Tuning in Progress

Tuning in Progress

The summer exhibition Tuning in Progress at Sarieva/Gallery, Plovdiv, brings together five artists – Dimitar Genchev, Marta Djourina, Nedko Solakov, Rudi Ninov, and Tsvetomira Borisova – whose practices span painting, photography, ceramics, sculpture, and drawing. The title Tuning in Progress is inspired by a work by Rudi Ninov, but also carries a broader meaning. “Tuning” is a word used in music, technology, and even in emotional communication. To tune something means to seek harmony – to find the right tone, the proper rhythm, the suitable frequency.
In this context, tuning can be understood as a process – ongoing, intuitive, sometimes improvised. It can be a creative act in itself: how the artist tunes themselves to the world, to the material, to their own ideas, to the working and presenting process. Or how artworks resonate with one another. Tuning in Progress is not just a statement that something is happening – it is an invitation to take part, to catch a moment of transition, movement, or subtle shift – where the process itself turns out to be more important than the final form.

Dimitar Genchev (b. 1985, Bulgaria) lives and works in Plovdiv. He studied at the National Academy of Art (Sofia), HKU Utrecht, Rijksakademie (Amsterdam), and École des Arts Décoratifs (Strasbourg). Genchev creates paintings that merge hyperrealism, abstraction, and imagination. In the exhibition, he presents two works from 2025 – Delicious Sound and Gabra – continuing his exploration of technique, form, material, and color interactions. He has received awards from the Mondriaan Fund, Buning Brongers Award, and Gaudenz B. Ruf Award.

Marta Djourina (b. 1991, Sofia) lives and works in Berlin. She graduated from the Berlin University of the Arts and the Glasgow School of Art. Djourina experiments with photography, light, and material, creating unique, camera-less works: direct exposures on analogue photo paper, folded pieces bordering on objecthood, “philtograms,” and interactions with camera obscura. In the exhibition, she presents works from her Untitled (2022) series – direct light exposures and photograms on analogue paper. She is the recipient of the BAZA Award (2021), the Eberhard-Roters Fellowship (2020), and the Marianne Brandt Prize (2022).

Nedko Solakov (b. 1957, Cherven Bryag) is an internationally acclaimed Bulgarian conceptual artist known for his ironic, multilayered visual and textual storytelling. He has taken part in major international exhibitions including documenta 12 and dOCUMENTA 13 in Kassel; the Venice Biennale (Aperto '93 and its 48th, 49th, 50th, and 52nd editions); the São Paulo Biennale (1994); and biennials in Istanbul, Gwangju, Lyon, Sydney, Singapore, and Riga. In this exhibition, he presents two works from his Wishes series – No. 9 and No. 6 (2022) – part of a cycle of black-and-white watercolor drawings previously shown at Gallery Kula in Croatia. His works are in the collections of MoMA (New York), Tate Modern (London), and Centre Pompidou (Paris).

Rudi Ninov (b. 1992, Teteven) lives and works in Frankfurt. He studied at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Städelschule, Frankfurt. His practice spans painting, sculpture, and writing, often combining abstract forms with personal rhythms and intuitive compositions. For this exhibition, Ninov presents two previously unseen works from 2024: Untitled (Imaginary Cithara) and Untitled (after Moth and Flame). He is a recipient of the Linklaters LLP Prize (2020) and the “Cultural Perspectives” grant (2019). His work is part of the collections of Museum Voorlinden and the Caldic Collection, Wassenaar, Netherlands; and Fondazione CRC, Cuneo, Italy, among others.

Tsvetomira Borisova (b. 1991, Sofia) graduated in Ceramics from New Bulgarian University (2016). She was a resident at Sarieva/Gallery in 2022, where she held her debut solo exhibition Cool S. Her recent projects include A Place to Rest (2022), Death at the Dinner Table (2023), and Changes (2023). She has also taken part in group exhibitions such as Market of Desire (2021), Sofia Underground (2023), and View With a Room (2023). In 2024, she was awarded the BAZA Award for contemporary art. In this exhibition, she presents two ceramic works: In the Awe of Melting Flip Flop (2024) and Joe Cocker’s Summer In The City (2024).

 

The exhibition Tuning in Progress can be seen at Sarieva/Gallery, Plovdiv, until August 3, 2025, during opening hours: Friday to Sunday, 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM.