Skopje, 25 June 2023 (MIA) - Despite the situation between the two countries in the daily political sphere which seems outside the real life of the citizens, it turned out that the interest in Bulgaria about what is happening in contemporary art in our country is great, as evidenced by the collaborations that resulted from this exhibition, said Ivana Vaseva, curator of the exhibition "Precarity has a chance: Public spaces in movement (toward)", which opened in the Structura Gallery in the Bulgarian capital Sofia.

The exhibition opened the 18th edition of the AKTO Festival for Contemporary Arts on June 16, 2023. It is a group exhibition of 18 works by 20 Macedonian artists, which will be open to visitors in Sofia until July 29.

"Precarity has a chance: Public spaces in movement (toward)" showcases works by artists including Elena Chemerska, Iskra Dimitrova, Hristina Ivanoska, Slavica Janeslieva, Gjorgje Jovanovik, Filip Jovanovski, Verica Kovacevska, Shqipe Mehmeti, Oliver Musovik, Natasha Nedelkova, Dorotej Neshovski, OPA (Obsessive Possessive Aggression), Aleksandra Petrushevska Ristovska, Nada Prlja, Dita Starova-Qerimi, Nikola Uzunovski, Dragana Zarevska and Gjorgji Despodov, Velimir Zernovski.

Asked how the idea to open the exhibition in Sofia came about, the curator Vaseva said the invitation came from the director of the Structura Gallery in Sofia, Marija Vasileva, and the curator's goal is to present a selection of artists who are active in the field of contemporary visual art and who do not act in isolated circumstances but understand the political side of art and have an engaged attitude towards contemporary social-political and economic phenomena.

"The idea was to generally present the living art scene in Macedonia, as well as rediscover the connection between the two scenes, the Bulgarian and the Macedonian, which communicated much more intensively in the 90s. Later, probably due to the different interests of the internationalizing and dynamizing art scenes, the collaborations became less intense, and I thought to myself that this could be very potential," Vaseva told MIA. 

She noted that the chosen topic is that of the public space, i.e. its shrinking under violent urbanization and privatization, a process that has an impact not only on children's lives, turning attention to digital games, but also the perpetual exclusion of various voices in our society, from gender issues to the needs of people with atypical development. 

According to Vaseva, after a conversation with AKTO artistic director, Filip Jovanovski, the two decided that it would be a great opportunity to expand the festival to other countries.

"Filip Jovanovski and I decided that it would be a great opportunity to expand AKTO in other contexts, in other environments. Namely, after 15 editions of AKTO in Bitola, several editions of AKTO in Tetovo, Shtip, Kochani, Gevgelija, Prilep, Veles and the latest two in Skopje, we thought why not start AKTO in Sofia, and then continue in Skopje and in other places where we think it's possible," the curator said.

The opening of the exhibition attracted many visitors from Bulgaria, most of them artists who cooperate professionally with the Macedonian artists. 

Ivana Vaseva said she was pleased with the positive impressions of the visitors from Bulgaria. 

"We were invited and had several TV and radio appearances in Sofia. Everyone was very interested in the exhibition. I also found interesting the fact that even amid the current political situation that the two countries have, which functions on a completely different level, in the daily political sphere and seems outside the real life of the citizens, it turned out that the interest in Bulgaria about what is happening in contemporary art in our country is great and surprising, as evidenced by the collaborations that resulted from this exhibition," Vaseva said. 

"Precarity has a chance: Public spaces in movement (toward)" is an exhibition that features different artistic endeavors that reclaim and redefine the public sphere and the public space by creating tactics for its re-conquest and access for the precarized and silenced.

Vaseva notes that the theme of the exhibition is general, i.e. it applies to all environments, not only to North Macedonia and to Bulgaria, and it is the shrinking of public space, privatization, expropriation, over-urbanization and urban transformation of the city, which leads to the shrinking of the public person and public opinion.

"The space for a reasoned, healthy debate is rapidly shrinking, and this, in my opinion, is also due to the impact of the loss of public space. This is actually a general framework for the exhibition, which showcases 18 works by 20 artists because one work is done by two artists," Vaseva pointed out. 

Vaseva added that the exhibition features works in the classic format - paintings and prints, to more interdisciplinary formats of public work in public space, work with other people, with people with special needs, raising the women's issue, women's feelings, women's voice, the voice of the disadvantaged and the marginalized.

The AKTO Festival for Contemporary Arts is one of the few non-institutional festivals in the country with longstanding continuity. AKTO 18 is produced by the Faculty of things that can't be learned - FRU in partnership with Structura Gallery, Sofia, with the support of Trust For Mutual Understanding (TMU), New York. 

Bisera Trajkovska

Translation: Nevenka Nikolikj

Photo: Kristijan Karadzhovski / MIA