New Ecologies at Swimming Pool

Artists: Martin Atanasov, Marina Genova, Nevena Ekimova, Billy Mateeva, Elena Nazarova, Maria Nalbantova, Cédric Van Parys

Exhibition title: New Ecologies

Curated by: Viktoria Draganova

Venue: A three-part exhibition at Swimming Pool, Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria

Date: April 25 – August 10, 2023

Photography: ©all images courtesy of the artists and Swimming Pool

What surrounds us, what else are we connected to, what do we consist of? “New Ecologies” is a project about different approaches to the environment. While, traditionally, we associate the term with nature and biodiversity conservation, it has meanwhile received an important development to include anthropogenic (“man-made”) factors. This is evidenced by contemporary art and exhibition practices, new educational disciplines such as environmental humanities and environmental philosophy, but also current concepts and processes in textile production, the food industry, product design, contemporary urban planning, and, not last, in framework strategic documents and programming, such as the New European Bauhaus.

However, the most widespread are still the idealizing notions of nature as something completely “natural”, moreover as something untouched by humans. Art has also played a role in this, creating the romantic picture of sublime nature, awe-inspiring and astonishing. This is most often manipulatively exploited by various industries – as for example in superfoods, plastic surgery, spa centers, tourism, or the mining industry. Rather than clinging to such notions, it is important to understand exactly how a hybrid environment functions, what the interactions within it are, what is within human control and what is not, and what is the place of collective responsibility and democratic community. In an expanded understanding of the environment, the distinction between “nature” and “culture” becomes anachronistic. Furthermore, we realize that we also need art that thinks the environment we live in – be it urban, domestic, commercial, or a forest – not only in a complex and relevant way, but also as specific to our geographical, social and political context.

To this end, we invited artists, experts, and organisations mostly based in Bulgaria to engage in a series of meetings in which we discussed perspectives on new ecologies through conversation, sharing, and research. These meetings resulted in a series of individual projects that were presented from 25 April to 10 August in three distinct exhibition parts at Swimming Pool, accompanied by a public program involving scholars, poets, and activists. Following “The Possible Institution” in 2021, this is our second extensive project through which we aim to encourage an in-depth understanding, a wide-ranging discourse, and a new artistic production on particularly socially relevant themes.

Public program with the participation of Dimiter Kenarov, Kosmotechnika (Konstantin Georgiev and Alexander Popov), Andrea Popyordanova and Francesca Castagnetti, Association “For the Earth”, WWF Bulgaria and Balkani Wildlife Society.

Publication “Useless Guide to Vartopo and its Weeds”, by Andrea Popyordanova and Francesca Castagnetti, published by the Center for Social Vision

Organization Viktoria Draganova (curator), Jenny Decheva (assistant curator), Victoria Gramova (intern), Nadezhda Davidkova (coordinator)

Media partner Journal for Social Vision

With the financial support of the Visual Arts programme of the Ministry of Culture and the One-Year-Grant of the National Culture Fund.

Nevena Ekimova, The First Ten Lifetimes or So Usually Suck, 2023. Cutwork silk embroidery on cotton, wooden spool, silk and cotton threads. © Swimming Pool and the artist. Photo: Yana Lozeva

Installation view “New Ecologies. Part 2” © Swimming Pool and the artists. Photo: Yana Lozeva

Martin Atanasov, Between the Wild Grass, 2023. digital print, sound. © Swimming Pool and the artist. Photo: Yana Lozeva

Marina Genova, Where We Live, 2023. glazed ceramics, resin, air freshener, keys, cardboard, HD video 1080p 15:30 min. © Swimming Pool and the artist. Photo: Yana Lozeva

Maria Nalbantova, Sofia Grand Canal, 2023. 4 modified digging shovels, acrylic paint, an announcement from the newspaper “Third Age”, a received letter, net-art project “The Sofia Sea” – EXN Lagoon, curated by Chiara Cartuccia. © Swimming Pool and the artist. Photo: Yana Lozeva

Elena Nazarova, Offering, 2023. collected objects typical of ritual activities and ceremonies in different cultures around the world. © Swimming Pool and the artist. Photo: Yana Lozeva

Billy Mateeva, Prominent Branches, 2023. wreaths of natural flowers, wood, ribbons, ryegrass, soil. © Swimming Pool and the artist. Photo: Yana Lozeva