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“GATEWAY II”, as a continuation of the theme and the second part of the opening exhibition HOSTGALLERY, presents a selection of five extremely interesting artists, from the generation of the 80s, who gained popular ity with their impressive work.
The highlight of the exhibition is once again the way in which spaces of different scales are opened – micro and macro, geographically marked here and now or thought structures in time.
We ask several questions for reflection – what are the spaces in which we create and live, how are they transformed and where are the connecting portals between us. Isn’t the journey just one long movement back and forth, locked in one of countless possibilities?
The exhibition “GATEWAY II” also brings in the idea of a tangible contrast between the imaginary spaces and the material physical areas in which we exist.
Anna-Maria Bogner shares about the space:
“We generate space first in our thoughts.
Anna-Maria Bogner, May 2023.
But it is our collection of experience, we need, to access our own possibilities. Because no space is ever the same. Space is created in our communication and interaction anew every day: situational. There are fragments we collect, pieces which we organize or even discard. Space is always linked to our perception process and hence an accumulation of what we are able to experience.
How one defines the limits of space themselves? What are the expectations about our own space? Is space only a construction of our deconstruction of reality?”
In the exhibition, Anna-Maria Bogner (AT/DE) is presented with a site-specific installation created especially for the HOSTGALLERY space.
Together with her we will see works by several outstanding Bulgarian artists: Vikenti Komitski (BG, DE) with a series of large format collages not shown; Velizar Dimchev (BG) with a video work as a reply to the videos in the first part of the exhibition; Peter Chinovsky (BG) with a new creative direction – a video specially created for the gallery, as well as with a series of works that are significant for him; Boyan Avramov (BG) – self-defined as a “temporary artist”, with an acoustic performance in which he extracts unexpected momentary sounds in the gallery space.
The inspiration behind the exhibition concept is Raul Zamudio (US), a New York-based independent curator, art critic and professor of art history, who introduced the magnificent idea of the road and the space with Roi Vaara’s iconic work – “ARTIST’S DILEMMA”. video from 1997.
RASSIM® (BG), Stefano Cagol (IT), Sasho Stoitzov (BG), Jennifer Parker (US), Iglika Christova (BG, FR), Ivaylo Hristov (BG) also participated in the first part of the “GATEWAY I” exhibition.
Raul Zamudio wrote about the exhibition:
“Gateway, Host; two words that aptly describe the debut of such an important exhibition and Sofia’s newest contemporary art space. The artists selected individually articulate notions of a gateway in their works yet coalesce collectively in exploring its multiple connotations not limited to a mediating threshold that opens to all that is inclusive, empowering, and affirmative…”.
Raul Zamudio, NY, June 2023
Quotes by Anna-Maria Bogner and Raul Zamudio about the exhibition.
Text: Ivaylo Hristov