Biography
Daniela Kostova (b.1974 in Sofia) is an interdisciplinary artist who holds M.F.A. from Rensselear Polytechnic Institute, NY and the National Art Academy in Sofia. Daniela is interested in comparing and contrasting various cultural models while looking for points of convergence and emerging hybrid forms.
Kostova has exhibited her work at venues such as Queens Museum of Art (NY), Institute for Contemporary Art (Sofia), Kunsthalle Wien (Austria), Antakya Biennale (Turkey), Centre d’art Contemporain (Geneva), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, (Torino) and Kunsthalle Fridericianum (Kassel), among the others. Her work is reviewed in New York Times, Brooklyn Rail, Flash Art International and Art in America.
In 2016 Kostova had a solo show as an A.I.R. Gallery Fellow and was a resident at the Center for Art and Urbanism (ZK/U), Berlin. In 2011, Daniela won the Unlimited Award for Contemporary Bulgarian Art. In 2009, 2007 and 2006 I received travel grants from NYFA, the American Foundation for Bulgaria and the European Cultural Foundation. In 2002 she was an CEC ArtsLink Residency fellow at the Cleveland Institute of Art (Ohio).
In addition, Kostova curated the BioArt Initiative--art & science project of the Arts Department and the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies at RPI. She is also a co-founder of the Bulgarian Collaborative, interdisciplinary collective that includes artists, musicians, literati and architects. Kostova lives and works in NYC. Currently she is the Director of Curatorial Projects at Radiator Gallery and a Board Member of CEC Artslink exchange program.
About
Award winning interdisciplinary artist, Daniela works with video, performance, photography and installation. Her work addresses issues of geography and cultural representation, the production and crossing of socio-cultural borders, and the uneasy process of translation and communication.
Daniela’s personal narrative and background informs all of her work. She lived in two very different environments, Bulgaria and the U.S. Her projects engage with specific sites and communities, simultaneously reflecting on the global subject and art discourse.
Her studio practice is based on carefully constructed photography sets. She explores—and deconstructs—the notion that we live in a constructed reality by introducing unusual perspectives that subvert mainstream narratives.
In her latest body of work, Daniela photographs her young daughter’s adventure and rest. The images are enlarged and outputted as vinyl film or wallpaper. These large-scale skins are adhered to vernacular architecture in a way that brings the images into active connection with a site. A larger than life domestic scene becomes both the focal point and the background for an action, reframing the space. The work jumps from the intimate scale of home and learning to the public scope of industry and commerce.
Gallery
Daniela Kostova
Flip-House, 2009.
Installation
Details
- Photographer: Stanislava Georgieva
- Material: mixed media installation - wood, vinyl siding, tires, jars, aluminum, paper, video
- Sizes: 7 x 8 x 8 feet, 2009-2013
- Property of: Daniela Kostova
- Description: Flip-House was conceived in response to the U.S. economic crisis in 2008, the global shift in living conditions and the subsequent state of urgency. The structure is semi-mobile, and its four walls are connected with hinges so the house can literally be flipped inside out. The walls are covered with vinyl siding (inside) and open for interaction (outside). A video inside the house shows a documentation of my actual Bulgarian home build in traditional style and recently incased with vinyl siding.
- Copyright: Daniela Kostova
- References: http://www.danielakostova.com/portfolio/collaborations/flip-house
http://www.danielakostova.com/portfolio/works/flip-house-queens
https://exchangeworks.co/art/flip-house-queens/
Daniela Kostova
LOOSE, 2016.
Installation
Details
- Photographer: Blaga Dimitrov
- Material: site-specific installation - rolled UV prints on styrene, ropes, wood, tire, wooden pedestals, fake snowballs, inkjet print on adhesive vinyl, framed photographs
- Sizes: вариращи размери
- Property of: Daniela Kostova
- Description: LOOSE examines the phenomenon of "adventure playgrounds", which inspired me to build a “dangerous” playground inside my apartment where kids could play with ropes, sand, mud and fire. Addressing the numerous regulations of public space in the US, I considered the private home setting the only “safe” place for free play. Translating concepts of this project for the gallery space, I created a series of manipulated photo sculptures that are constricted by ropes and weights. LOOSE questions what is safe and what is not in our overprotective American society by comparing American standards of childhood play to those of my Bulgarian upbringing. The outcome of this process was presented in a solo exhibition at A.I.R. Gallery, NY (2016). It engaged multiple audiences including children.
- Copyright: Daniela Kostova
- References: https://www.airgallery.org/exhibitions/loose
Daniela Kostova
Adventure Playground, 2017.
Installation
Details
- Photographer: Joseph Jagos
- Material: site specific installation Inkjet print on adhesive vinyl, books, found objects
- Width: 640.00 cm Height: 365.00 cm Depth: 90.00 cm
- Property of: Daniela Kostova
- Description: “Adventure Playground” brings together two cultural and architectural stereotypes (German and Bulgarian). Depicting a family surviving a flood, the work becomes a metaphor for the current economic crisis in Europe, and the instability of the global human condition. Conceived in Germany in 2014, this project was reproduced for Cindy Rucker Gallery, NY in 2017. Here, the photographic image was mapped onto the gallery walls, windows and floor, becoming an integral part of the exhibition space. The installation included found books and letters, expanding both the context and content of the piece.
- Copyright: Daniela Kostova
- References: http://cindyruckergallery.com/exhibition/unfolding-jennifer-grimyser-jena-h-kim-daniela-kostova-curated-eun-young-choi
https://www.artsy.net/show/cindy-rucker-gallery-unfolding
Daniela Kostova
Adventure Playground, 2017.
Installation
Details
- Photographer: Joseph Jagos
- Material: site-specific installation - inkjet print on adhesive vinyl, books, found objects
- Width: 640.00 cm Height: 365.00 cm Depth: 90.00 cm
- Property of: Daniela Kostova
- Description: “Adventure Playground” brings together two cultural and architectural stereotypes (German and Bulgarian). Depicting a family surviving a flood, the work becomes a metaphor for the current economic crisis in Europe, and the instability of the global human condition. Conceived in Germany in 2014, this project was reproduced for Cindy Rucker Gallery, NY in 2017. Here, the photographic image was mapped onto the gallery walls, windows and floor, becoming an integral part of the exhibition space. The installation included found books and letters, expanding both the context and content of the piece.
- Copyright: Daniela Kostova
- References: http://cindyruckergallery.com/exhibition/unfolding-jennifer-grimyser-jena-h-kim-daniela-kostova-curated-eun-young-choi
https://www.artsy.net/show/cindy-rucker-gallery-unfolding
Daniela Kostova
Stuck, 2017.
Installation
Details
- Photographer: Kalin Serapionov
- Material: inkjet print on adhesive vinyl
- Sizes: 887х347 cm
- Property of: Автора
- Description: “Stuck” is a large-scale photomural commissioned for the exhibition Layers Shifting (2018) at the Sofia City Art Gallery in Bulgaria. The work is loosely based on web-sourced images that document recent natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes that affect a range of communities throughout the US. A popular escape vehicle depicted in these images is the inflatable mattress, covered with animal cages, coolers, plastic bags, kids and pets. When I looked around, I found all these items in my own home surroundings—camping gear used mostly for leisure activities, now seen anew as a survival kit. The piece is a reflection on our precarious living conditions, affected by climate change, and the realization that things can dramatically shift overnight, turning play into tragedy.
- Copyright: Daniela Kostova
- References: https://sofia-art-galleries.com/en/event/shifting-layers-young-artists-in-sofia-city-art-gallery/