site.btaBulgaria Opens Pavilion at 60th Venice Biennale

The Bulgarian pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale was officially opened on Friday. "Memory keeps us alive, and these artists’ works are precisely about memory," caretaker Minister of Culture Nayden Todorov said during the opening ceremony.

"I am confident that with our participation in the 60th edition of the international art forum, we will be able to promote the achievements of contemporary Bulgarian art, encourage the mobility of artists, and ensure the sustainability of national participation," Todorov noted. The Minister said that "today, we live in very complicated times because very few people remain who remember."

"Artists are not far from historians who sort out the sources of the past and link them in a narrative," said Nadezhda Dzhakova, commissioner for Bulgaria's participation in the 60th Venice Biennale.

This is Bulgaria's eleventh participation in the Venice Biennale. Curated by Brazilian Adriano Pedrosa, this year's edition is under the motto "Foreigners Everywhere" and focuses on the themes of migration, exile, and "foreign origin".

Bulgaria's pavilion is in the exhibition space of Tiziano Hall, near Ponte dell'Accademia in Venice. Bulgaria is represented by the project "The Neighbours", created by Lilia Topouzova, Krasimira Butseva, and Julian Chehirian. Vasil Vladimirov is the project curator. "The Neighbours" project tells the story of survivors of political violence in Bulgaria, partially recreating the homes of repressed people.