Mariela Gemisheva

Biography

Assoc. Prof. Mariela Gemisheva is a fashion designer and performance artist, a maker of installations and art objects, a lecturer in Fashion Projects at the Fashion Department at the National Academy of Art. She is famous for her many memorable and innovative experiments in the sphere of fashion and art performance. She posed in front of the camera of Alexander Nishkov for his Self-Portrait (2008). Mariela Gemisheva defines art as "a practice, a piece of communication, a process, a restlessness - a dynamics that you can use to measure your everyday rhythm" (Self-Knowledge - an interview with Vladia Mihaylova on fashion, art and the contemporary woman, Intelligent life, Spring 2008). 
Provocation is a key element of her works, which the American curator Roger Conover defines as "unimitable in her ability to turn any limitation into an advantage" (In Search of Balkania catalogue, Roger Conover, 2002).

Education

  • 2007 - PhD in Visual Arts from the National Academy of Art, Sofia
  • 1992 - M.A. in Design from the Academy of Architecture, Design and Arts, Prague

Residency

  • 2013 - Artslink residencies, Carnegie Mellon University, School of Drama, Pittsburgh,
    USA
  • 2008 - Pro Helvetia Art Program, F+F Schule fur Kunst und Mediendesign, Zurich
  • 2007 - AiR program/ quartier21/MQ/ Wien
  • 1990 - Interior design in the studio of architect Borec Shipec, Amsterdam, The
    Netherlands

Awards

  • 2017 - “Golden Needle ’2017”, Award for Design of the Bulgarian Fashion Academy
  • 2008 - Short list 2008, Gaudenz Ruf Award for new Bulgarian art
    Nominated for Woman of the Year, Grazia Magazine, Attica Media, Bulgaria
  • 1998 - “Golden Needle ’98”, Award for Experimental Fashion of the Bulgarian Fashion
    Academy
  • 1997 - Award of “24 Carats”, National TV Fashion Award
  • 1996 - “Golden Needle ’96”, Award for Avant-garde Fashion of the Academy of Bulgarian fashion

Membership

  • Institute of Contemporary Art – Sofia
  • Union of Bulgarian Artists, Section of Design
  • Since October 2002 she is Associated Professor on Fashion Project for the Fashion
  • Design Department of the National Academy of Art, Sofia

Gallery

Mariela Gemisheva

Self -portrait, 2008.

Installation

Details

  • Photographer: Alexander Nishkov
  • Material: photoinstalation , series of 10 digital color prints, size of each one 184 x 122 sm.Fragment

Mariela Gemisheva

"Fish party" (in its very own aroma), 2004.

Installation

Details

  • Photographer: Dimitar Dilkov
  • Material: Photoinstalation + video, DVD, sound,19,05 min. (performance documentation), series of 4 digital color prints, size of each one 53 x 78,6 sm.Fragment

Mariela Gemisheva

"Guns and Roses oil", 2011.

Installation

Details

  • Material: conceptual parfum- object: oroginal bulet AK 47, gunpowder, rose oil

Mariela Gemisheva

"Out of myself", 2002.

Photography

Details

  • Photographer: Danail Shturbanov
  • Material: Photoinstalation, series of 13 digital color prints, size of each one 150 x 103 sm.Fragment

Mariela Gemisheva

"Fashion fire" (the nice thing of one decent beauty queen), 2003.

Video installation

Details

  • Material: video, DVD, sound, 17,15 min.