The Balkan Contemporary Art Prize was established in 2025 as the first contemporary art award dedicated entirely to the Balkan region. The idea behind the Singer-Zahariev Foundation's initiative is to address a long-felt gap: despite its rich history and prominent representatives, the Balkan art scene remains relatively underrepresented on the European contemporary art map. The Prize is conceived as a bridge to the international art scene, but also as a tool for closer collaboration among the Balkan countries themselves.
The Prize is awarded within the framework of the international contemporary art forum BUNA in Varna and carries a monetary value of €3,000, along with the possibility of special mentions from the jury. In the first edition, the Prize was awarded by an international jury. The second edition follows a more elaborate selection mechanism. Shortlisted works are identified through a process of international nomination — a network of country nominators, each with close knowledge of the Balkan art scene, proposes artists from each of the ten countries, while the BUNA curatorial team makes additional nominations. An international jury then selects the finalists for the exhibition from this pool, and the winner and any special mentions are announced at the forum.
Rayna Teneva
Balkan Art Prize 2025 Award Ceremony, 2025.
Photography
Details
- Property of: The Singer-Zahariev Foundation
- Description: The inaugural Balkan Contemporary Art Award went to Rayna Teneva – a Vienna-based Bulgarian artist – for her emotional two-channel video “Mahlzeit”, presented in New Ventura, Varna.
First Edition - 2025
The first Prize was awarded on 7 September 2025 by an international jury chaired by Zdenka Badovinac, former director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb and the Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana. The award went to Vienna-based Bulgarian artist Rayna Teneva for her two-channel video installation Mahlzeit, presented in the pop-up space New Ventura in Varna. A Special Jury Award was given to Stefano Romano (Italy/Albania) for the interdisciplinary performance Fourth Movements, while other recognised participants included Kubra Khademi, Lukas Rem, Nemanja Nikolić, Ana Kotar Škorjak, and Sara Hristova.
Rayna Teneva
Malhzeit, 2025.
Video Art
Details
- Property of: Singer-Zahariev Foundation
- Description: Тwo-channel video, presented in the pop-up space New Ventura in Varna in 2025. Teneva’s video installation examines, with honesty and tenderness, stories of migration, distance, and the emotional scars of those left behind.
Second Edition - 2026
The second edition of the Prize will be awarded at the BUNA 4.0 forum in Varna, 2-5 October 2026. This year the Prize covers artists from ten countries in the region: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia. The selection is based on a process of international nomination: a network of ten country nominators proposes artists from their respective countries, with five further nominations made by the BUNA curatorial team.
This year's international jury includes Bénédicte Alliot (France), René Block (Germany), Milena Edvig and Snejana Krasteva (Bulgaria), and Sanja Kojić Mladenov (Serbia). The seven finalists for the exhibition at BUNA 4.0:
- Armando Lulaj (Albania) - UNTITLED (Exhibition Display / Radio Desertion)
- Krasimira Butseva (Bulgaria/United Kingdom) - Cartography of Absence
- Robert Jankuloski & Monika Moteska (North Macedonia) - Sharpening of Pain
- Biljana Djurdjevic (Serbia) - PRESENT STATE series
- Ivana Ivković (Serbia) - THE BASE OF TRUST (MONUMENT OF TRUST)
- Mladen Miljanović (Bosnia and Herzegovina) - THE FINAL BATTLE
- Nika Autor (Slovenia) - Ecologies of Solidarity — Newsreels of Tomorrow
The finalist works will be exhibited during the forum, with the winner and any special mentions announced at a public ceremony.