Archives for “Art & culture” tag

Hip-Hip Atelier is another contemporary art space that hatched in this fruitful area (check the Ladies Market and the Disintegrating Sofia articles). So far it has held a few events, but I love this place most for the big blue lady, left on the wall from the opening collaboration with the Italian artist DEM. The furniture, as with the whole place, is also designed by the owners.

The ambition of the place is to be less of a “museum” and more of a meeting space. To that end they recently opened the Hip Hip library – the fist in Bulgaria public collection of fan zines and self-publications dedicated to art, where you can find (and buy) local as well as international specimens. I cannot express what an exotic bird this is on our scene, and you might be intrigued to check out their own “Blood Becomes Water” and other Bulgarian magazines. “Samizdat” I borrowed from the Soviet-style abbreviation for ‘self-publishing’, pertaining to dissemination of literature banned or ignored by establishment.

Hip Hip still have to come to terms with their working time, so if you’re not in the area, do call in advance. Their curatorial concept is “open call” for all artists, the challenge – that the artist should live and work in the place. So if you have a pitch, you might as well stay around. Hip Hip will hold an e-zine workshop as a part of the program of Sofia Contemporary – check the fest site for more details.

Even though I’m a big fan of the neighborhood (as you’ve probably noticed by now), it took a magazine for foreigners to tip me off about this place. Turns out Sofia’s biggest closed flea market is housed in a… church! That’s right, Sveta Paraskeva Church, which by my humble opinion is one of the most beautiful, has rented its basement to an antiques saleseman. That’s not as unholy as it sounds, because formerly it used to house a sweets factory.

The market has been around for years, but lately the owner had to close his other outlets, which brought it to a spectacular current state: literally all the space below the church is filled up to the ceiling with STUFF. Following the little paths among the piles, you can spend more than two hours discovering rooms and things you’d never suspect existed.

“Antiques” is perhaps far too formal a word; the limbs of tons of old, once beautiful furniture sorrily stick out, waiting for their guardian angel – a talented restorer – to bring them to life. They are buried below books, papers, paintings, postcards, army uniforms, toys, ski, boxes, street signs, dining sets, records – anything you can and cannot think of. The place is worth visiting just for the sight. Prices are by negotiation, of course, and the owner is good at it. He doesn’t like to advertise, so once you are at the official entrance of the church, go to the right and follow the small steps.

Though the entrance to the Institute of Contemporary Arts is at the back of an otherwise inconspicuous apartment building, this is one of the oldest un-institutional contemporary art institutions in town.

ICA is an association of some of the best known Bulgarian artists, curators and theoreticians that have more or less been the face of the country in this area. It moved into this place of its own three years ago, which was great news as spaces dedicated to contemporary art in the city are sparse.

So far ICA averages about 5 exhibitions per year, but if you don’t happen to be in town during one of them, it also has the ambition of keeping an archive and those who may be interested in Eastern European contemporary art may just ask around – the gallery host is enthusiastic about conversing with visitors.

ICA also hosts what hopes to be the world’s smallest gallery – “a gallery in a drawer”. It’s a good chance to get acquainted with the  scene, and also visit this unpopular albeit central area in the city.

The format of the gallery is also a révérence to “apartment” exhibitions in the communist block where any art practices other than socialist realism were to be hidden.

From April 21st the Institute will host an event from Sofia Contemporary – Sofia’s biggest and youngest contemporary art forum (April 19 – May 12), where you can also get info and program for all its activities scattered around interesting spots in the city.

The green and quiet residential district of Lozenets hides a few of my favorite sights. Alone and overtaken by ivy, barred in an overgrown forest behind a locked fence, there rises a tall tower structure completely at odds with Sofia’s practical cityscape. Perhaps a sleeping beauty lies there, locked by an old-time mayor of Sofia?

Something of the sort. To my surprise, Sofia has four water towers, which are all worth checking out. This is the only one with a less industrial outlook, fashioned after a French tradition in 1928-29, when Lozenets was still the green hill of Sofia and water couldn’t get to the few houses. As it went out of use, the water tower was locked and slowly became a forlorn, fairytale-ish presence.

But more than just a good sight, in June the water tower comes to life with the international festival for site-specific contemporary art, which gives access to its vault and a 360 view of the surroundings. This year it’s scheduled for June 19-23, so if you are here, don’t miss this chance, and if you are an artist, there’s an open call.

Dedicated to enlivening city spaces with the power of art, the festival also allows rare access to other hidden places in the city. The accompanying workshops and screenings in the small yard of the tower are a long-awaited garden party. It has prompted other sporadic events at the tower and even the mayor’s promise to make it permanent art center. Follow their facebook for more info.

Elephant Books has moved out of its cozy Teahouse in the Factory spot to a much more central and wider location, where its numerous volumes have more space to breathe. It is the only bookstore in Sofia specialized in selling second-hand books in English, and this old-school endeavor in our digital age makes it all the more a special to me.

Electronic readers are very handy when traveling, but if like me you like the  smell and physical presence of books, you will love this place too. If you just ran out of reads on that train, airport or bus, here is a good place to come across something new. As a second-hand shop, of course prices are moderate and for us locals it’s great as we can find the originals, or books that were never translated, for lower than they’d otherwise cost.

The selection is wide but good  – from fiction, classic and modern, to studies on media and feminism or books on cacti. There’s a certain randomness about it, which, as in every second-hand shop, makes the browsing exciting. With the relocation they supplemented the goods on offer with kites, bike gadgets, juggling balls, posters and other useful and not-so useful stuff with great design, which make good presents.

A special bonus is the evidence of past lives in the books: last time I bought a cloth-covered Chinese cookbook published in Hong Kong in 1963; besides the inscription, I got a TV program clipping from March ’67.