THE NATIONAL GALLERY
SOFIA ARSENAL – MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
and
ART IN ACTION Association
present
the exhibition
ArchivAL
and
a performance programme
CORPOREALLY-IMAGERIALLY
06.04–23.04.2023
Opening on Thursday, 6 April 2023, at 6 p.m. with a performance by Liliana Dvorianova and Danail Vidinski, and with the participation of Maya Antova – Mayoto
SAMCA, 2, Cherni Vrah Blvd., Sofia
The ArchivAL exhibition consists of screenings of archival videos of actions and performances of Art in Action and is part of the association’s MarginAL Project. ArchivAL: part of the MarginAL Project was implemented with the financial support of the National Culture Fund, under the Programme for the recovery and development of private cultural organisations.
The event is interdisciplinary in character and aims to popularise among the general public archival information on the artistic activity of the Art in Action Association. Archival videos of actions and performances of Art in Action cover events held during the association’s 33-year-long history. Following the screening, the ARCHIVES experimental musical performance by Danail Vidinski and Liliana Dvoryanova will take place. In it, the human experience of time corresponds to the relationship between past, present and future. The performance emphasises the process in which the past largely constructs the future, and how, in turn, the future changes notions of the past. In this sense, the past and the future influence each other, intersecting in the present.
ART IN ACTION is an association of artists working in different spheres of contemporary art and art pedagogy. Its activities include the organisation of exhibitions, symposia, workshops, and cultural exchange, and participation in those of other organisations. Creative performances of an experimental nature take priority in its programme.
From 1990 to this day, the association has worked intensively for the development and popularisation of performance as a, universal, contemporary form of artistic expression, free from conventions and rules.
The CORPOREALLY-IMAGERIALLY programme reflects three characteristic aspects of the association’s activities in the field of performance art.
- realisation of an artist’s live performance;
- continuity in this domain of contemporary art. From its inception until today, the creators of Art in Action attempt to coach participants from the younger generations—students and artists who are at the beginning of their creative careers—and include them in their actions and performances;
- selection and archiving of performances that have taken place throughout the 33-year-long history of the association, some of which can be watched on video recordings during the programme.
The performances touch on themes such as ‘individual-society’, ‘identity-otherness’ and ‘body-technology’. The means of expression range between body, movement, sound and media.
CORPOREALLY-IMAGERIALLY Art in Action performance
Saturday, 08.04.2023
2:14–5:17 p.m. – ‘Dialogues with Blood’, action by Iglika Hristova and Orlin Dvorianov.
5:00–5:30 p.m. – ‘Manifestо of makeup-fake art’ VVV. Performance V by Veronika Prezhdarova, video art Anna Ikonomova.
Sunday, 09.04.2023
2:14–5:17 p.m. – ‘Dialogues with Blood’, action by Iglika Hristova and Orlin Dvorianov.
Tuesday, 11.04.2023
2:14–5:17 p.m. – ‘Dialogues with Blood’, action by Iglika Hristova and Orlin Dvorianov.
5:00–5:30 p.m. – Performances: ‘Hunger/Famine’ by Maliha Alimi; ‘Are You a Prophet?’ by Daniela Tracheva; ‘Breath’ by Vaya Ezhova (students in the Visual Arts Department at the Faculty of Educational Studies and the Arts)
Wednesday, 12.04.2023
2:14–5:17 p.m. – ‘Dialogues with Blood’, action by Iglika Hristova and Orlin Dvorianov.
5:00–5:30 p.m. – ‘Toxic Connection’, performance by Maria Tselkinska and Zheni Tsvetkova.
Thursday, 13.04.2023
6:00–8:00 p.m. – ‘Dialogues with Blood’, finale of Iglika Hristova’s and Orlin Dvorianov’s action: performance with a group of students in the Visual Arts Department at the Faculty of Educational Studies and the Arts; participants: Vera Tacheva, Mira Ivanova, Nadezhda Chausheva, Natalia Krisenko.
Wednesday, 19.04.2023
5:00–5:30 p.m. – ‘The Soft Defeats the Hard’, performance by students at the Visual Arts Department of the Faculty of Educational Studies and the Arts; leader: Orlin Dvorianov; participants: Sabahtin Myumyun, Sofia Kolchagova, Stanimir Veselinov, Tihomir Kolev.
Thursday, 20.04.2023
5:00 p.m. – ‘Transcending Beyond Worthlessness’, performance by Mariyan Tsonev – MATS.
5:30–6:00 p.m. – ‘Body and Oscillations’, musical performance by Boyan Avramov.
Friday, 21.04.2023
5:00–5:30 p.m. – ‘The Saviour and the Unsaveable’, performance by Yanko Andonov.
Saturday, 22.04.2023
6:00 p.m. – ‘Imagerial Movement’, performance by Maya Antova – Mayoto.
7:00–8:00 p.m. – Closing.
For further information: Ventsislava Stoyanova, Art in Action, +359 888 103 947;
Nadezhda Dzhakova, head of the SAMCA, +359 879 834 030