Open Space Foundation with pleasure invites you
tho the Final exhibition “European Cultural Heritage on Stage”
from 4 till 7 April 2019 in Veliki Preslav town
a coule of years ago the building was used as a hotel by Balkantourist
ECHO (European Cultural Heritage on the Stage) is an international pilot project in the field of culture, heritage and arts, which aims to improve the cultural production and to strengthen the european sense of belonging by combining modern artistic creativity with the dark cultural heritage of local communities in Europe. Photography, video, painting and crafts are the means we use to reveal the material and intangible local heritage.
It is said that dealing with traumatic experiences and traumatic heritages has therapeutic effects. ECHO focuses on the “Dark Heritage” as part of the local identity, shaped by the “unknown” and “unrecognized” facts that trample a group of people and determine their culture. Villages and cities are marked by traumatic events related to wars, genocides, mass murders, ethnic conflicts, political or social oppression, property plundering, violence and death that are incised in their inheritance, material and immaterial.
From April 4 to 7, 2019 in the city of Veliki Preslav, artists from Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia, who participated in one-month art residences in Bitola (Macedonia) and Novi Sad (Serbia), will gather together to recreate the traumas and the recovery after them in their own expressive way.
The presentation of the works will take place in the building, which in the recent past was used for a hotel by Balkantourist. A meanignful place for the local people who not only celebrated their graduation balls, weddings and anniversaries there, but also voluntarily participated in its construction. Today it resembles a building devastated by a military conflict. And although in the city (and in Bulgaria) we have no memory of a military conflict in the last 50 years, its plunder and devastation is a fact.
Memories of the past, with the call to never be repeated again is the motto of the exhibition.
The authors who will be present at the exhibition are: Martina Lapika and Ivanka Lyubomirova Stavreva from Bulgaria, Depy Antoniou and Aristaios Tsousis from Greece, Ljubica Meshkova – Solak and Kiril T. Konstantin from Macedonia, Snezana Petkovic and Bojan Josic from Serbia, Stratis Vogiatzis and Yorgos Samantas from Caravan Project Productions, and the photographers: Stoyan Nikolov and Ivan Grigorov from Bulgaria.
SCHEDULE of the events:
| 4 April | 17:30 – 19:00 | Opening of the exhibition (in the building of Balkantourist Hotel) |
| 5 April | 09:30 – 17:30
17:30 – 19:00 |
Outdoor drawing by students from:
Professional High School of Textile and Fashion Design, Varna, Professional High School of Applied Arts, Smolyan, and National Academy of Plastic Arts and Design “Akademik Dechko Uzunov”, Kazanlak Presentation of a documentary film by the Caravan project, Greece and meeting with the authors (in the celebration hall of the Municipality of Veliki Preslav); |
| 6 April | 11:00 – 15:00
17:30 – 18:30 |
Visiting historical sites: The Archaeological Museum of Veliki Preslav and the Old Town.
Opening of the exhibition of the created artworks by the students who participated in the outdoor drawing. |
| 7 April | 11:30 – 12:30 | Ceremony for the closing of the exhibition (in the building of Balkantourist Hotel) |
The project is funded by the EU “Creative Europe” program, the National Culture Fund, with the support and hospitality of Veliki Preslav Municipality, Veliki Preslav Archaeological Museum and the “Saglasie” Pension Fund.
In partnership with: Inter Alia (Greece), Sfera (Macedonia), Vojvodina Civic Center (Serbia) and Open Space Foundation (Bulgaria)
Coordinator for Bulgaria: Open Space Foundation http://openspacebg.com/echo/
Contacts: Pepa Peneva
М: 0889916483, E: info@openspacebg.com
