site.btaSofia's Structura Gallery Hosts Happy Exhibition

Sofia's Structura Gallery is hosting an exhibition entitled Happy with works by four Bulgarian artists: Iskra Blagoeva, Spartak Dermendjiev, Nedko Solakov and Kosta Tonev. The event curated by Netherlands-based educator Johan Gustavsson will be open for visitors from September 21 until October 28, the organizers said.

The exhibition is a humorous probe into how we all strive to find happiness and are prepared to do almost anything to achieve it, yet this pursuit often leads to disappointment, longing for the things that might have been and wondering if they could have been different.

The organizers said: "Arguably, happiness is related to how secure people feel in their lives. But according to recent [United Nations Development Programme] reports, six of seven human beings in the world feel insecure! And the higher the level of development a country has, the more insecurity people feel. In 2023, for the first time in history, young people are growing up with the idea that their situation is worse than that of the generation before. And even though factors of development – such as literacy, access to information, life expectancy, child birth deaths and improved economic positions for millions – are increasing, the people of the world are confronting social pressure, failing governments, wars, the climate crisis, a surge in conspiracy theories and a multitude of other abominations that challenge their sense of security and contentment."

Structura Gallery owner Maria Vassileva said that it is her gallery's mission to keep the contemporary Bulgarian visual scene on the pulse of global trends. The gallery makes a great effort to invite artists and curators from around the world, whose interactions with the local environment would create projects that could help Bulgarians see themselves with different eyes.

The four Bulgarians, whose works comprise Happy, were selected by Gustavsson after numerous meetings with artists in Sofia and Plovdiv

Gustavsson was born in 1978 in Stockholm. He is based in The Hague, The Netherlands. He is co-director/ curator at 1646 (www.1646.nl), lecturer at the Royal Academy of Art, in The Hague, co-founder of www.alternativeartguide.com, The Hague Contemporary and head of the board at www.page-not-found.nl.