Martin Penev at Swimming Pool

Artist: Martin Penev

Exhibition title: An Object Of Concern

Curated by: Viktoria Draganova

Venue: Swimming Pool, Sofia, Bulgaria

Date: June 16 – July 21, 2018

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Swimming Pool, Sofia, Bulgaria

We all shine, and we long. And we will long. But it seems as though only in glamour we are returning to life.

In glamour we even proclaim life. The golden surface is the aura of the inner good and prouder out. Is this knighthood in media time or the cinematic reality of a sign, devoid of time and meaning, like optimal marketing fed by narcissism? A flag for a doomed expectation, but festive in its self-oblivion.

And we go inside. I would even sit somewhere near the wall for a little while to spend time with myself. It’s peaceful. The being across – sewn up, propped up on branches, fastened with hemp, charming in its disability, reanimated with handy means, crushingly soft. Its synthetic glow is noble. Former trophy, present me. The psychological abyss of the child in me, hanging for years on a roller coaster in the amusement park of capitalism.

Whose is this kingdom?

But it is precisely this question in this exhibition that will not be answered. Because within a politics of imagination, potentiality and difference that we lead, all these oppositions dark-light, inside-out, cause-effect, will be broken down. Just because the world must be different. Also, the world is elsewhere, somewhere in the crevasse between anxiety and expectation … Suddenly, you even get a little funny because you understand that exactly this story – how we believed we knew the answer – is actually true.

-Viktoria Draganova

Martin Penev (b. 1985, based in Sofia) holds a master degree in Theology from the Sofia University (2009) and in Digital Arts from the National Academy of Art, Sofia (2012). Selected solo exhibitions: “Unforeseen“ ICA, Sofia; “Wonderful Urban Story”, The Fridge, Sofia (both 2018); “Ritual”, Atelie Plastelin, Sofia; “Appetite”, Æther, Sofia (both 2017); “Exploiting the Erased Image” at Vaska Emanouilova Gallery, Sofia (2016). Selected projects and group exhibitions: „Unicorn“, an action performed at “Bridges. Uprising Art & Culture Festival”, Thessaloniki (2018); ” Shifting Layers. Young Art at the Museum“, group exhibition at Sofia City Art Gallery (2017). Nominated for BAZA award for young artists in 2017 and 2018 (pending).

With the support of Gaudenz B. Ruf Award and Swimming Pool’s own funds.