CONTEMPORARY VIDEO
nominated films :: 27.09 - 06.10 :: 2016
Video Competition “Georges Papazoff”
27th September – 6th October 2016
Official openning: 27th September, 7 p.m.
The exhibition showcases the six films that have been nominated for the prize awarded for contemporary video named after the great Bulgarian artist Georges Papazoff. The competition is initiated by Mr. Georgi Vassilev and Studia Transmedia and aims to support the development of this genre in Bulgaria and to become a stimulus to creation of new works.
This year, the terms of the competition required that works were created after 2014 and of duration up to 15 minutes. The special challenge was that the videos were silent, without sound.
25 artists with 37 films took part in the competition.
The Jury comprised of Dr. Maria Vassileva, Vessela Dantcheva, Rene Beekman and Kin Stoyanov nominated six works, and selected the winner of the award for video “George Papazoff” – Leda Vaneva.
The award has a monetary value of 1,000 euros.
Adelina Popnedeleva. Flesh, 2016
In all ancient cultures there exist orgiastic feasts related to fertility; some of them are still held to this day. When not focusing on the traditional meaning, it seems they have become a demonstration of female flesh, or in the case of travesty – of the idea of female corporeity. It is the commercial world, in which we live and according to which sex sells, that has essential significance in building up such impression! The muted noise and slow-motion add to focusing the attention on body form and language.
Vladimir Mitrev. Once Upon A Time…, 2016
The video was specifically shot for the competition “George Papazoff”. It is based on a frame from the film “Once Upon a Time in the West” directed by Sergio Leone. The frame in question appears at the end of the film in the key duel between the mysterious Harmonica (Gunman) and the villain and murderer Frank. Standing against one another, ready at any moment to reach for their guns, the camera shows an extreme close-up of 8-10 sec of the eyes of Harmonica (Charles Bronson). This film technique aims to highlight the dramatic effect of the moment of culmination as well as the positive and heroic traits of the film character Harmonica. Based on this image, symbolizing the climax, the heroism and the huge dose of pathos as well as the need for justice after an injustice, I use my own eyes and stretch the length of the frame to more than 10 minutes. In my sequence, the narrative takes its own emancipated way and deconstructs the notion of male heroism, seeking direct contact with the viewer.
Kalin Serapionov. Blond Woman In A Red Dress And Bright Lipstick Talking On The Phone And Smoking A Cigarette, 2016
A video portrait in which the title suggests what the image must be. The frame is one shot; the camera follows the “model”, the movement, the gestures. The viewer, however, does not see the real image but rather its video scopes – the range of color graphics. The waveforms show the level of the video signal. The presence of more “white dots” in the various color levels means well shot image. Here, it is hidden behind the technical graphics. The viewer is prompted to figure out these charts and to analyze them. To try to build his/her own associations on the image based on the guidelines set out in the title of the work.
Leda Vaneva. Possible Worlds: North, 2016
The video is a notional follow-on of the photographic series “As Far As The Eye Can See” (2014). This time, however, the eyesight goes beyond the visible. Questioning reality itself, the work uses information gained from the visually perceived, but only as a basis for the potentially possible. Less than 5% is the matter from the composition of the Universe that we are able to perceive. Since there are scientists, who seriously considered hypotheses about the existence of the multiverse, surely, there should be artists to visualize how the world would look like if it had slight basic differences from what we’re used to.
Nadezhda Oleg Lyahova. Sordino, 2016
The video “Sordino” is made after the performance “Vanitas”*. This time, the icecream face, a casting off the face of the author, is eaten silently by the author herself.
“After almost 17 years I had eaten no ice cream, I decided to try – it’s delicious.”
Nadezhda Oleg Lyahova.
* Performance of Nadezhda Oleg Lyahova where the artist serves ice cream faces, castings of her own face, and the audience eats them. The performance is presented: 1999 – Festival of Arts “Apolonia” in Sozopol; 2000 – Theatre Laboratory “Sfumato”, Sofia; 2000 – Inner Spaces Gallery, Poznan, Poland; 2004 – Yokohama Museum of Art, Art Gallery, Yokohama, Japan; 2004 – Sofia City Art Gallery; 2007 – Centre for Contemporary Art, Panćevo, Serbia; 2012 – Restaurant-Hotel “Villa di Poletta”, Dobrich.
Christo Guelov. Ocean Colors, 2014
Some reflections of changing colors with geometric structure in the oceans.
