Pretty sure it’s just the wind at Swimming Pool and Goethe-Institut Bulgaria

Artists: Minhyeok Ahn, So Yeon Kim, Kristina Lovaas, Rudi Ninov

Exhibition title: Pretty sure it’s just the wind

Curated by: Viktoria Draganova

Venue: Swimming Pool, Goethe-Institut Bulgaria, Sofia, Bulgaria

Date: March 10 – April 10, 2021

Photography: © Goethe-Institut Bulgaria, Swimming Pool, and the artists, Photo: Radostin Sedevchev

pretty sure it’s just the wind is a project and an exhibition by four artists who live and work in Frankfurt am Main that spans across two locations in Sofia: Goethe-Institut and Swimming Pool.

Since we started conceiving the project just before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic almost a year ago, our work together has been defined by lackings and phantasies, by stretches and loops. But also by silence, all over the site – at the exhibition spaces, in the studios, online. So, the project is about the possible presence and listening in. It is also about modes of attention within infrastructures that we all happen to share, such as the city, the art academy, the art institution. What is to be certain of the encounters that begin to appear?

The exhibition is an extension of Goethe-Institut Bulgaria’s work aimed at presenting and supporting young Bulgarian artists through the exhibition series “Art Start.” In 2021, the initiative continues with the first of a new series of exhibitions offering an overview of the young contemporary art scene in various German cities or provinces. After Frankfurt, the next cities in focus will be Düsseldorf, Munich, Hamburg etc.

In 2021, the programme of Swimming Pool is supported by the National Cultural Fund.

Minhyeok Ahn was born in 1990 in Chungju, South Korea, and lives and works in Frankfurt am Main. He graduated from Kaywon University, South Korea in 2016, studied at AKI ArtEZ 2017, the Netherlands, and currently studies at Städelschule, Germany. His last works were shown in South Korea in 2020, at Villa Hamillton and ‘그음공간, Space stroke.’

Rudi Ninov was born in 1992 in Teteven, Bulgaria. He earned a BA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths, University of London, in 2015 and is currently continuing his education in the class of Monika Baer at Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main. Recent exhibitions include Liste Showtime Pop-up, Sariev Gallery, Plovdiv (2020), ORBIT, Messeturm, Frankfurt am Main (2020), NOT CANCELLED East x South, Sariev Gallery, Plovdiv (2020), Sariev Selfisolation, Sariev Gallery, Plovdiv (2020), Good Weather, Ginsberg Galeria, Lima (2020), The Artist Collector’s Dream (a nice thing), Galleria Continua, San Gimignano (2020), Gravitiy Works Only When You Look Down, Vaska Emanuilova Gallery, Sofia.

Kristina Lovaas was born in 1992 in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. She is currently studying under Judith Hopf at Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main. Before continuing her studies in Germany, Kristina completed a BA in Art History and BFA in Fine Arts from Cornell University in New York in 2016. Recent exhibitions include “DENKRAUM DEUTCHLAND” Pinakothek der Moderne (2020), “Lash 23” Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden (2019), “A Good Life’s Sleep” Kornhäuschen (2019), “To Let Things Slide” Lovaas Projects (2019).

So Yeon Kim (1995, Seoul) lives and works in Frankfurt am Main. She received a BFA from Cornell University in 2018 and currently studies at Städelschule, Frankfurt and Bard College, NY. So Yeon uses the mediums of painting, printmaking, and collages to explore ideas about (imperfect, fugitive, awkward, active) bodies and where they are situated on the canvas and in a room.

Installation view “pretty sure it’s just the wind” at Goethe-Institut Bulgaria, 2021

Minhyeok Ahn, F-1, 2021, Granite, epoxy resin

Kristina Lovaas, The Party’s Over, 2021, Glazed ceramics, acrylic, nails

Kristina Lovaas, The Party’s Over, 2021, Glazed ceramics, acrylic, nails (detail)

Installation view “pretty sure it’s just the wind” at Goethe-Institut Bulgaria, 2021

Rudi Ninov, Untitled (half instruments, Partch in epilogue), 2021, Acrylic on canvas

Rudi Ninov, Untitled (half instruments, Partch in epilogue), 2021, Acrylic on canvas (detail)

So Yeon Kim, Briar patch, only three thorns, 2021, Charcoal, plastic, etching ink, oil, acrylic, and collage on canvas

So Yeon Kim, Briar patch, only three thorns, 2021, Charcoal, plastic, etching ink, oil, acrylic, and collage on canvas (detail)

So Yeon Kim, Prism 3, 2020, Monotype

Kristina Lovaas, Ephelia, 2021, Silk paint and acrylic on satin

Installation view “pretty sure it’s just the wind” at Swimming Pool, Sofia, 2021

Kristina Lovaas, Sunday Blues and Monday’s Ghost, 2021, Glazed ceramics, acrylic, nails

Installation view “pretty sure it’s just the wind” at Swimming Pool, Sofia, 2021

So Yeon Kim, Briar patch (5kg), 2021, Charcoal on carbon paper (detail)

Rudi Ninov, Untitled, 2021, Shellac ink on paper

Installation view “pretty sure it’s just the wind” at Swimming Pool, Sofia, 2021

Rudi Ninov, Untitled (lower track deuce), 2021, Acrylic on canvas

Kristina Lovaas, pinching, pressing, gnawing, beating, 2021, Ceramics

Minhyeok Ahn, Fat over wall, 2021, Wax on wall

Minhyeok Ahn, Fat over wall, 2021, Wax on wall (detail)

Installation view “pretty sure it’s just the wind” at Swimming Pool, Sofia, 2021

Rudi Ninov, The Runner, 2020, Ceramic, acrylic, wood, resin, paper, polymer

Rudi Ninov, The Runner, 2020, Ceramic, acrylic, wood, resin, paper, polymer (detail)

Kristina Lovaas, Her belly full of bourbon, 2020, Watercolor on paper