In "This month" section, artnewscafe bulletin offers a wide selection of exhibitions, events, and open calls in the field of contemporary art in Bulgaria – Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Veliko Tarnovo, Kazanlak, and in Europe.
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Konstantina Fakou
detail, 2026.
Object
Details
- Description: cover: Konstantina Fakou in the group show “Borders”, curated by Efstathia Savvidou and Gerry Minkova, Goethe-Institut Sofia, 1 Budapest Str. and Doza Gallery, 52 Tsar Samouil Str., September 11 - 30.
SOFIA - PLOVDIV - VARNA - KAZANLAK - GABROVO - VELIKO TARNOVO - EUROPE - ART CAREER
SOFIA
¬ Maya Antova – Mayoto / Macondo / solo show / Sofia Arsenal – Museum of contemporary art, 2, Cherni Vrah Blvd. / September 10 - October 18. The exhibition is dedicated to the centenary of the birth of artist Ivanka Sokerova. Sokerova was an example of the triumph of the spirit: as a child, she manifested her versatile talent, but her life changed after her right hand was completely paralysed due to illness. Thus, fate directed her to devote herself to art. Her life turned into a microcosm of solitude where the borderline between reality and fantasy became invisible. By inverting the exhibition space, Maya Antova – Mayoto urges the viewer to look at the ‘invisible’, and to rethink Ivanka Sokerova’s persona as the architect of a magical world built on the ruins of a paralysed reality. https://tinyurl.com/4t2cpkjk
¬ Ivan Hristov (1900 - 1987) / retrospective exhibition / National Gallery, The Palace, 1 Knyaz Alexander I Square / June 18 - September 20. Ivan Hristov is among the most prominent masters of Bulgarian landscape painting. He created hundreds of canvases that reflected the timeless nature and Bulgarian Renaissance architecture. Critics reacted positively to his strong individuality and characteristic painting technique. High international recognition for the artist was the gold medal from the World Exhibition in Paris in 1937, at which he showed the painting "Sozopol Houses". The current large-scale exhibition is composed mainly of unexhibited works owned by his heirs and admirers of his art, as well as paintings from the collection of the National Gallery and the State Art Gallery - Plovdiv. https://tinyurl.com/2wx7y8mz
¬ Kalin Serapionov / Rehearsal / solo show / National Gallery, Kvadrat 500, 1 “19th February” Str. / June 16 - September 27. “In the video installation Rehearsal, Kalin Serapionov traces the relationships between fourteen people placed within the symbolic and metaphorical space of a rehearsal room. The action unfolds without a predetermined dramaturgy or choreography. The rehearsal is conceived as a life process that takes place in the present moment. It is simultaneously a preparation and the ultimate goal of the artwork. The participants are encouraged to observe their own reactions, guided by intuition and spontaneity. In Rehearsal, Kalin Serapionov poses important questions to the audience. One of them is: Can we be together—truly, physically together—in a time when everyone is alone?” - Vessela Nozharova, Curator https://nationalgallery.bg/exhibitions/rehearsal-kalin-serapionov/
¬ Wanderings through history. The photographs of Ulrich Wüst / retrospective exhibition / curated by Matthias Flügge / Goethe-Institut Bulgaria, Sofia City Art Gallery, 1 Gen. Gurko St. / September 10 - November 22. Ulrich Wüst's work began to attract attention in the 1980s, mainly with the numerous urban landscapes photographed in various places in the GDR. These images show the scars of World War II and the unstoppable decline of the historical architectural fabric. At the center of his photographic interests, however, are the absurdities in the urban environment, which arise both from negligence and ignorance, as well as from causeless destruction and uncontrolled development. Thus, with the help of his camera, Wüst develops his own visual approach to the criticism of architecture. Even today, his vision has not lost its sharpness. Wüst's position is not essentially ideological, but rather brings a sense of captured phenomena that provide space for both subtle humor and irony. https://tinyurl.com/y9xcdd8u
¬ Pavel Koychev / The Four Elements / solo show / curated by Ivo Milev / Sofia City Art Gallery, 1 Gen. Gurko Str. / September 15 - November 8. “Once, in a more poetic vision of the cosmos, it took four elements to build people and the world: the concepts of fire, water, earth and air seeking various forms in which to manifest themselves. Contrasting and mutually exclusive, they settle down in resignation once they find the desired forms of manifestation. The latter set them free, turning them elemental. The world rests upon the internal dynamics contained by forms. The balance keeping our world intact is so fragile. And we are forced to live in a world of cooperation. Which is the very idea behind this exhibition…” - Ivo Milev https://tinyurl.com/bn2e55br
¬ Yoana Tuzharova / After the Image / solo show / curated by Reneta Georgieva / Vaska Emanuilova Gallery, 15 Yanko Sakazov Blvd. / July 14 - September 13. “The project presents sculpture as a state beyond visible completion. Here, the object is not a final result but a moment within a process — a temporary configuration of matter, electricity and perception. The light installation and neon function not as effects or decorations, but as carriers of structure. They construct, reshape and dematerialise the architecture, transforming the space into an active field.” - Reneta Georgieva https://tinyurl.com/8by39yc6
¬ Borders / group show / curated by Efstathia Savvidou and Gerry Minkova / Goethe-Institut, 1 Budapest Str. and Doza Gallery, 52 Tsar Samouil Str. / September 11 - 30. „Borders / Σύνορα“ brings together two artistic communities that are geographically close, yet still not familiar with one another. The first large-scale international project by The Artist At Play brings together ten artists from Greece and ten from Bulgaria in a two-way exchange: Greek artists present their work in Sofia, while Bulgarian artists present theirs in Thessaloniki. The current exhibition takes place across two galleries, and visitors travel the distance between them. The works in the exhibition approach the topic through the perspective of memory, identity, nature and transience. https://tinyurl.com/24sav49w
¬ Alexander Valchev / The past within us / solo show / curated by Vladiya Mihaylova / CCA Toplocentrala Gallery - Cube, 5 Emil Bersinski Str. / August 28 - September 27. The current exhibition is a large-scale installation that engages directly with the space and architecture of the Cube Gallery at Toplocentrala Centre for Contemporary Arts. The gallery’s industrial environment is transformed into a fragile, temporary site of memory. Valchev restores the monumentality of the Mausoleum to its actual scale, while constructing it from corrugated cardboard - a light, vulnerable, and impermanent material. The monument reappears as a temporary structure, while cardboard, packaging - the material of circulation, consumption, and constant replacement - also becomes an image of the world we inhabit today. https://tinyurl.com/mm3z5efj
¬ Constructed nature / group show / Credo Bonum Gallery, 2 Slavyanska str. / September 3 - October 1. The city is often perceived as a space from which nature has been displaced, as if nature were something that exists elsewhere, wherever humans are not. What, then, do we make of the water from our taps, the meat we consume, the weeds growing between broken paving stones, and urban parks? The exhibition examines where our idea of a boundary between “city” and “nature” comes from and how this distinction participates in the production of material boundaries. With works by Boryana Pandova, Martin Atanasov, Rositsa Getsova and Slava Savova. https://tinyurl.com/yc6xbfjm
¬ Vlatka Horvat / Echo Location / solo show / Swimming Pool, 10 “Tsar Osvoboditel” Blvd., 5th floor / July 9 - October 11. Echo Location is the first presentation of Vlatka Horvat's work in Bulgaria. The exhibition uses minimal sculptural intervention, text, and video to subvert and reimagine the space of the Swimming Pool gallery and the city in which it sits. https://tinyurl.com/jbe2enwd
¬ Olof Jarlbro / Poly / solo show / curated by Martin Schibli / Synthesis Gallery, 55 “Vasil Levski” Blvd / July 30 - September 26. Poly is an abbreviation for polyethylene (PE), the most common form of plastic. It’s also a common slang word among waste pickers in different countries. Between 2017 and 2023, Swedish photographer Olof Jarlbro traveled throughout Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, and India to document global plastic pollution. The project describes how people are exposed to the consequences of plastic, how they themselves use plastic products, and how plastic provides a livelihood for some. Jarlbro documents how the lives of people in different parts of the world are linked by plastic. https://tinyurl.com/5cc3nd4d
¬ Nikolay Petkov / Big pictures / solo show / curated by Peter Tzanev / Collect Gallery - Charta, 12 Vrabcha Str. / September 8 - 26. “In the current exhibition “Big Pictures”, through which the artist ironically offers us alternatives to the missing “big picture”, titles are used that seem to come directly from global political and media jargon. Political narratives usually try to control the present moment and draw utopian or dystopian horizons. However, Petkov’s paintings work with a disrupted temporal linearity. Works painted in one context (for example, before a global pandemic or war) acquire a prophetic, critical meaning years later, when they are exhibited to the public. This transtemporal collision shows that his painting thinks about the “big picture” of time in a much deeper way than conjunctural political chronicle.” - Peter Tzanev https://tinyurl.com/zsnmfeka
¬ Thomas Kneubühler / The dividing line / solo show / PUNTA Gallery, 37 Stefan Stambolov Bld. / July 16 - September 30. The Dividing Line looks at the implications of state borders, how they cut through the landscape, create a no-go zone, and affect people's lives. It is part of Kneubühler's ongoing research on land and property rights, but this time with a focus on the nation-state. In the light of the current rise of nationalism, The Dividing Line goes beyond the specific issues of the Balkan region, as the issues it addresses are global. First presented in 2025 at the Optica Gallery in Montreal, the exhibition has been adapted for the context of the Women’s Market in Sofia, featuring interviews with residents who crossed those very same borders long ago and have since settled here. https://fb.me/e/7WZXDATLY
¬ Vance Petrunov / We are the 99%. Art, power and social future / solo show / curated by Desislava Zafirova / One Gallery, 1A “Dyakon Ignatiy” Str. / September 2 - 15. The exhibition presents a series of documentary photographs taken by Bulgarian-American photographer Vance Petrunov during the Occupy Wall Street movement. It started in September 2011 in New York as a protest against social and economic inequality, and quickly became a global phenomenon, uniting hundreds of cities around the world. The photographs in the exhibition document the atmosphere in the camps, the faces of the participants and the visual language of the protest — posters, slogans, the daily life of the movement from the inside. https://fb.me/e/9shYOJhOy
PLOVDIV
¬ Mirrors of the city. National autumn exhibitions Plovdiv 2026 / curated by Genadi Gatev / Old Town / September 1 – 30. This year's edition presents the curatorial project of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Genadi Gatev "Mirrors of the City", which unites authors from different generations to reveal Plovdiv as a living space of memory, personal stories and human experiences. The exhibition includes works by pioneers in Bulgarian women's art Elisaveta Konsulova-Vazova (1881–1965), Bistra Vinarova (1890–1977) and Maria Dospevska (1889–1972). Together with them, contemporary artists working in the fields of painting, photography, graphics, sculpture, video and installation are also included with their works. https://tinyurl.com/yc52kvxc
¬ Bug in reality / Week of Contemporary Art 2026 / group show / curated by Emil Mirazchiev / Art Today Association, City Art Gallery - Plovdiv, Temporary Exhibitions Hall, 15 Knyaz Alexander I St. / September 3 - October 2. When the system encounters an error, reality temporarily stops working according to its familiar rules. It is precisely in this moment that cracks, deviations and unexpected possibilities can emerge. The exhibition brings together works by Anton Stoyanov (Bulgaria/Germany), Ayelet Carmi and Meirav Heiman (Israel), Donka Pavlova, Dumisani Karamanski, Evy Schubert (Germany), Krasimir Dobrev, Nadya Genova, Sevdalina Kochevska, Simeon Stoilov and Stoyan Dechev. Alongside the exhibition, Sevdalina Kochevska and Simeon Stoilov will present artistic interventions in the urban environment. https://fb.me/e/7p2UX00mU
¬ Vihroni and Adelina Popnedelevi / joint show / Art Center "Vihroni", City Art Gallery Plovdiv, Hall 2019, 32 "Gladston" Str. / September 4 - 23. Vihroni Popnedelev presents his searches in various directions in the field of painting and plastic arts - ceramics, felt, screen printing and others - part of his creative role. The exhibition has a retrospective nature and includes both early works and current works. Adelina Popnedeleva, who has been working in the field of conceptual art for many years, is presented in this exhibition with paintings in traditional genres - self-portrait, landscape, still life, figurative composition, abstract compositions. https://fb.me/e/lbc4nRiMh
¬ Georgi Marinov – Horhe / A Point of Zero Volume and Infinite Density / solo show / Galeriata – independent art space, 73 “Rayko Daskalov” Str. / September 18 - October 11. Georgi Marinov-Horhe is a graphic artist and multi-instrumentalist musician. In his upcoming solo exhibition, he will present his latest graphic works—inspired by the surrounding forms and materials, viewed through a microscope. https://tinyurl.com/56p7mrkb
¬ Valko Chobanov / Golfin / solo show / curated by Vanya Grozdanova / lo3eto, between the villages of Patalenitsa and Vetren Dol, Pazardzhik region / August 29 - September 20. The production of this exhibition project followed a residency held earlier in 2026 at lo3eto. Valko Chobanov is a multidisciplinary artist and curator. As an artist, his interest is focused on the mixture of digital debris and physical reality, drawing on his experience in scenography and digital arts. His work is characterized by a playful, poignant exploration of internet folklore, the aesthetics of “bugs” and the absurdity of modern consumption. Whether through painting, video or performance, he often explores how technologies transform human identity and memory. https://lo3eto.org/
VARNA
¬ Artists from the “City” group / group exhibition / curator Filip Zidarov / Varna City Art Gallery, 1 “Lyuben Karavelov” Str. / August 27 - September 22. The 4th edition of the “Art as Counteraction” forum presents the “City” group. The exhibition traces the prehistory of one of the landmark phenomena in contemporary Bulgarian art. A large part of the works in the exhibition were created in the 1980s, around the time of the group’s emergence. Works have been selected from the collections of the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery and the “Ilia Beshkov” Art Gallery – Pleven, which are joined by works from the collection of the Varna City Art Gallery. This selection allows not only to trace the individual qualities of the authors that led to their inclusion in “The City”, but also to look at the criteria by which official institutions in the 1980s evaluated and purchased art. https://tinyurl.com/kmbvcsvk
¬ Characters cooking and eating / Pictoplasma x Balkans 2026 Vol. 3 / group show / Rebonkers, 4 “Baruten pogreb” Str. / September 17 - 20. The exhibition explores everyday practices around food and the forms of communication that emerge through cooking, sharing, and eating. It invites reflections on the relationship between characters and food: how they prepare, exchange, preserve, or transform recipes and traditions; what their tables look like; and what their habits reveal. Artists investigate the boundaries between character and food – can food forms become living, emotional beings, and what happens when they realise that their destiny is… to be eaten? https://balkans.pictoplasma.com/exhibition/
KAZANLAK
¬ Anton Antonov / The marks of time / solo show / Art Gallery - Kazanlak, Main building, 9 Sveti sveti Kiril i Metodii Str. / August 26 - November 22.This exhibition brings together canvases that document the artist’s sustained, consistent and deeply considered creative path. In them, the organic world, with its twisted roots, interwoven branches, dried sunflower heads, birds’ nests and structural, sculptural fragments, ceases to be merely an object of external observation of the form. It becomes a central constructive, conceptual and philosophical subject, through which the artist explores matter, time, memory and the laws of natural existence. https://tinyurl.com/2w69zhfm
¬ Wide format 02 / It’s Raining on Santiago / documentary exhibition / SOCMUS and Art Gallery - Kazanlak, Main building, 9 Sveti sveti Kiril i Metodii Str. / September 1 - 24. Wide Format is a series of exhibitions in which SOCMUS presents a single poster from its collection, along with the stories surrounding it. The second exhibition in the series is devoted to the poster created by artist Stefan Borisov for the Bulgarian-French colour feature film It’s Raining on Santiago (1975), in which director Helvio Soto recounts the start of one of the darkest and most violent periods in Chile’s history. https://tinyurl.com/4w49p5kt
¬ Vasilena Gankovska / Proekt Kino Kosmos / solo show / curated by Boris Kostadinov / Art Gallery - Kazanlak, Nenko Balkanski House Museum, 17 "General Radetski" Str. / July 24 - October 11. The project examines the so-called “export architecture” – a circulating system of typologies that emerged in the Soviet Union and spread throughout the Eastern Bloc during the socialist period. This is architecture-as-model, a promise of the future – as monumental as it is utopian. A time when architecture was seen as a bearer of ideological and social visibility. Gankovska examines two cinemas – one in Berlin, the other in Plovdiv. Both are named “Kosmos” and were built in the late 1960s. https://tinyurl.com/ybtsynvu
GABROVO
¬ Cartoon salon 2026 / group show / Museum of Humor and Satire, 68 Bryanska Str. / July 16 - October 30. Within the framework of the 2026 Cartoon Salon, three exhibitions present its different dimensions – from international editorial cartooning and current trends in the Bulgarian scene to the work of one of the most awarded Bulgarian authors. A highlight of the program is the exhibition with the awarded works from World Press Cartoon 2025 – the most prestigious international competition for editorial cartoons, caricatures and gags. The salon also presents the 50th anniversary edition of the National Exhibition of Bulgarian Cartoons, organized by the Cartoon section of the Union of Bulgarian Artists.And traditionally, the Museum of Humor and Satire presents an exhibition of the winner of the special award “The World Lasts Because It Laughs”; this year it is Valentin Georgiev. https://tinyurl.com/4tzr6c6d
VELIKO TARNOVO
¬ Julia Bohlin / Cikoria / solo show / Heerz Tooya Gallery, 18 “Ivan Vazov” Str. / August 28 - September 20. "Perhaps this is where drawing begins. Not with the decision to make an image, but with the small violence of deciding that removing oneself lightly is proactive. We add something to a place and call it ours. We remove something and call it empty. We paint over a thing and later wonder what was underneath. Public becomes private by accumulation. Private becomes public by being left behind. The blue is gone and somehow there is more blue. Cikoria closes around noon. This is perhaps its contribution. It knows when enough has happened." - Lars Nordby https://heerztooya.com/exhibitions/cikoria
EUROPE
¬ Veneta Androva, Gery Georgieva, Maria Nalbantova, and Rayna Teneva / Federation of Minor Practices / joint project / curated by Martina Yordanova / commissioner Desislava Dimova / Biennale di Venezia - 61st edition / Bulgarian Pavilion, Sala Tiziano / May 9 - November 22. The project transforms the Pavilion into a speculative research laboratory that gathers signals from four films and activates them through a video game as a space for interaction with the audience. Within it, visitors are faced with choices - navigating between different values and possible directions, and thus participating in the construction of a potential shared political future. The exhibition addresses themes such as identity, disinformation, labour, and ecology, and explores forms of coexistence, care, and shared imagination in the context of contemporary crises. Each visitor’s personal choice is understood as a minor practice that influences the “federation” itself - as a space for collective orientation. https://bulgarianpavilionvenice.art/en
ART CAREER
¬ PACT / Open call for artivist residency / GLAS Foundation and Future Now 2006 Community Center / Application deadline September 15. GLAS Foundation and Future Now 2006 Community Center invite 10 artists from all over the country to participate in the four-day artivist residency "PACT", which will be held October 15–18 in the village of Gudevitsa, Rhodope Mountains. "PACT" is a creative and educational residency for artists who want to use art as a tool for equality and social change. https://fb.me/e/4PlInnj6e
Monthly edition by Open Art Foundation
¬ news selection : Desislava Mileva
¬ logo : Nedko Solakov
¬ cover : Konstantina Fakou in the group show “Borders”, curated by Efstathia Savvidou and Gerry Minkova, Goethe-Institut Sofia, 1 Budapest Str. and Doza Gallery, 52 Tsar Samouil Str., September 11 - 30.