Biography
Albena Baeva is an artist born in 1983 in Sofia. She has two MAs; in Restoration (2008) and in Digital Art (2010) from the National Academy of Art in Sofia where she specializes in art technology practices from 12th to 21st century. In 2011 she was awarded the international Essl Art Award for contemporary art and Vienna Insurance Group Special Invitation. In her interactive installations for urban spaces, galleries, theatre and dance she uses new technologies and creative programming. She is co-founder of Runabot project, a platform for interdisciplinary performances and studio for interactive design Reaktiv. Within Runabout project she works with musicians, dancers, poets and engineers to create new interactive performance instruments.
Selected group exhibitions
- Mardin Bienali, 2018 г., German Headquarters, c. Fırat Arapoğlu, Mardin, (TR);
- Elysium, 2017 г., Noville, c. Lynn Battaglia and Susanne Roewer, Berlin (DE);
- Friendly Little Creatures, 2016 г., Credo Bonum Gallery, Sofia (BG), U10, Belgrade (SRB), c. Albena Baeva and Rene Beekman;
- WonderLab, 2015 г., Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina, c. Sаnjа Kojić Mlаdenov, Novi Sad (SRB);
- Essl Art Award CEE, 2011 г., Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg (AU)
Solo exhibitions
- The Sheep, The Snake, The Bitch and Their Pig, 2017 г., Credo Bonum Gallery, Sofia (BG)
- Landscapes and Nudes, 2016 г., Project space of ASU Art Museum, Phoenix (US)
- Archeologies, 2014 г., Vaska Emanuilova Gallery, Sofia (BG)
- What If, 2014 г., Contemporary space, Varna (BG)
Gallery
Albena Baeva
A=F*S, 2016.
Sculpture
Details
- Photographer: Ivan Peykov
- Material: wood, plywood, aluminium, metal, electronics
- Width: 55.00 cm Height: 110.00 cm Depth: 65.00 cm
- Property of: Albena Baeva
- Description: A = F*S (Work equals force by distance) comment on the process of creating art. The sculpture consists of a stylised head made of wood, that sits on a long rod. The head slowly moves backwards and suddenly falls forward, hitting into one of the walls of the gallery. The result of this slow and methodical process at the end of the exhibition is that the wall or head are damaged.
- Copyright: Ivan Peykov - exclusive rights
Albena Baeva - distribution in media - References: http://albenabaeva.com/2016/malki-zabavni-sazdania/
Albena Baeva
The Civyls, а still from a video, 2017.
Digital Art
Details
- Photographer: Albena Baeva
- Material: 3d animation, hamster wheel, custom electronic, computer, monitor
- Sizes: interactive installation, varying size
- Property of: Albena Baeva
- Description: The Civyls (a play on Sibyl and “civility”) is an interactive installation that consists of a hamster wheel and a many-headed prophet that spouts sexist comments found under articles about women’s rights.
- Copyright: Albena Baeva
- References: https://vimeo.com/287878870
http://albenabaeva.com/2018/the-sheep-the-snake-the-bitch-and-their-pig/
Albena Baeva
The Bitch, view from Landscapes and Nudes exhibition at Project space, ASU Art Museum, 2016.
Sculpture
Details
- Photographer: Albena Baeva
- Material: gypsum, 3D print
- Width: 10.00 cm Height: 8.00 cm Depth: 15.00 cm
- Property of: Albena Baeva
- Description: Combination between 3D scans of The Jennings Dog, a Roman copy of a Hellenistic bronze original, 2nd Century AD, The British Museum and Bust of a female diety from India, 8th-9th century, MET
- Copyright: Albena Baeva
- References: http://albenabaeva.com/2017/nudes/
Albena Baeva and Ivanka Mogilska
DNA of words, performance by Runabout project, 2012.
Performance
Details
- Photographer: Rene Beekman
- Material: typewriter, custom electronic, computer, musical instruments
- Sizes: sound performance
- Property of: Albena Baeva
- Description: The DNA of Words is a series of performances in which artist Albena Baeva and writer Ivanka Mogilska explore alternative ways of presenting poetry, by creating unique performances that are built around specific, custom-built instruments. They record and modulate poetry in real‐time using a modified mechanical typewriter and an electronic banjo created from junk-materials.
Each performance is an improvisation without the use of any prerecorded materials. The DNA of Words series reenact poems from two poetry books; “DNA” and “In Other Words”, as well as new and yet unpublished poems by Mogilska. - Copyright: Albena Baeva
- References: http://runabout.eu/the-dna-of-words/
Albena Baeva
Broken Fall (Again),view from WonderLab exhibition at MCA - Vojvodina, 2015, 2014.
Digital Art
Details
- Photographer: Albena Baeva
- Material: video, trampoline, electronics, computer
- Sizes: interactive installation, varying size
- Property of: Albena Baeva
- Description: Broken Fall (Again) refers to the work of Dutch conceptual artist Bas Jan Ader. Albena Baeva has studied Ader’s Broken Fall (Organic) and the different remakes of the work. She adds the audience as a new element to this emblematic work. A small trampoline enables audience members to control the movement in the video. The relation between the falling body in the projection and the spectator’s jump turns these two states – of jumping and falling – into inseparable elements of a joint free fall experience.
As we experience these again and again, we are confronted with the connection between cause and effect, between impulse and its natural continuation. The fear of falling is presented as a basic human basic mechanism and the fall as a metaphor for vulnerability, for our fear of loss and failure, which has been genetically embedded in our very first step forwards and upwards. - Copyright: Albena Baeva
- References: http://albenabaeva.com/2015/broken-fall/