site.btaExhibition “15 More Minutes” Offers Visual and Conceptual Dive into Gen Z Consumer Culture

The exhibition “15 More Minutes” offers a visual and conceptual immersion into contemporary consumer culture, interpreted through the visual language of Gen Z and the aesthetics of pop art, according to Sofia's Depoo Gallery, which hosts the event from July 8 to 22.

Curator Gergana Minkova said the exhibition’s title refers to Andy Warhol’s famous phrase that “in the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes,” while also evoking the desire to prolong fleeting pleasure – more visual delight, more colourful energy, a bit more “sugary” euphoria. “15 More Minutes” draws inspiration from the work of Warhol, the artist who turned the banal into iconography and repetition into strategy, reflecting on the fleeting nature of fame and the devaluation of meaning in a culture dominated by the market and mass production.

Artist Ivona Ivanova doesn’t simply quote pop art but reinterprets it through the lens of a generation raised after the year 2000, Minkova explains.

In her words, “15 More Minutes” is like an advert you can’t skip or a noise you can’t mute. “The artist reconsiders symbols of belonging and identity shaped by brands, social media, and mass visuality, without passing judgement. Consumerism is not criticized – it is presented as a natural part of everyday life, a fact, an unexamined way of existing,” says Minkova.

Ivona Ivanova works with imagery such as the Nike logo, Hell energy drink, and jelly sweets. “Today, these elements go beyond their practical function and carry emotional, social, and cultural meaning, sometimes even reaching a level of banality. When featured as motifs in patterned wallpapers and handmade screen prints, they gain the status of visual symbols for a generation brought up on screen and advertising aesthetics. Rhythmic, bright, and even intrusive in their repetition, they create visual tension and evoke the oversaturation of the digital environment,” the curator adds. In her view, “15 More Minutes” does not criticize consumer culture but rather examines it from within, through the eyes of an artist who grew up in that very environment.

Ivona Ivanova was born in 1999 in Lovech, North Central Bulgaria. She holds a BA and MA in Textiles – Art and Design from the National Academy of Arts. Her interests lie in graphic techniques (screen printing and textiles). Her current debut exhibition builds upon her Master’s thesis “15 Minutes” and continues her exploration of consumer culture, this time on a larger and more spatially immersive scale.