2020 Highlights and 2021 Sneak Peek
Dear friends,
On behalf of Sariev Gallery, Katrin and Vesselina Sarievi, our team and artists we would like to wish you all the joys of this holiday season and cheerful new year celebration! May the new year be healthy, wise, cohesive and good!
We want to thank you for being together in 2020 and finding ways to be with art, to enjoy and think with it! Thanks to all collectors who did not stop supporting and living with art!
This year was a surprise. We accepted it with humbleness and the opportunity for a new beginning. A start that is difficult but necessary for our world today. So we also responded with surprises - through our exhibitions, initiatives and new formats, collaborations with a wide range of artists, curators, colleagues. We started to adapt to the new world by creating new ways to communicate and to share art with you our friends and audience.
Despite everything 2020 brought us, we are happy as a gallery of what we managed to realize during the year. Our authors also had the opportunity to realize wonderful new works and ideas. And we believe that the best is yet to come.
In this newsletter you can see some of our highlights from 2020 as well as a short 2021 sneak peek.
Be healthy!
Vesselina and Katrin Sarievi
EXHIBITIONS 2020
We started 2020 with artist Dimitar Genchev's solo show FAMILY PORTRAIT which took place at Sariev Gallery and Dimitar Genchev’s studio which in a way changed the standard format of a traditional exhibition. After that due to the global COVID-19 pandemic the gallery had to close, so we have initiated several online projects, which you can read about below. When the gallery reopened the exhibition year continued with Magia Naturalis by Boyan Manchev and Vesselina Sarieva and the artists Bignia Wehrli, Marta Djourina and L. Watch the short film Introduction to Magia Naturalis - Phase I here. The following exhibitions were FORCE OF ATTRACTION I presenting Kasia Fudakowski and Vesselin Sariev and FORCE OF ATTRACTION II presenting Anna Uddenberg and Mitch Brezounek. Both exhibitions were curated by Rainald Schumacher and Nathalie Hoyos and were part of the initiatives launched by the newly created Circle of Friends for Bulgarian Art in cooperation with Open Arts Foundation. The last exhibition for the year was the group show GLASS, GAS AND ELECTRICITY curated by Vesselina Sarieva which is ongoing and can be seen partly at 40 Otets Paisii Str, Plovdiv and entirely in the viewing room on the gallery website until February 2, 2021.
ART RESIDENCY STUDIO AT SARIEV 2020
On May 1, 2020 Sariev announced an open call - Studio at Sariev Gallery for artists of all ages. The invitation aimed to support the re-opening of the art scene and the work of the creators while the gallery is preparing to welcome visitors again after the COVID-19 epidemic. The first selected artist to work at Sariev Gallery between May 13 - June 17 was Maria Nalbantova. Sariev Gallery, Plovdiv presented an exhibition the hybrid-pure by the artist Maria Nalbantova as part of the Artist’s studio at Sariev residence.
Watch a short film that follows the creative process of Maria Nalbantova during her stay at Sariev gallery here
VIEWING ROOMS 2020
The Viewing Room section of the Sariev Gallery website was created this year and it is a digital environment where we are introducing in depth information on selected exhibitions, projects, and concepts presented at the gallery or in external places. It is also an environment where we are developing new experimental ideas that will take place only in this space.
Viewing Room #sarievselfisolation
Viewing Room Introduction to Magia Naturalis by Boyan Manchev and Vesselina Sarieva - Phase I
Viewing Room GLASS, GAS AND ELECTRICITY
ONLINE INITIATIVES 2020
#sarievselfisolation
On March 27th, 2020 Sariev Gallery launched an ongoing project #sarievselfisolation in the situation of self-isolation provoked by the COVID-19 pandemic. #sarievselfisolation is a laboratory where the gallery is curating and presenting works of art, texts, videos, sounds, and images that express thoughts on this moment in the life of our world and visions about its tomorrow.
#sarievselfisolation was presenting new works created or developed in March and April 2020 after the invitation by Vesselina Sarieva and Katrin Sarieva. Each artist was in focus for 3-4 days.
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Watch the documentary #sarievselfisolation Pandemic Diaries here
Ask SARIEV Friday
We decided to dedicate a day from the week to our visitors and anyone who wants to diversify their daily life by entering in the art world. We missed talking about art with all the people who visited the gallery before the lock down so we decided to create the platform "Ask SARIEV Friday" and continue with our conversations in a virtual way.
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Studio hopping with...
In this new section of Sariev's website we decided to take you with us to the studios of artists we work with and to present you together with them a project or work in development.
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Not cancelled East x South
Not cancelled is a project developed by treat agency and was inaugurated in April 2020 in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic as closed museums, galleries, art fairs, studios and event closures subjected the cultural institutions to a hard test. Not cancelled East x South was a week-long digital art event of 17 galleries from the broader south-eastern European region, comprising galleries from Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and Georgia.
This edition of not cancelled was initiated by Sariev, Plovdiv (Bulgaria) and LambdaLambdaLambda, Prishtina (Kosovo) and was united with an independent initiative by Tbilisi-based galleries.
For Not cancelled East x South SARIEV presented the artist Rudi Ninov who participated with sculptures and drawings. А conversation with the artist hosted by Vesselina Sarieva was held as part of the accompanying program.
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Watch the artist talk with Rudi Ninov here
ARTIST'S HIGHLIGHTS 2020
2020 was really different compared to last year but still Sariev Gallery's represented artists had a good year. Here we are going to highlight only part of the exhibitions, projects and online initiatives which happened with the participation of our represented artists in 2020. Among the highlights of the year were Luchezar Byadjiev's solo show Re-building the World of Images. 1991-2019 at MOMus – Metropolitan Organisation of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki and his participation in ART WITHOUT / WITH TIME?, Sofia City Art Gallery, So far, So Right: A Study of Reforms and Transitions across Borders, DISPLAY, Prague, Artificial Light, Contemporary Space, #sarievselfisolation, Sariev Gallery, 100 Ways to Live a Minute, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Lyuben Farzulev and Friends, The Sofia Arsenal - MCA, Artists Respond, 25 years and 5 themes later ICA – Sofia Retrospective at The National Art Gallery, Sofia, Souvenirs from the Future, ICA-Gallery, the project Art and Politics, Goethe Institut - Sofia and more. Nedko Solakov's solo shows Big & Small, Galleria Continua Les Moulins, Boissy-le-Châtel, Paris, The Artist-Collector's Dream (a nice thing), Galleria Continua, San Gimignano and the group shows: The Clown Spirit, Ronny Van de Velde Gallery, Knokke-Zoute / Rossaert, Antwerp, 100 Drawings From Now,The Drawing Center, New York, 25 Years ICA-Sofia, The National Art Gallery, Sofia, Hybrid Thinking, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna, Alien v. Citizen, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Lyuben Farzulev and Friends, The Sofia Arsenal - MCA, Reflections of our time: Acquisitions of the MCA, 1993-2019, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, Ich und Welt. Post___ (I'm)possibilities, Krinzinger Projekte, Vienna, To be consumed by. Stories to chew on, stories to choke on, Krinzinger Projekte, Vienna, Pants on fire. Art and other fictions, Krinzinger Projekte, Vienna, Reset," (online), A3 Berlin, 100 Ways to Live a Minute, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, A Perfect Day, Machinegebouw Westergas, Amsterdam, Art without/with the Times, Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia, From the Collection: Poetic Faith, S.M.A.K, Performer and Participant, Tate Modern, London, Between the Sun and the Moon, Lahore Biennale 02, various venues, Lahore, Pakistan. Martina Vacheva's solo exhibition Sex and the City at ICA-Gallery and her participation in the group shows: Crack Up – Crack Down, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, Keeping the Balance / Works from Art Collection Telekom, Ludwig Múzeum and Souvenirs from the Future, ICA-Gallery. Pravdoliub Ivanov participated in the group exhibitions: The world has not stopped spinning, Goethe Institut - Sofia, #sarievselfisolation, Sariev gallery, 25 years and 5 themes later ICA – Sofia Retrospective, The National Art Gallery, Sofia, Аfter PASOLINI – visions of today, 30th Nadežda Petrović Memorial. South! Let’s go south!, Nadežda Petrović Art Gallery, Serbia, Keeping the Balance / Works from Art Collection Telekom, Ludwig Múzeum, Souvenirs from the Future, ICA-Gallery, GLASS, GAS AND ELECTRICITY at Sariev Gallery and more. Vikenti Komitski had his first solo show in Switzerland Sea Level at Fabienne Levy Gallery and participated in the group shows SchauFenster and GLASS, GAS AND ELECTRICITY at Sariev Gallery. Valio Tchenkov participated in the group shows: Seltene Gewächse, BELLEPARAIS, München, Jahresgaben 2020, Kunstverein München and more. Kamen Stoyanov participated in TRAVEL APPARATUS - Screening Program, GPC ONLINE / STREAMING SPECTRES, ALYOSHA AND THE CAT video installation at the House of Humour and Satire, Gabrovo, 30th Nadežda Petrović Memorial. South! Let’s go south!, Nadežda Petrović Art Gallery, Serbia, Now&After'20. POSSIBILITY OF COLOR, Cherkasy Short Film Festival, Shooting Ghosts: Bulgarian artist films & videos, Goethe Institut - Sofia, GLASS, GAS AND ELECTRICITY at Sariev Gallery and more, he also won best experimental at Dumbo Film Festival 2020 with the film Up and Through, 2020. Stefan Nikolaev participated in #sarievselfisolation, Sariev Gallery the group exhibitions GLASS, GAS AND ELECTRICITY at Sariev Gallery, 25 years and 5 themes later ICA – Sofia Retrospective, Souvenirs from the Future, ICA-Gallery and more. Sariev Gallery was the first to present Stefan Nikolaev's new work DEADLINE. Voin de Voin participated in Symposium 'Paradoxes of Progress' where he presentied his research project 'ANNA Palindrome of Behaviour', Wild Wild Æst (with Kamen Stoyanov and Rada Boukova), #sarievselfisolation, Sariev Gallery, the project Art and Politics, Goethe Institut - Sofia, the group exhibition Souvenirs from the Future, ICA-Gallery and more. Rada Boukova participated in the group exhibitions Аfter PASOLINI – visions of today, GLASS, GAS AND ELECTRICITY at Sariev Gallery and more.
ART FAIRS 2020
In 2020 SARIEV Gallery participated for the second time at LISTE which this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic took place in a modified format. Liste Showtime combined an online art platform presenting works, video interviews, texts, online meetings with artists and included 72 international galleries, which presented one young artist in detail and offer works for sale. The highlight of the presentation of Sariev Gallery in the online platform of Liste Showtime was an artist's project with new paintings and objects of the young Bulgarian artist based in Frankfurt - Rudi Ninov.
Another Liste Showtime initiative was a joint art project in which artists selected from the galleries delt with the theme "Rewriting Our Imaginations" and their works were presented in the form of an exhibition of posters. The posters were displayed online and on billboards in Basel. For the project "Rewriting Our Imaginations" the gallery presented a photograph created in 2020 by the young Bulgarian artist - Lubri.
Provoked by it’s desire for personal contact during the presentation of the works, in parallel with the online presentation and the billboard exhibition in Basel, Sariev Gallery decided to make a short pop-up exhibition of Liste in the space of Sariev Gallery in Plovdiv. In a short period of time during Liste Showtime, new works by Rudi Ninov were presented in various media in the small cube of the gallery. You can watch a video from the opening here.
In 2020 Art-O-Rama was held online. Sariev Gallery presented the artists Pravdoliub Ivanov and Vikenti Komitski.
SARIEV CURATES FLUCA - AUSTRIAN CULTURAL PAVILION 2020
This year the curator of the 2020 season of FLUCA – Austrian Cultural Pavilion, between May - October was Vesselina Sarieva (representing Sariev Gallery), who made Fluca a territory of contemporary art and culture by young artists.
SELECTED PRESS 2020
The collector rebel
Christian Caspar Schwarm on stereotypes and changes in contemporary art
Author: Jana Gerberding
Capital.bg
read the article
[In Bulgarian]
An idyllic atmosphere with industrial elements - "Family Portrait" by Dimitar Genchev
BNT team at Sariev Gallery and the artist's studio as part of the Artstream TV broadcast
Bulgarian National Television
watch the video
[In Bulgarian]
Vesela Nozharova: Introduction to Bulgarian Contemporary Art 1982–2015
A book review by Denitsa Tomkova
Camera Austria International
read the review
[In English]
How do we view art today?
Interview with Vera Mlechevska, Lazar Lyutakov and Rada Bukova
Authors Kamelia Spasova and Francheska Zemiarska
Literaturen vestnik
read the interview
[In Bulgarian]
Dimitar Genchev at SARIEV Gallery
An article about Dimitar Genchev's solo exhibition 'Family Portrait' that was running
from 15 February - 28 March at SARIEV Gallery
Art Viewer
read the article
[in English]
An exhibition by Dimitar Genchev in Plovdiv
Bulgarian National Television
watch the video
[in Bulgarian]
Nedko Solakov for his current exhibitions abroad
Nedko Solakov is talking about his exhibitions in London and Italy.
Bulgarian National Television
watch the interview
[in Bulgarian]
MOMus – Metropolitan Organisation of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki
An article about Luchezar Boyadjiev's exhibition Re-building the World of Images. 1991-2019, running
April 7–June 21, 2020 at MOMus-Museum of Contemporary Art-Macedonian Museum of
Contemporary Art and State Museum of Contemporary Art Collections, Thessaloniki
E-flux
read the article
[in English]
What would the cultural sector in Europe look like after the pandemic?
Art after the pandemic, cancelled events and new opportunities for the artist in Paris
Talk with Stefan Nikolaev about art after the pandemic and his new installation DEADLINE
BTV
watch the broadcast
[in Bulgarian]
Incredible tales of a Modern Bulgarian: Challenging the established canons of taste
Artworks in the article by Martina Vacheva
This is Badland magazine
ARE WE HOME?
issue No.4
2020
Open Arts Foundation at the head of our social channels today
Cause: Art #egoinstatakeover
egoist.bg
read the article
[in Bulgarian]
SPECIAL FEATURE: #sarievselfisolation
Art Viewer
read the article
[in English]
Our social networks are in the hands of Sariev gallery today
Cause: Art #egoinstatakeover
egois.bg
read the article
[in Bulgarian]
Interview with Vesselina Sarieva
Bulgarian National Television
watch the interview
stars at 32:41
[in Bulgarian]
Art Fairs Used to Be Their Portal to the World. Now Galleries in Serbia, Romania, Greece, Hungar, and Other Southeastern European Countries Are Uniting Online
Artnet News
read the article
[in English]
#SARIEVSELFISOLATION - Creative Emergency Response
Interview with Vesselina Sarieva
Bulgarian National Television
watch the interview
[in Bulgarian]
#sarievselfisolation - a virtual exhibition of the present
Conversation with Vesselina Sarieva, Dimitar Solakov, Pravdoliub Ivanov - Artefir, Hristo Botev
Bulgarian National Radio
listen to the conversation
[in Bulgarian]
Interview with Vesselina Sarieva: After the pandemic there will be new art and a new artistic environment
Dnevnik
read the article
[in Bulgarian]
Izkustvo pod kljuch
Selection of online projects during pandemic
Capital
read the article
[in Bulgarian]
Against isolation with Mitch Brezounek and other artists
An article about the online project #sarievselfisolation
BOYSCOUT
read the article
[in Bulgarian]
Through the window of the state of emergency
An interview with Mitch Brezounek about his series of digital drawings "Plovdiv 2020", part of #sarievselfisolation
Bulgarian National Radio
listen to the interview
[in Bulgarian]
12 era-defining artworks that trace shifting perspectives in modern Bulgaria
Plovdiv-based cultural activist Vesselina Sarieva gives The Calvert Journal an overview of Bulgaria’s modern art history from before, during and after the political transition of 1989, as well as an insight into the country’s modern scene.
The Calvert Journal
read the article
[in English]
Sariev Gallery became a studio of the artist Maria Nalbantova for a month
Interview with Maria Nalbantova and Vesselina Sarieva
Bulgarian National Television
watch the interview
[in Bulgarian]
Fluca – Austrian Cultural Pavilion in Plovdiv
Interview with the artists Martina Vacheva, Mitch Brezounek and Valko Chobanov
Bulgarian National Televison
watch the interview
[in Bulgarian]
Is nature an artist? Is creation peculiar to stars, metals, fire? Such questions are asked by Veselina Sarieva and Boyan Manchev in the MAGIA NATURALIS exhibition at the Sariev Gallery in Plovdiv.
Bulgarian National Television
watch the interview
[in Bulgarian]
Re-building the World of Images. 1991-2019 - retrospective of Luchezar Boyadjiev Bulgarian National Television
watch the interview
[in Bulgarian]
Magia Naturalis at Sariev Gallery
Exhibitions
Art Viewer
link
Magia Naturalis - Art Project at Sariev Gallery
Interview with Boyan Manchev and Vesselina Sarieva
BNR
listen to the interview
[in Bulgarian]
Magiа Naturalis - nature that creates with us and without us
Interview with Boyan Manchev and an excerpt from a poem by Vesselina Sarieva
BNR
listen to the interview
[in Bulgarian]
Sariev gallery presents young artists at the prestigious LISTE art fair in Basel, which is online this year
Interview with Rudi Ninov
BNT 2
watch the interview
[in Bulgarian]
Sariev Gallery and Office for Art create a Circle of Friends for Bulgarian Art
Interview with Katrin Sarieva
Bulgarian National Radio
listen to the interview
[in Bulgarian]
About Nature as a Creator
Article by Desislava Mileva about Magia Naturalis by Boyan Manchev and Vesselina Sarieva
Kultura.bg
read the article
[in Bulgarian]
'Circle of friends' will support Bulgarian contemporary art
Reportage about Circle of Friends for Bulgarian Art and interview with Vesselina Sarieva, Rainald Schumacher and Nathalie Hoyos
Bulgarian National Television
watch the interview
[in Bulgarian]
Kasia Fudakowski and Vesselin Sariev at SARIEV Gallery
FORCE OF ATTRACTION I featured on Art Viewer
Art Viewer
link
Sariev Gallery in Plovdiv and Office for Art platform have started a series of exhibitions and in 2021 bigger plans are forthcoming
Capital
read the article
[in Bulgarian]
On her luck was written 'harmony' and it seems like the world read it
Vesselina Sarieva for the November issue of the Bulgarian lifestyle print and web magazine EVAEVA Magazine
issue 262
November 2020
https://eva.bg/magazine
FORCE OF ATTRACTION II
featured on Footnotes on art
Footnotes on art
link
Anna Uddenberg and Mitch Brezounek at SARIEV Gallery
FORCE OF ATTRACTION II featured on Art Viewer
Art Viewer
link
Sariev sends #2020 with GLASS, GAS and ELECTRICITY
Boyscout
read the article
[in Bulgarian]
Art Review of the year with Maria Nalbantova
BNR
listen to the interview
[in Bulgarian]
UPCOMING IN 2021
EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTS - SARIEV
Due to the pandemic measures the exhibition GLASS, GAS AND ELECTRICITY curated by Vesselina Sarieva will be online in the viewing room on the gallery website until February 2, 2021.
The first real planned exhibition for 2021 is the third exhibition in the series Let Them Draw which will be curated by Pravdoliub Ivanov and Veselina Sarieva. It will present international artists, some of whom will be shown for the first time in Bulgaria. The season will continue with other solo and curatorial group exhibitions, as well as collaborations with new authors for the Sariev Gallery list. We have planned group exhibitions, presentations in Sofia and exhibitions abroad. We hope to be able to actually realize at least two international fairs. For the summer program we are considering to actively participate in the program of Open Arts Foundation - FLUCA - Austrian Cultural Pavilion. As well as that, we will continue the project Collectors' Forum together with Open Arts Foundation and we will cooperate with the Circle of Friends for Bulgarian Art.
The program will be adapted to the situation in the world and the pandemic measures.
We hope for more live meetings together!
ARTISTS' EXHIBITIONS
Next year, we'll see some interesting exhibitions and projects of SARIEV's represented artists. Due to the constantly changing situation in the world, we are unable to share more information with you now but you will receive up-to-date information with our newsletters each month. Upcoming in 2021 is the mega show “Diversity United – Contemporary European Art”, group show, curatorial committee, traveling exhibition, Tempelhof, Berlin, spring 2021; New Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, summer 2021; Palais de Tokyo, Paris, autumn 2021 where Martina Vacheva and Nedko Solakov will participate. Kamen Stoyanov will participate in the radio programme for The Cultural Frontline: Bulgaria’s Art on the Edge which will be broadcasted on BBC networks and streamed worldwide on Saturday 2nd January and Sunday 3rd January 2021, repeated 6 times over 2 days on BBC World Service. More details here. Pravdoliub Ivanov will participate in the group show Mixed Zone. Dialoge Zwischen Kunst Und Design at Neues Museum – Staatliches Museum für Kunst und Design in Nürnberg, Germany until the end of next year. Valio Tchenkov will participate in a group exhibition at BELLEPARAIS, München in September 2021. Luchezar Boyadjiev will be participating in the exhibition Spirit Labor: Duration, Difficulty, and Affect, a two-part exhibition presented at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art from August 4, 2021 to January 30, 2022. Vikenti Komitski's solo show What Comes Around Goes Around, E Werk, Freiburg, June 2021.
Furthermore, we have exciting new projects which we will announce very soon! Stay subscribed to our mailing list to receive info about upcoming fairs throughout the year.
Follow our activities on our website and in the social media Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Images: Maria Djelebova, Evgeniya Dimitrova, Vanesa Popova, Luchezar Boyadjiev, Lubri, Rudi Ninov