Bobbina is an independent cultural space for contemporary art in Sofia, dedicated to supporting emerging and early-career artists working in the fields of visual arts, experimental music, and performance.
The space has established itself as a platform for new artistic explorations, experimentation, and interdisciplinary practices, fostering dialogue and collaboration between local and international artistic communities. Its activities are focused on supporting young artists in the process of their professional development through curated exhibitions, performances, events, and educational formats. Bobbina also encourages intergenerational exchange by creating encounters between diverse creative perspectives and experiences.
The programme of the space includes exhibitions, workshops, mentoring initiatives, and international exchange projects, creating opportunities for visibility, mobility, and the sustainable development of artists.
At the core of Bobbina’s philosophy is the building of an open and inclusive community that upholds values such as diversity, equality, and freedom of artistic expression. The space actively develops partnerships with local and international organisations and institutions and continuously adapts its programme to the dynamics of the contemporary cultural environment.
Through its projects, Bobbina positions itself as an active participant and catalyst in the development of the contemporary art scene, encouraging both artists and audiences to engage with art in new, critical, and transformative ways.
Among the exhibitions presented at Bobbina are: Disintegration by David Tadese (2023), Her by Johana Trayanova (2024), all editions of The Artist at Play since 2023, Stranger by Samuil Velev (2024), Shipwreck by Angelo Sabatiello (2024), Legion by Kiril Kiryakov (2024), and the group exhibition Estafeta (2025).
Angelo Sabatiello
Shipwreck, 2024.
Installation
Details
- Photographer: Alexander Kartchinski
- Property of: Bobbina Cultural Space
- Description: “Shipwreck” presents a narrative that is both idiosyncratic and classical, revolving around transformation and growth. Angelo Sabatiello’s mosaics engage with archetypal images of change and metamorphosis — from the hero’s journey to the chrysalis from which the butterfly emerges.
Much like mythological tales of heroic feats, the works in the exhibition appear to focus on individual achievement and the overcoming of dangers on the path toward personal fulfilment and self-realisation. By the end of the journey, however, it becomes clear that the idea of metamorphosis is tied to a broader cultural process, as well as to the imperatives of tradition or nature that frame both individual and collective experience. The hero has answered the call and fulfilled their role. By taking extraordinary risks, they acquire transcendent, supra-individual knowledge that ultimately benefits the community. Heroism is not merely a personal act, but the realisation of a higher idea and calling. In order to become a butterfly, the caterpillar must pass through the stage of the chrysalis — in a sense, approaching death.
David Tadese
DECAY, 2023.
Painting
Details
- Description: "Decay" is the first solo exhibition of the young Bulgarian contemporary artist David Tadese. The artist explores a cultural heritage that he is family-connected to. He draws on his Ethiopian origins to bring the imagery of the tribal mask and body marks to the forms we see in his original works.
Curators: Bilyana Tokmakchieva and Boyana Raychev
Samuil Velev
STRANGER, 2024.
Painting
Details
- Description: Stranger is a series of portraits that explores the relationship between the outer and inner worlds of its subjects. Samuil Velev examines how the character of the depicted figure is reflected in their appearance and traces its transformation under the gaze of the observer.
Curators: The Artist at Play - Copyright: Image courtesy of The Artist at Play
Group Exhibition
Estafetta, 2025.
Installation
Details
- Photographer: Mihail Novakov
- Property of: Bobbina Cultural Space
- Description: “Estafeta” brings together five artists in a creative relay structured around five concepts — hole, reflection, network, stain, and enclosure — tracing how an idea is passed on, translated, and transformed through visual dialogue between the participants.
Organised thematically within the space, the exhibition presents 25 works — drawings, objects, and installations — alongside traces of the process itself: prototypes, instructions, and initial versions.
The ambition to foreground process comes into tension with the realities of established methods and limited time. It is precisely this friction that gives rise to a synthesis between finished work and prototype, in which the unfinished becomes a form of truth, and time an unexpected participant. The exhibition reveals how autonomy and reciprocity can coexist: some works quote, others displace or subtly resist those that came before them, while a series of “mediating” gestures extracts details from one work and translates them into new compositions.