IN THE LABELLING GAP

The exhibition introduces group of Bulgarian artists, who tend to be grouped in an imprecisely defined professional category, according to their year of birth. The generation aged between 35 and 45 years no longer meets the definition of ‘young authors’, but it is too early for these artists to be labelled as ‘advanced’. Therefore, this age group is often deprived of application opportunities for residence, competitions, funding programmes, etc., even their participation in exhibitions is under question.
The position of this transitional generation in gallery life can vary with regard to the power and the degree of development of governmental institutions, private organisations or the market of art. Irrespective of the differences these factors present on the global and the Bulgarian artistic arena, and irrespective of their residence at the moment, the artists aged conditionally between 35 and 45 are interesting mainly because of their work.

The goal of the Sofia City Art Gallery is to present several authors, who typify this category, and still to try and classify their artistic endeavour. The link between the authors is not merely their age. Some of their works have become the possession of the Contemporary Art and Photography Fund of the Sofia City Art Gallery and were received as donations at an earlier stage of their development, when they were labelled as ‘young authors’. The exhibition will display some of these earlier works together with new ones, which have not been exhibited before or come to be part of projects of longer duration, still in the process of completion.

Stop being a tourist. Start a revolution. Start feeling at home, 2011

Horizon (Au pays des cubes), 2011

Tresspassers Will Be Prosecuted, 2003

“Upgrade”, detail, 2016

Fuck Luck, 2016