The Young Visual Artists Awards international network was founded in 1990 and is one of the most sustainable cultural exchange programs between the United States and Central and Eastern Europe. The BAZA Award in Bulgaria is administered by the Institute of Contemporary Art – Sofia and the Edmond Demirdjian Foundation, in partnership with Sofia City Art Gallery. From 2021, the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation supports the nominated artists with funding for their projects. The competition is open to artists up to 35 years of age. The jury, whose members are replaced every two years, selects between four and eight nominees. The exhibition of works by the selected artists is hosted by Sofia City Art Gallery. The winner is announced during the exhibition opening. The award is a two-month residency for a Bulgarian artist in New York City. The winners of the BAZA Award are given the opportunity to present a solo exhibition of their work at the gallery of the Institute of Contemporary Art – Sofia.

BAZA Award winners thus far include: Rada Boukova (2008), Samuil Stoyanov (2009), Anton Terziev (2010), Vikenti Komitski (2011), Leda Ekimova (2012), Kiril Kuzmanov (2013), Zoran Georgiev (2014), Aleksandra Chaushova (2015), Dimitar Shopov (2016), Martina Vacheva (2017), Martin Penev (2018), Valko Chobanov (2019), Maria Nalbantova (2020), Marta Djourina (2021).

Members of the BAZA 2022 jury are: Ani Vaseva (theatre director), Krassimir Terziev (artist), Mariela Gemisheva (artist), Martina Yordanova (curator), Radoslav Mehandzhiyski (curator), Lidia Kudelia (curator, Ukraine/USA), Gregor Jansen (curator, Germany).

Below is a list of this year’s nominees:

Aaron Roth (b. 1998) was born in Los Angeles. He is currently working between Sofia and Plovdiv. In 2021, he earned a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts (Painting) from the Slade School of Fine Art, London. In 2022, he teamed up with Boyana Djikova and Vikenti Komitski to establish Punta Gallery in Sofia. Roth works with found images, and in oil painting, installation, sculpture and photography. His installations straddle the boundaries between the ready-made and assemblage while his paintings have a mimetic and ironic relationship to advertising.

Krasimira Butseva (b. 1994) is a visual artist, writer and educator based between London, UK and Sofia, Bulgaria. She is a lecturer at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London. In her practice, Butseva explores political violence, traumatic memory, and the official and unofficial history of communism in Eastern Europe, by employing photography, video, installation and sound. She is one of the co-founders of Revolv Collective, and the co-editor of EEP magazine, which focuses on contemporary photography from Eastern Europe. In 2021, she was a fellow at the Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany.

Lars Nordby (b.1988, Norway) lives and works in Vishovgrad, Bulgaria. Nordby earned a master’s degree from the Oslo National Academy of Arts in Norway. His artistic practice evolves around photography, performance and art installations.  Referring often to theatre aesthetics and the theatricalities of everyday life, Nordby deals with human obsession with identity and ideological belonging. He runs the independent art space Heerz Tooya in Veliko Tarnovo and the artist residency ARV.International in Vishovgrad. He recently published the photobook “While the Plum Trees Grow”.

Peter Chinovsky (b. 1988) is a visual artist born in Sofia. He graduated from the Printmaking Department of Veliko Tarnovo University. He expresses an interest in the synthetic, mechanically produced image. He examines the function of image as a means of public communication and the translation of raw experience into symbolic languages. In his work, Chinovsky seeks to shorten the distance between the two- and three-dimensional, and often works in layers of different materials.

Sophia Grancharova (b. 1994) studied fine arts in France and Belgium. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions, educational initiatives, and works on her own curatorial projects. In 2021, she opened her third solo exhibition, “If You Look Closely, Things May Fall Apart” at Sofia City Art Gallery. She was a scholarship holder of the National Scholarship Program “Per Aspera Ad Astra” for 2020. Grancharova is also a member of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Sofia, and the Justice for Everyone initiative. She was a nominee for the 2018 BAZA Award.

 Harita Asumani (b. 1992) holds a BA in Stage Design and MA in Costume Design from the National Academy of Arts in Sofia. The main topic in her work is the human’s role in the universe and modern society. Asumani is interested in the defence mechanisms of the Self and the healing of traumas. On the other hand, she is excited about the path of the soul based on esoteric teachings.

 Yavor Kostadinov (b. 1993) graduated from the National Academy of Arts, Sofia (2018). In 2015 he studied in Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, Italy. Currently, Yavor is a PhD student in Art History and Fine Arts at the Department of Painting, National Academy of Arts. From 2019 to 2021, he was a visiting lecturer in Painting at the Textile – Art and Design Department of the National Academy of Arts, Sofia. A member of the Union of Bulgarian Artists since 2020. He works in both Plovdiv and Sofia. Yavor Kostadinov was a nominee for the 2020 BAZA Award.