Kosta Tonev (1980 Plovdiv, Bulgaria) received a BA from the National Academy of Art in Sofia and an MA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. His recent solo exhibitions include "EXPO" at Kluckyland in Vienna (2018), "K." at Pistolet Gallery in Sofia (2015) and "The Heavenly Bodies, Once Thrown Into a Certain Definite Motion, Always Repeat" at GEMAK in The Hague (2013). Amongst others, he has participated in "So Far, So Right: A Study of Reforms and Transitions Across Borders" at Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts in Taipei, Taiwan (2018), "Black Quarry" at Corner College in Zurich (2017), "I and the Others" at Museum der Moderne Salzburg in Salzburg (2014), the "5th Biennial of Young Artists" in Bucharest, "Contemporary Icons" at the Webster University in St. Louis, USA, "Why Duchamp?" at the Museum for Contemporary Art in Sofia (2012), "ArteCittà" at Cittadellarte - Fondazione Pistoletto in Biella, Italy (2011). Tonev also curated the exhibition "It's About Time" at the e-flux Time/Bank in The Hague (2013).

My work traces the relationship between the private micro-narrative and the larger political context. Bringing together the traditions of conceptual art with the materiality of classical artistic genres and media, it establishes visual references to recognizable themes related to cinema, museum displays, radio broadcasts, book illustrations etc. I develop my works in series, in which the individual pieces share a common narrative. Often these narratives draw upon history as a source of metaphorical and genealogical interpretations of the present. My aim is to link the personal to the political, and the political to the poetic.
- Kosta Tonev