site.btaArtists from The Netherlands and Bulgaria Open Joint Exhibition in Varna

Artists from Varna and the Dutch city of Dordrecht opened an exhibition called Passengers Between Two Seas in the Varna Art Gallery on Wednesday. The exhibition includes works by 13 authors from both countries in various areas of the visual arts, from paintings and sculptures to video art and installations.

The artists from Varna include Angel Atanasov, Velina Grebenska, Vladimir Ivanov, Iliya Yankov and Milko Bozhkov. The Dutch side is represented by Annika Hochstenbach, Babs van Houten, Gerhard Lentink, Jan Stroeve, Nico Parlevliet and Sam Scheckel.

The exhibition features a sculptural work by Gerhard Lentink, one of the most serious Dutch contemporary artists working in the field of monumental sculpture. He will also give a lecture on June 21 dedicated to the Dordrecht Museum, which is one of the oldest in the Netherlands. 

The joint initiative is a continuation of the tradition of art exchange between the two cities, which has developed over the past four decades.  The idea for the exhibition dates back two years, when the Dutch foundation visited Varna, said curator Irena Dimitrova, an expert in the Directorate for Culture and Spiritual Development at Varna Municipality. "Then we thought it would be nice to give another boost to this tradition of exchanging visual art that dates back to the 80s and 90s", she added. After the exhibition in Varna, there is an intention to invite the Bulgarian artists to Dordrecht, noted Dimitrova.

The artist Vladimir Ivanov pointed out that the cooperation between Varna and Dordrecht began at the end of the 1970s, when the founders of the Eastern Europe Projects Foundation, Ton Delemare and Ada D'Amcourt, met Rumen Skorchev, who sparked their interest in Bulgaria. "The two wanted to extend a hand to Eastern Europe, which at the time was a white spot on the map for citizens of Western Europe", added Ivanov.

In 1984, the foundation invited two groups of 15 artists each to hold exhibitions in the art centre Piktura in Dordrecht, which dates back to the 18th century. After these visits to the Netherlands, contemporary art found its footing in Varna, and similar events took place in the seaside city for the first time in Bulgaria, said Ivanov. In 1989, seven artists made an exhibition in Varna and published the first Bulgarian art book in 13 copies, where each of the authors had a presentation with text and images on four pages.

The exhibition is organized by Varna Municipality and the Dordrecht - Varna Foundation and will be open to visitors until July 10.