"Legitimate Love" Still Burns between Apollonia and LIK Magazine, Says Editor-in-Chief

Filip Pavlov, BTA special correspondent Vanya Suharova

LIK magazine Editor-in-Chief Georgi Lozanov during the presentation of the latest issue of LIK magazine, September 1, 2025 (BTA Photo/Hristo Stefanov)

Sozopol, on the Black Sea,

01.09.2025 14:12

(BTA)

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"The legitimate love between Apollonia and LIK magazine still burns and grows more passionate," LIK Editor-in-Chief Georgi Lozanov said in Sozopol Monday during the launch of LIK, the BTA magazine for art and culture. The launch event is part of the "Price of Success" section of the Apollonia Art Forum.

"I say it is "legitimate love, because what is more legitimate than the relationship between an arts festival and a culture and art magazine", he emphasized, noting that on 2025 there has been a trend in the editorial policy of LIK magazine to try to serve a national cultural strategy, which is something Bulgaria does not seem to have. "Do we know what we want Bulgarian culture to be, how and who it should reach, what its borders are and where they are expanding? In general, (do we know) what is expected from a national cultural strategy?", Lozanov asked.

He specified that the Culture Ministry has written and planned such strategies, but it seems that there is a lack of clarity in society about what Bulgaria's cultural strategy is. "We are trying through the magazine to suggest such a strategy, including important sides and aspects, points of sustainability of Bulgarian culture. That is why this year there was an issue of the magazine dedicated to cultural heritage", he pointed out.

"Cultural heritage is on the verge of boredom, so to speak. But in reality, cultural heritage is a contemporary process. The question now is what we do with cultural heritage, how do we conserve, restore, present, explain, interpret it is a contemporary cultural process. And in the current issue, cultural heritage is actually presented as contemporary culture, as what we are doing now, which seems to us to be important as a strategic moment in Bulgarian culture," Lozanov said. He stressed that the magazine's issues from 2024 can be perceived as chapters in a strategy of the national cultural identity.

He recalled that LIK magazine's issue titled "Bulgaria in UNESCO" helped the conversation on the cultural heritage sites that are protected by UNESCO, which was appreciated even by the UNESCO organization itself. Lozanov also noted that the issue about Christo and Jeanne-Claude was a very important strategic part, as there was a dramatic, conflicting axis in their lives, related to how Bulgarians accept their own cultural identity and what its boundaries are.

Lozanov noted that in the latest issue one can simultaneously talk about cultural tourism and tourism as culture. "And in this culture, it is very important what the image of Bulgaria is, which we want to promote in relation to the international audience, so that it can come to Bulgaria", he stressed, adding that in this regard, there is a rather schematic, slightly chronic image of a Bulgaria which is unable to enter into contemporary trends and, above all, a concern with the principle of pleasure in constructing this image. "Tourism is related to pleasure, to enjoyment. And culture is also related to enjoyment. This is thinking about culture, but this experience of culture in a conservative way is always hindered," he emphasized, calling it Dostoevism, meaning to love your own suffering.

"We are constantly pushing ourselves into a Dostoevism. We want everything to be somehow suffering, dramatic, and to present ourselves in this way to the world, as humiliated. No. Everything is cheerful, calm. Modern cultural identities are not identities that are at war with each other. They are cheerful, carefree and say "Welcome". And somehow it seems to me that this should be part of the modern cultural strategy", Lozanov concluded.

LIK has dedicated its August issue to the 130th anniversary of organzed tourism in Bulgaria. It highlights one of the emblematic initiatives of the Bulgarian Tourist Union, the “Get to Know Bulgaria – 100 National Tourist Sites” movement. The initiative spans a wide range of natural, historical, cultural, and archaeological landmarks, their number being 242 as of 2024, with each presented in LIK’s August issue.

/MR/