Open Art Files is a bilingual website database / archive of Bulgarian contemporary art, founded in 2019 as part of the "Introduction to Contemporary Art" platform of the Open Arts Foundation. The website gathers in one place - an online library, a monthly guide to exhibitions in Bulgaria and a medium for art criticism. The site is updated annually, incorporating newly created and archival content contributed by artists, curators, critics and gallerists.
The content of the website is built in several main panels: Topics, People, Spaces, Files, Video Channel, This Month, Publications.
The panel Topics contains specially created for Open Art Files author's texts by critics, curators, art historians and artists to introduce the visitor to the history of Bulgarian contemporary art, as well as the processes that shape it even today. Individual profiles of artists, curators, gallerists, art historians and critics can be found in People, and information about state institutions, non-profit creative organizations, private galleries, donor organizations, informal associations, media is available in Spaces. The panel Files is an online library (including articles, exhibition brochures, catalogues, video recordings and other links and archives, some of which have not previously been available online) generated by the other three panels. Publications recommends literature on Bulgarian contemporary art in Bulgarian and English, Video Channel presents a selection of video material of art lectures and research videos, and This Month (which is a continuation of the artnewscafé newsletter started in 2008) recommends exhibitions and events in Bulgaria during the current month.
Currently, Open Art Files contains over 180 profiles of artists, curators and critics, includes over 40 spaces and has published around 40 articles related to Bulgarian contemporary art.
The detailed concept of the Open Art Files website was developed by the director of the Open Arts Foundation Vesselina Sarieva in collaboration with Svetlana Kuyumdzhieva, artistic director of the Plovdiv 2019 Foundation, and the curator and art critic Vera Mlechevska, and subsequently developed with the foundation's collaborators. The Open Art Files website was launched as part of the official program of "Plovdiv - European Capital of Culture 2019" and is supported by it. Over the years, the project has been financially supported by the National Culture Fund - "Program for the Support of Professional Organisations in the Field of Art", the "Gaudenz Ruf" Award, the "Singer-Zahariev" Foundation, donations from private individuals, volunteers and interns.
When the website was created in 2019, the exhibition "Open Art Files: Notes and Footnotes" took place with curator Vera Mlechevska, whose aim was to popularize the Open Art Files database by displaying a wide selection of authors and works, an educational panel, screenings, art tours, working visits of international art professionals.
Today, Open Art Files has established itself as the primary means of introducing both students or practitioners of contemporary art, as well as visiting professionals and collectors, to the field of contemporary art.
ISSN 2815-4320