Biography
Veronika Tzekova is born in 1973 in Vratza, Bulgaria. Graduated as MFA (Master of Fine Arts) from Dutch Art Institute, Enschede in 2001. In 2004/2005 she took part in Transnational Spaces, a postgraduate program by Bauhaus Foundation in Dessau, Germany.Veronika joined residency programs such as BLACK SEA CALLING, Graz, Austria, MPRA in Poznan, Poland, Art and Cultural Studies Laboratory, Yerevan, Armenia and KulturKontakt Austria in Vienna. Previously she won UniCredit grant for UNIDEE in Residence International Program, Cittadellarte - Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella, Italy in 2010.
Veronika's projects and art works were exhibited among others in Neue Galerie Graz, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel; Bank Austria Kunstforum, Vienna; Mac/Val - Musee d‘art Contemporain du Val de Marne; Casino Luxembourg; Institute for Contemporary Art, Sofia; Archaeological Museum, Poznan; Hilger BROTKunsthalle, Vienna; designforum Steiermark at Kunsthaus Graz; Sofia Design Week and Designmonat Graz.
Awards and nominations: Gaudenz B. Ruf Award, Sofia, category ‘Advanced Artists’, 2011; Unlimited, Mtel awards for contemporary arts, Sofia, 2011; GO11 AWARD FOR URBAN ALTERNATE USE, 2011 and Pimp dein IKEA design competition, where she won the 1st prise in 2013. In 2016 she received Working Stipend, a Promotion Prize of the Province of Styria for contemporary fine arts and in 2018 Auslandsstipendum für Bildende Kunst und Film from the city of Graz.
About
In my artistic practice I am employing primarily intervention and appropriation, as my focus is particularly on rethinking and altering systems, situations and objects, often through their usage and audience experience. The interventions are usually in elements which I consider ill or with untapped potential. The availabilities are kept and the interventions are add-ons, which shift their energy, appearance, meaning or function.
In the last years I realized multiple projects in public space: Reconstructed Identity (sculpture, Belgrade, Serbia, 2005), SWEETSHIRT (various media and locations, 2003-2005), Space NRGZers (interventions in public space, Como, San Remo, Biella, Italy, 2010), WUMAMPAROI (When You Make a Mistake Put a Rose on It, interventions in public space, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2008-2011), SWITCHABLES (light sculptures, St.Niklaas, Belgium, 2010), Space Appropriators (interventions in public space, Austria, Bulgaria, Poland, 2012 - 2015). FOOOOTBALLLL, land art installation and group performance, in Poznan, Poland and Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 2012; Marseille, France, 2017; Montpellier, Gonessе, Cergy-Pontoise, France; Detmold, Germany, Graz, Austria, 2018 and in cooperation, among others, with NOUVELLE SCENE NATIONALE DE CERGY-PONTOISE ET DU VAL D’OISE (l’APOSTROPHE), La Strada Festival and Bildstörung Festival.
Since 2013 I am working on CDoupbles, series dealing with the visual construction and perception of the language. Selection from the CDoupbles was shown in the solo exhibition „Man muß die spRACHE quälen, bis sie schreibt“ in Graz, Austia and a few group exhibitions in different countries. In 2017 I started the syllaBLEndings series (portmanteau from syllable and blendings). SyllaBLEnding in Bulgarian were installed in public space in the centre of Plovdiv, as part of my project kopCHETATa, part of the program of NIGHT Plovdiv, 2017. Since May 2018, for a period of one year selected verses from the syllaBLEndings series will be exhibited on light boxes in four public spaces in Graz, Austria: Steiermärkische Landesbibliothek, Café Stockwerk, Stadtbibliothek Zanklhof and Kulturvermittlung Steiermark.
- Veronika Tzekova
Gallery
Veronika Tzekova
democraCYnicisms (syllaBLEndings), 2018.
Visual poetry
Details
- Photographer: Veronika Tzekova
- Property of: Veronika Tzekova
- Description: democraCYnisisms @ Stadtbibliothek Zanklhof, Graz, July 18 – July 30 2018
democraCYnisisms @ Café Stockwerk Treppenfenster, Graz, September 6 – September 19, 2018 - Copyright: Veronika Tzekova
- References: http://www.veronikatze.com/index.php?ses=9600y469q&lang=en&page=53
https://challengedgames.blogspot.com/search/label/CDoupbles%20%3A%3A%20syllaBLEndings
Veronika Tzekova
FOOOOTBALLLL, 2018.
Performance
Details
- Photographer: Westfalia Digital Nomads
- Material: Land art installation, group performance
- Sizes: 65 x 65 m
- Property of: Veronika Tzekova
- Description: FOOOOTBALLLL
Land art installation, group performance
2010-2019
View from stade municipal de Pontoise, Pontoise, France, 2018
FOOOOTBALLLL is a land art installation coming in the shape of outdoors game.
The shape of the FOOOOTBALLLL pitch is achieved from the basis of the original football field to which perpendicularly is added a second identical one. The ball remains one, the new configuration of the game results in the number of teams being doubled and there are now four goal lines instead of two. The possibilities to score are tripled as are the number of opponents. The level of difficulty is increased but so are the opportunities. The original rules of the game remain, but new strategies can be applied.
The question: “Why four teams?” is always hovering in the air when FOOOOTBALLLL is discussed. The originality of the design, the mixture of familiar and strange in the setup of the game creates new challenges for the participants. The participants and viewers are strongly encouraged to perceive the game beyond the original and see it as metaphor for life and focus on the multiple opportunities and fearlessly face the numerous difficulties accompanying them. Playing FOOOOTBALLLL questions metaphorically individual positioning in society, choices, social interactivity and exchanges, and provokes new realms of communication and competition.
The first ever FOOOOTBALLLL land art installation was created in Citadela park in Poznan in September 2012 as the field overall size estimated 90 by 90 meters. The first FOOOOTBALLLL group performance was between four local amateur football teams. The project was produced in cooperation with Nastawnia Assosiation and included in the accompanying program of Mediations Biennale, Poznan. Later in 2012, the first ever FOOOOTBALLLL on a stadium was created in Plovdiv, Bulgaria as the overall size of the land art estimated 65 by 65 meters. The group performance was between the four football teams of the city of Plovdiv: Botev, Lokomotiv, Spartak and Maritsa. The project was included in the program of the project Urban Dreams curated by Emil Mirazchiev.
In September, 2017 the FOOOOTBALLLL concept was realised in cooperation with Lieux publics - centre national de création en espace public as part of the program of the Festival Travellings 2017 at Stade de l’Oasis, Marseille, France and with the special participation of the actor Mohamed Guellati as a commentator of the performance. For a first time on a hard ground surface with overall size of the FOOOOTBALLLL pitch 60 x 60 m. For a first time with tailor-made teams with especially designed team names, describing what the players have in common: les intrEPIDEs, yes we CANE!, les extraNORDinaires, les AILLEURopeenS. New game schedule was introduced as well, 4 quarters instead of 2 halves. This time the commentator of the performance was an actor and the performance was broad casted live on radio Grenouille. Like never before a FOOOOTBALLLL cup was awarded. Short fim by Lieux publics can be viewed online.
2018 turned out to be a FOOOOTBALLLL year. Altogether three performances took place in April 2018 at Claude-Béal Stadium in Montpellier, France as part of ZAT 12 (Zone Artistique Temporaire), again with breathtaking performance of the actor and theatre director Mohamed Guellati as a FOOOOTBALLLL commentator. A month later in May, FOOOOTBALLLL landed at a beautiful meadow (Brunnenwiese) near the city centre in Detmold, Germany as part of the program of the street theatre festival “Bildstörung”, where suspense and dramatic experiences ruled through the three FOOOOTBALLLL performances. A wedding ring was lost, the mayor of the city scored a goal and one the FOOOOTBALLLL/Bildstörung Cups ended in the graveyard honouring the father of the captain of one of the winning teams.
On 2nd of August 2018 Gruabn stadium in Graz, Austria, long-standing home stadium of SK Sturm Graz hosted FOOOOTBALLLL as part of the La Strada festival. A new approach towards the choice of performers was introduced. The four teams were formed respectively of local politicians, journalists, workers in the field of culture and migrants. Two commentators of the game and a life band complemented and enhanced the performance on the FOOOOTBALLLL pitch.
Obviously France can not get enough of FOOOOTBALLLL, as five more FOOOOTBALLLLs at three different stadiums took place in October 2018 produced in cooperation with Nouvelle Scène Nationale, Cergy-Pontoise/Val D’oise.
FOOOOTBALLLL in relation to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France is already cooking as well. - Copyright: Veronika Tzekova
- References: https://vimeo.com/245402300
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtyXXxATQb9HgD8GHZuNzSSD3-5CeBV9N
Veronika Tzekova
копЧЕТАТа * en. the buttons ⊇ THEY ARE READING / пубЛИЧНО * en. public(ly) ⊇ PERSONAL(LY), PRIVATE(LY), 2017.
Visual poetry
Details
- Photographer: Veronika Tzekova
- Property of: Veronika Tzekova
- Description: копЧЕТАТа
Intervention in public space
From the series CDoupbles. The word means “the buttons” and is the informal name of a popular place for meeting people in the very centre of the city of Plovdiv in Bulgaria
2017
The title itself is a CDoupble. “копЧЕТАТа” (en. the buttons) contains “ЧЕТАТ”, which means “they are reading“. копЧЕТАТа use the same approach to language as a form of communication and vehicle of content as the series CDoupbles and SyllaBLEndings, but this time in Bulgarian. Different ways of writing, fonts and their attributes uncover possible meanings in various words and word combinations. The words are chosen to construct unexpected links in a space where a bisector is connected to happiness (ъглополовяЩАстие), meaningful to SPEECH (смиСЛОВО), end to HEAVEN (кРАЙ), creating to GIVING (съзДАВАМ ) and many more.
I used the small round seats lined in the square in front of the Plovdiv municipality building as book pages to print on.
The ca. 50 pieces from series will be published daily and accompanied by translation/explanation in Englisch at challengedgames.blogspot.co.at. - Copyright: Veronika Tzekova
- References: https://challengedgames.blogspot.com/search/label/CDoupbles%20%3A%3A%20kopCHETATa
Veronika Tzekova
Space Appropriator #6 / Security Overturned, 2011.
Performance
Details
- Photographer: Vito Valentinov
- Property of: Veronika Tzekova
- Description: Space Appropriator #6 / Security Overturned
(Urban Olympics 2011/Finissage)
Re-purposing of urban furniture (large security bollards)/textiles, sparkling wine, glass
In front of the British Ambassador’s Residence
Sofia, Bulgaria, 2011
Space Appropriator #6 with the title Security Overturned, served as a closing event for the Urban Olympics 2011. I converted one of the large security bollards in front of the British Ambassador’s Residence in Sofia into a cocktail table and had a baby bottle of sparkling wine. All this was filmed. Of course this conflicted the security regulations of the place and was terminated by the respective authorities sooner than desired. Thus the finissage of the Urban Olympics 2011 highlighted once again the conflict between many private interests in the otherwise common public space.
Security Overturned was included in the publication Trust Design, Part Four (of four)/Public Trust, 2012. Trust Design is a project initiated by Premsela in collaboration with Archis and Design Academy Eindhoven’s Contextual Design Master’s Program with editor Scott Burnham.
Space Appropriator #6 / Security Overturned was realized on a larger scale for the contemporary art festival Sofia Contemporary in 2012. Around twenty of the security bollards in front of the British Ambassador’s Residence in Sofia were converted into cocktail tables by a group of performers, following the scenario of the Security Overturned in 2011. At the newly created cocktail tables, wine was offered to the participants and invited audience as well as to the passers-by. The event served as a finissage for the festival.
Space Appropriator was also the title for the performers and participants. Each was tagged with a silicon bracelet engraved with the text Space Appropriator. The word ”appropriate” in the whole series is used in its meaning to seize for oneself or as one’s right. The Security Overturned might be seen as an “occupy” event but it missed the forceful notion of the verb “occupy”. It also shifted the notion of safety by turning security bollards into pieces of urban furniture, introducing a shared feeling of comfort and well-being in the presumably dangerous public space. - Copyright: Veronika Tzekova
- References: https://youtu.be/b2C1Kt-lQmI?list=PL1AFFD51BDFBEDA17
https://issuu.com/edno_magazine/docs/sofia_contemporary_2012-2013_book
Veronika Tzekova
Reconstructed Identity, 2005.
Sculpture
Details
- Photographer: Veronika Tzekova
- Material: fibreglass
- Width: 0.90 m Height: 3.00 m Depth: 0.90 m
- Property of: Veronika Tzekova
- Description: Reconstructed Identity was born after the daily encounter with the second-hand employment of the Coca-Cola bottles. Old women selling homemade milk in Coca-Cola bottles were casual view on some of the central streets of Sofia. This symbiosis between the world’s most famous brand and the homemade milk might be a banal sight for the passers-by in Sofia, but it is intriguing with the way it becomes Bulgarian symbolic representation of the process of globalisation.
Reconstructed Identity is an attempt of producing an adequate to its time “monument” of society in transformation, a “monument” of a global form filled with local content.
The sculpture represents large-scale model of a Coca-Cola bottle, made as a solid object of materials resembling visually the originals and with height 3.00 m as the original proportions are kept. Instead of the original soft drink, the bottle is “filled” with milk.
Installation view from Belgrade, Serbia - Copyright: Veronika Tzekova
