site.btaRuse to Host Contemporary Art Festival from May 16 Until June 15

A contemporary art festival, which will take place from Saturday through June 15, will transform Ruse into a platform for interaction between artists, the public, and the urban environment, said in an interview for BTA Eslitsa Popova, Director of the Ruse Art Gallery, which is the event's main organizer. Under the theme of Space, the festival will explore how the environment is experienced, transformed, and reimagined through contemporary artistic practices. The projects are created in dialogue with specific locations and contexts, which will turn the city of Ruse into an active participant in the artistic process.

Popova shared: "The first edition of the festival, which took place last year and was experimental, went wonderfully, with plenty of feedback from the press and experts in Bulgaria and around the world. So we decided to organize a major international festival for contemporary art with an open call that ran from last year. The curators, Elisa Calosi from Germany and Rositsa Getsova from Bulgaria, selected 22 projects from 80 submissions worldwide, which we are actually presenting at several venues in Ruse, including in the urban environment."

Popova highlighted Anton Tsanev's Energy Box and Melih Nehat's I Am From There When I Am Here, which are interactive sculptures that will be placed in the city. Daniela Kostova's Ecological Baroque will be visible on the Eco Museum with Aquarium facade. Other Bulgarian artists features at the festival include Martian Tabakov, Mia Momchilova, Kaloyan Ivanov, Stefani Stoeva and Nikola Nikolov, Simeon Stefanov, Stanka Tsonkova and Tanya Decheva.

Canetti House will host video pieces by 12 foreign artists.

Romanian artist Stela Lie will present her exhibition At Home. The animated installation Family Portrait by Croatian-Portuguese artist Lea Vidakovic will also be screened. Canadian Iona Pelovska's piece Mirror, River, Sky will be presented by the River Danube. The audience will also see pieces by artists from Germany, Italy, and the US.

Popova said: "On the one hand, the public will have the opportunity to meet living contemporary artists, most of whom will be present at the opening to bring and install their works. On the other hand, they will be able to see interactive installations in an urban setting with which they can engage. In this way, we are bringing the public closer to contemporary art, and contemporary art is learning about the city of Ruse and the existence of such a festival here, because artists and critics from all over the world are looking for a platform to showcase their work." She added that the festival programme includes concerts, workshops, discussions, lectures, book presentations, and screenings. Some of the events will take place outside of Ruse, in the towns of Popovo and Isperih, as well as in the villages of Nisovo and Basarbovo.