export: bulgaria 3, vasarely museum

in the summer of 2023 we experienced the unique pleasure to materialise nonsofia's most significant international breakthrough so far, i.e. the third edition of export: bulgaria – a showcase of contemporary geometric art produced solely by bulgarian-born artists. the works of twelve painters, born between 1933 and 1989, were exhibited at the vasarely museum, budapest – one of europe's most important geometric strongholds. 

our sincere gratitude goes to all dear friends from the osas collective, liszt institute sofia, the participating artists and everyone involved in this truly historic initiative. special thanks to dóra maurer, barna benedek, andrea bodis, szandra miskedi, krisztina kopp and the whole bunch of friends who travelled to budapest for our wonderful hungarian adventure.

export: bulgaria 3 included a workshop for children of the bulgarian community in budapest and featured the works of: adriana czernin, boyan chakarov, georgi dimitrov, georgi georgiev, georgi todorov, georgi yanakiev, ivan shumanov, kamen kalev, maria chakarova, mina stoyanova, petar dochev and viktor vlaesku. 

focus: hungary – manifold

the collaboration between nonsofia and osas, which officially dates back to the first edition of orthogonal: international forum for constructive art, has led to another fruitful partnership with liszt institute sofia, and resulted in the debut edition of nonsofia's brand new exhibition format – focus. 

our great friendship with artist/curator barna benedek and gallerist andrea bodis made this fabulous initiative happen at its best. thirteen hungarian contemporary artists were presented in two separate shows at two different venues – the galleries at 16 aksakov st. and 36 dondukov blvd. 

the exhibition, part of our 2023 programme, has been made possible thanks to the heartfelt support of fondation gottfried honegger. it featured a number of guided tours and workshops for children. 

participants: andrás wolsky, árpád forgó, barna benedek, bertalan varga, dóra maurer, györgy varga, istván haász, istván halmi-horváth, jános saxon-szász, judit horváth lóczi, judit nemes, katalin haász and levente bálványos.

above: views from focus: hungary – manifold at nonsofia gallery & archive. 

 

georgi dimitrov: invisible lines

views from nonsofia's 'temporary exhibition' by georgi dimitrov (b. 1980) consisting of oil painting, pencil drawing and digital media work produced over the past 15 years. all stages of dimitrov's development as a visual artist, i.e. mystic, metasymbolic and orthogonal (all the way to the invention of the arcangle), are marked in this show – financially supported by the national culture fund of the republic of bulgaria. 

petar dochev: the way of the artist

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for more than a month we had the privilege to host one memorable retrospective at our premises. hundreds of visitors entertained the creative directions explored by one of bulgaria's most prominent 20th century masters – petar dochev (1934 – 2005). 'the way of the artist' presented about thirty artworks including some of dochev's most emblematic pieces made between 1957 and 2005. the portrait of the artist's mother, his typical industrial and city landscapes, as well as works from his (expressive and geometric) abstract periods were featured in the exhibition which was financially supported by the national culture fund of the republic of bulgaria.

horizonta22 at nonsofia gallery & archive

installation views from horizonta22: national forum for geometric abstraction. this year's harvest of bulgarian geometric art brought forward a total of 30 works by 8 bulgarian artists, covering 35 years of local non-objective art tradition. the forum, financially supported by the national culture fund of the republic of bulgaria, included a theoretical module of several artist presentations and featured many guided tours and workshops for children.

participants: boyan chakarov, georgi dimitrov, georgi georgiev, georgi todorov, georgi yanakiev, kamen kalev, maria chakarova and viktor vlaesku.

the third edition of horizonta also honoured the memory of the distinguished french art historian of bulgarian origin, prof. andréi nakov (1941 – 2022), whose work has long been a source of inspiration and a strong moral support for the activities of nonsofia.

horizonta22 in varna

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views from the black sea edition of horizonta22 – bulgaria's national forum for geometric abstraction. the show, curated by georgi dimitrov and financially supported by the 2022 creative initiatives programme of the national culture fund of the republic of bulgaria, took place at graffit gallery in varna between 20 august and 5 september 2022. it presented some twenty-five works made over the past 35 years by eight bulgarian artists: boyan chakarov, georgi dimitrov, georgi georgiev, georgi todorov, georgi yanakiev, kamen kalev, maria chakarova and viktor vlaesku. as usual, the exhibition featured several guided tours carried out for the general audience, as well as a number of workshops for children.