For the fourth time in a row, Sofia Paper Art Fest is visiting the National Palace of Culture. There are two paper exhibitions that contrast, but at the same time complement each other – the exhibition “Amateras Annual Exhibition of Paper Art” and “Ornaments” – a solo exhibition of Krassimira Drenska. The opening of both is on June 10 from 18.00, and the public can see them until June 30, 2021.
The two locations of the National Palace of Culture – the West Lobby and the Marble Lobby – are traditional for the festival. The annual Amateur International Competition is presented in the West Lobby with the award ceremony by the jury during the official opening on June 10.
The concept of the competition, which dates back to 2009, initially focused on a small format of works, but the National Palace of Culture exhibits large-format installations and sites. The aim is to fit them into the interior of the Palace, complementing the suggestion of monumentality and light in the space. Thus, in partnership with the National Palace of Culture, the competition is developed into an attractive and large-scale project. The works are in a wide range – from installations to objects and panels.
The exhibition includes 60 authors from 23 countries, among which there are established young artists, mature and those looking for experimental forms. Most of them are members of the World Association of Paper Authors (IAPMA). The association is a traditional partner of the Amateras Foundation in various projects and helps to present Bulgaria as an important center for the development of paper art.
Among the participants are: Leticia Burgos, Eliana Anhina, Angela Barbu, Kakuko Ishii, Atsumi Murata, Noriko Amano, Kenji Sato, Nobuko Ueda, Sumie Mutsura, Helene Chacher, Verena Freidrich, Marian Colombani, Bruno David, Mar Karen Trask, Josefa Gal and others.
Bulgarian authors with each subsequent edition increase their interest in this art and this year among them stand out: Anna Boyadzhieva, Atanas Mihalchev, Martina Karaivanova, Valentin Bakardzhiev and others.
An important highlight of the program is the JAPAN BOWL competition for juniors, which is held for the third time in a row on June 12 in the marble lobby of the National Palace of Culture. The event is sponsored by the Embassy of Japan and presents the Japanese language and culture. The forum is getting bigger every year, and the members of the jury are from the Japan Foundation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Japan in Bulgaria. The competition is established as the largest in Europe.
Amateras Foundation, as an organization awarded by the Government of Japan for the presentation of Japanese culture in Bulgaria and Bulgarian culture in Japan, was chosen as the main organizer of the event in our country.
The other exhibition at the National Palace of Culture is a solo performance of the award-winning Bulgarian author from Amateras 2020. Krassimira Drenska is one of the artists who have participated in all editions of the competition and her choice by the jury is long-awaited. She is known for her works of recycled paper, related to human messages and details of reality. The Ornaments project focuses on the recycling of waste paper products.
Here is what the author herself says about this collection: “… The main visual element in the compositions is the ornament, which according to archaic notions is the key to mastering the raw natural material from which household items are made. Only when an object is decorated with ornaments, it becomes subject to man and can serve him. Following this line of ideas, I build a system of ornaments that organize the material from paper “porridge” into several series of works, referring to themes of creation, universal harmony, cosmic balance, the path to balance. “
The exhibition can be seen every day from 10.00 to 19.00.
The events from Sofia Paper Art Fest are part of the initiatives on the occasion of 40 years since the establishment of the National Palace of Culture.
Sofia Paper Art Fest is part of the Calendar of Cultural Events of Sofia Municipality for 2021.
The project is implemented with the financial support of the National Fund “Culture”, the program “One-year program to support private professional organizations in the field of arts” and Sofia Municipality.
Curator Daniela Todorova and artist Krassimira Drenska, an award-winning Bulgarian author at the 2020 International Annual Amateur Paper Competition, tell more in Artefir.
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