgaria, Woood is widely known for a number of projects relating to urban causes: the Imp-Act Agency’s Christmas decoration, the hidden letters of the Reading Sofia Foundation, as well as for initiatives developing the capital’s tourist image of the, in partnership with Sofia Airport and soSofia.com, the independent platform for city symbols.
The project was made possible with the financial support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.
Exhibitions
12.12.2024 - 15.05.2025

LYUBEN DIMITROV (1904–2000)

Kvadrat 500
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
Exhibitions