Goethe Institut, Bulgaria and The Red House Centre for Culture and Debate present:

Kunst aus dem Koffer
exibition

There is no journey without a suitcase – the portable equipment for everything we need while on the road. And the content of the suitcase is significant for our necessities - an intimate reflection of our personality. Therefore in the female artist’s suitcase we find not simply the wide-known CCT (clothes, cosmetics and trinkets) but art. In order to be mobile and independent the artist should be able to create in any type of conditions, to complete her work and either collect it or leave it behind as a trace. In times of constant movement and traveling when coming and going have become a dominant modus of existence, it is close to mind that this form of existence has turned to be a main subject of our artwork making us leave the traditional method of work in art studios.

The suitcase offers a place for art, which reflects the discovery and perception of unknown spaces. For the artists who create it this is an important aspect of their art and life, of the artistic transformation of the unknown. The crash into unfamiliar situation or the sojourn at an unknown place together with the traveller’s feeling of insecurity and loneliness provoke reconsideration of our situation and gives a new meaning to the present. The foreigner’s eyes discover phenomena that have faded to triviality for the locals whereas the traces he leaves while passing by are different and unreadable through the natives’ communication codes and habits. Some things seem contradictory and the foreigner seeks explanation of everything that makes impression. Simple observations grow into examinations, expectations made in advance prevail to reality. The new place is disclosed in a questionable way. A tension arises between the identity of the place and the subjectivity of the artist. Resemblance and difference of habits become lurid as they gain new meaning in a new context and lead to different conclusions and further questions.

By their works the artists progress into the unknown trying to sketch and shape what impresses them and to illustrate the process of observation, disclosure and perception. They initiate the audience in their personal surprise, bewilderment and perplexity. Discovered and collected, these fragments, treasures and signs of a place, meeting or an event are impregnated to tense series of artwork, performances inspired by some story or a picture consisted of various aspects of particular close-up are presented to the public.

Sofia is still not a leading tourist destination, but, on the other hand it is on its way of integration with the EU. That is why for us, people of art, it is extremely attractive to put to an open discussion exactly here and now our art work. We are keen to talk to Bulgarian artists of everything that traveling and self-departure matter, as well as what problems and necessities do they face and how do they deal with them. We are ready to uncover what is similar and different between us in order to find an initial point of common ideas and projects.

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