Rosen Petkov was born in Haskovo. He graduated in Computer Engineering from the Technical University of Sofia in 1990 and specialized in multimedia systems at the University of Edinburgh during the 1990s. He holds a PhD in Electronics. Petkov teaches “Computer Graphics and Design” at the Technical University of Sofia and at the Technological School “Electronic Systems”. He is also one of the founders of the “Graphic Design” program at New Bulgarian University. He has led and supervised numerous projects in the field of digital arts and media.
Petkov is among the pioneers of computer art in Bulgaria. As a student in the 1980s, he worked in the fields of computer music and graphics, developing methods and programs for music generation and processing, score editors, computer graphics, and animation.
He is the founder and chairman of the Organizing Committee of the International Computer Arts Forum “Computer Space”, which has held 36 editions by 2025. Petkov is also the chairman of the Student Computer Art Society (SCAS) – one of the first organizations for digital arts in Bulgaria, founded in 1992.
He has been a member of the Advisory Board for the Digital Communities category of Prix Ars Electronica, Austria. He served as editor of the “Computer Art” section and was one of the creators of the magazine “Graphics with Computer” in the 1990s. As the founder of the Computer Arts Center at SCAS and the National Student House, Petkov has supported over 150 projects by students and young artists in the past 25 years, covering areas such as computer graphics, animation, electronic music, interactive art, web art, and others.
Petkov is also a collector and researcher of the book as an artifact, with publications on book design, focusing on Bulgarian old printed books and Bulgarian books from the Modernist period (1910–1940). In recent years, he has worked in the field of digitization of cultural and historical heritage.
He is the author of the illustrated catalog “Bulgarian Literary Modernism” (2021 & 2025).