Yearly Overview – Sarieva/Gallery 2025
As 2025 comes to a close, we take a moment to look back reflecting on what has been built, shared, and learned in order to better prepare for what lies ahead. Throughout the year, Sarieva/Gallery continued to evolve as a multifaceted cultural platform for contemporary art, knowledge, and collecting. The gallery presented museum-quality exhibitions in Sofia and Plovdiv, supported the discovery of emerging voices, and deepened its international dialogue.
The program unfolded through exhibitions in the gallery and partner spaces, new institutional collaborations, experimental formats for social exchange, museum acquisitions, and significant museum exhibitions marking important milestones for the artists and communities the gallery works with. Alongside this, the gallery continued to support an open archive and database, providing broader access to the work and research of contemporary Bulgarian artists.
Spring began with Pravdoliub Ivanov’s The Truth About the Truth at the Sarieva/Gallery at DOT Sofia. The exhibition ran from March 13 to May 10 and showcased previously unseen works created in Bulgaria between 1998 and 2024. The gallery also supported Luchezar Boyadjiev’s limited-edition prints, including The Poet – Liberation (José Martí on vacation from NYC), 2005/2025, whose proceeds supported his upcoming solo exhibition at the National Gallery in Sofia.
During this period, gallery artists participated in exhibitions in Brussels, Paris, Frankfurt, and Sofia, including Stefan Nikolaev, Rudi Ninov, Artan Hajrullahu, and Dimitar Genchev, who was featured in the new “Artist-in-Focus” collectors platform. Additionally, Kamen Stoyanov presented his short film Zvezda at the 29th Sofia International Film Festival.
Summer highlighted Luchezar Boyadjiev’s solo exhibition On Vacation… (Corpus Equidae, 2004–2024) at the National Gallery / Kvadrat 500 in Sofia, running from 7 July to 7 October, curated by Ovül Durmuşoğlu and Joanna Warsza, alongside the Tuning in Progress group show at Sarieva/Gallery Plovdiv. Innovative public formats included an artist-edition dinner with Stefan Nikolaev and chef Todor Grablev at Komat restaurant and DOT Sofia Art Collection in Sofia.
International recognition included the donation of works by Pravdoliub Ivanov, Rassim®, and Ivan Moudov to the Centre Pompidou in Paris, with Ivanov’s work donated by Vesselina Sarieva. During this period, gallery artists also exhibited internationally at Art Basel Paris and Art Basel Basel.
Autumn emphasized emerging talent through the Background: Young Artists 2025 program in Plovdiv, debuting Radoslav Angelov. There was also a solo exhibition by Marta Djourina at the Sarieva Gallery branch at DOT Sofia, combined with art tours and public presentations.
After years of work, a major collaboration with AYA Estate Vineyards opened to the public, offering a cultural destination that integrates contemporary art, architecture, and winemaking. Vesselina Sarieva serves as co-curator.
Pravdoliub Ivanov also participated in the National Autumn Exhibitions in Plovdiv (curated by Vessela Nozharova) and site-specific projects at the Kazanlak Art Gallery (curated by Maria Vassileva). Luchezar Boyadjiev presented solo show at the Bulgarian Culture and Information Center in Skopje, North Macedonia, and a festival presentation at Context 2025 in Sokołowsko, Poland.
Gallery artists participated in major museum and institutional shows internationally. Nedko Solakov presented solo exhibitions such as Being Vallotton at Villa Flora, Kunst Museum Winterthur, Switzerland, from 27 September 2025 to 1 March 2026, and A Cornered Solo Show #6 (The Miner’s Dream) at MACS, Grand-Hornu, Belgium, from 19 September 2025 to 10 May 2026.
Artan Hajrullahu participated in group shows in Brussels and Pristina, Stefan Nikolaev presented works at Galerie Michel Rein in Paris and Brussels during Art Paris / Grand Palais and Art Brussels, and Dimitar Genchev exhibited in Sofia at the Union of Bulgarian Artists. Valio Tchenkov and Somyot Hananantasuk held a joint exhibition at the ATTA Gallery in Bangkok.
The year concluded with the group exhibition Snowball at Sarieva/Gallery Plovdiv. Running from December 2025 to March 2026, the exhibition presented paintings, drawings, objects, and installations—some of which had never been shown before—created between 1986 and 2025. The exhibition was co-curated by young collector Simeon Markov. Throughout 2025, Sarieva/Gallery maintained a strong media presence in outlets such as Dnevnik.bg, Art Daily, Art Viewer, and the Bulgarian News Agency.
The gallery and the Open Arts Foundation continued to support the Bulgarian art scene through the Open Art Files archive and monthly curated recommendations for museum and gallery shows in Bulgaria, fostering visibility, documentation, and access for contemporary Bulgarian artists.
Looking ahead to 2026, audiences can expect institutional shows by gallery artists, presentations from the Vesselina Sarieva collection, new exhibitions in Sofia and Plovdiv, a sculptural project, publications, and continued support for emerging artists and collectors.
Sarieva/Gallery looks forward to welcoming audiences, supporting artists, and fostering meaningful cultural exchange in the coming year.
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Photo by Yana Lozeva from Truth About the Truth by Pravdoliub Ivanov
