site.btaNational Autumn Exhibitions in Plovdiv to Open on September 1

The National Autumn Exhibitions 2025 will open on September 1, as is tradition, Vessela Nozharova, curator of the exhibitions, told BTA in an interview on Wednesday.

"When I started thinking about what kind of exhibition I would like to see in these houses, many images of the artistic Plovdiv of the past came to mind. I imagined what it was like for the city in those years to have a colourful bohemian company that painted during the day and partied with musicians and local revellers at night", she said.

The exhibition spaces will feature video works, installations, ceramics, sculptures made from recycled materials, classical (albeit abstract) paintings, photographic screen prints, digital 3D prints and even sculptures on which visitors can sit and even lie down. Nozharova said her selection of works was based on her long-standing curatorial practice, in which she almost unerringly knows what to expect from whom in an exhibition. 

This year, the National Autumn Exhibitions will be held under the motto "A Piece of River". Does the concept of the exhibitions have to be historically connected to the place? Why did you choose this approach?

Nothing is mandatory, but the place itself, namely, the Old Town of Plovdiv, with its historic houses and cobblestone courtyards immersed in greenery, invited me to approach it in this way. This is not an ordinary exhibition space. The three houses with the three courtyards are actively involved in the exhibition. For me, the interesting thing about the Piece of River project was to build an exhibition narrative that involves the place and its context, both historically and visually.

What is the conceptual framework of this year’s edition? What does the project rely on and what is the source of inspiration?

I will answer with the synthesized version of my curatorial text, which underlies the concept with which I won the curatorial competition:

“The Piece of River exhibition examines the connections between art, place, past and present, embodied in the dialogue between the Old Town of Plovdiv, the work of Georgi “Slona” Bozhilov (1935-2001) and the works of 14 contemporary Bulgarian artists. At its core is a fantasy that places the legendary group of Plovdiv painters with their colourful, bohemian lifestyle against the backdrop of black and white socialist existence.

In the mid-1960s, this colourful artistic community was like a life-giving river, springing from the top of Nebet Tepe, flowing along the old stone cobblestones, passing through the beautiful courtyards and entering from house to house. The silent smoking figure of Georgi “Slona” Bozhilov (...) marked the beginning of the exhibitions in the Old Town, marking the symbolic intersection between the local and the global, between what was and what is to come."

When I started thinking about what kind of exhibition I would like to see in these houses, many images of the artistic Plovdiv of the past came to mind. I imagined what it must have been like for the city in those years to have a colourful bohemian company that painted during the day and partied with musicians and local punks at night. People who, in those unfree years, were allowed to be colourful, bearded, often drunk and living with, and for, art. I watched many documentaries, read books and memories about Plovdiv in the 1960s and 1970s, about the Old Town, about Georgi “Slona” Bozhilov, ​​who is central to my concept. This year marks the 90th anniversary of his birth, and it was with his exhibition in 1967 that the tradition of the autumn exhibitions began.

How many artists will be presented at the National Autumn Exhibitions? How did you select them? They are from different generations, but they all work in contemporary art.

The exhibition features 14 artists. Among them are established names with long-standing careers, but also very young artists. I have worked with Siyana Shishkova, who is 24 years old. What made me very happy was that all the artists agreed to participate with enthusiasm and almost all of them created new works specifically for the National Autumn Exhibitions. The choice of these authors is based on my long-standing curatorial practice, in which I can nearly always anticipate what each artist will bring to an exhibition.

The specific location can change the tone of an exhibition. The spaces of the Autumn Exhibitions are atypical and very demanding. Were the works created specifically for this edition, or were they adapted to the venues?

It is important to know that my A Piece of River project is not a collection of individual exhibitions, but a joint exhibition of 14 artists. All the works were either created for specific places or carefully selected for those places. The houses, the rooms, the courtyards, the pavements, the greenery, the wells are all part of the exhibition. All the works are intended to engage with the specific space. I want the experience to unfold in a single breath, like drifting down a river, from the Balabanov House to the House of Mexican Art. The image of the water that springs from Nebet Tepe and flows towards the city underlies the concept. Art, and all of us, are part of this imaginary flow that has no end. In this sense, I want the exhibition to be perceived more on visual, tactile and emotional levels than as a frozen concept.

The National Autumn Exhibitions in Plovdiv are an example of a sustainable forum for visual art and a kind of annual almanac of fine arts in the country. What are the contemporary trends in art?

Contemporary art and artists deal with themes such as the present, ​​regardless of the media and technique they use. Even when they refer to the art of Georgi "Slona" Bozhilov or to the history of the Old Town, their works present the doubts, hopes and passions of today. The exhibition engages with current themes such as uncertainty, political anxiety, the value of art, and the choices we face. Interestingly, the only work that we left from the permanent exhibition is Apocalypse by Georgi "Slona" Bozhilov, painted in the 1980s. Several artists refer to it, bringing similar emotions to those of its author.

Vessela Nozharova was born in Blagoevgrad in 1974. She is an art historian, curator and critic, who lives and works in Sofia. She graduated in Art History from the National Academy of Arts in Sofia, where she is currently working on her doctoral thesis. She is engaged in contemporary art and has curated over 40 projects in Bulgaria, Austria, Belgium and other countries in Europe. In 2007, she curated the Bulgarian national participation in the 52nd Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art. She is a co-founder of the Art Affairs & Documents association of Bulgarian curators. She has been the curator of the Credo Bonum Gallery since 2015.