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‘ART POSITIVE – ANALOGUE’ – a contemporary art festival
(tenth anniversary edition)

 

Concept and organization: “Art Today” Association и ‘eX Art Foundation’

Locations: Center for Contemporary Art, Plovdiv – Banya “Starinna”(located at an ancient Rome bath); archaeological complex Nebet Tepe; other prominent locations in the central part of the town
26 April – 19 May 2013 г.

 

From 26 April to 19 May 2013 was presented the 10th annual edition of the festival for contemporary art from Plovdiv – “Art Positive”. Its theme this year was “Analog”.

Main initiator and organizer of Art Positive is “Art Today” Association. In 2013 partners in the realization of the event and authors of the conceptual project “Analog” were Rad Gyulemetov and Vanya Grozdanova – both from “eX Art Foundation” (eXAF).

At the exhibition in the CCA “Banya Starinna” the audience saw realized the ideas of 17 visual artists based in the the city of Plovdiv or its region. Among them were, together, some renown and established artists and some young, newly emerging and innovative ones. These were: Tsvetan Uzunov Trifon Tashev, Sevdalina Kochevska, Rangel Gidikov, Prodan Markov, Pelmo, Nikola Minchev, Nadia Genova, Kolya Stefanov, Iliya Lambov, Zdravka Kantareva, Emil Mirazchiev, Vesela Statkova and Ivan Karev, Venera Smilenova, Valko Chobanov. Scenocosme (Grégory Lasserre & Anaïs met den Ancxt) were festival’s guest artists – an art duo from France whose art work representing a record made out of wooden disk, seen at the exhibition in the form of a video installation.

The outdoor party at the archaeological complex Nebet Tepe, which marked the openning of Art Positive 2013 – without a doubt – turned out to be the outdoor music event for the spring in Plovdiv. There were presented three musical collectives – Spiraltone, Narco Polo and Kottarashky; also – the audiovisual artist YvesO, and, three performative artists – Stassy & Savina (dancers), and Dario Tabakov (a fire performer).

Each thursday within the festival period the CCA, Plovdiv served as a meeting point for the three consecutive discussions between the audience and the guest lecturers: artists, curators and organizers of some of the valuable events at our recent art scene. They were: Yovo Panchev (artist and co-founder of “Studio Dauhaus – independent culture and contemporary art platform”), Nia Pushkarova (artist and founder of the “Water Tower Art Fest” – International Festival of Contemporary Art) and Krasimir Dobrev (artist and professor, lecturer at the Academy of Arts – Plovdiv).

Two artistic actions which took placce in urban environment added another slice of interest to the main event. One was the interactive audio installation “My Favorite Music” by Emil Mirazchiev – situated on Al. Battenberg St., and the other – an interactive projection performed on the facade of the National Library “Ivan Vazov”, mainly PR focused, realized over the idea of Rad Gyulemetov.

The conceptual scope of the event’s theme – “Analog” – was intended to provoke a glance towards the anti-digitization and the possible use of analogue equipment in contemporary art. In the middle was the quest whether analogue media, in its specificity, could still be meaningfully applied in art creating, especially if we consider its current state of abandoned practical usage. The success of this challenge got obvious through the view of the intriguing installations which resultedly filled the space of the CCA, Plovdiv. Demonstrated and presented were various philosophical, socio-cultural and game-oriented creative perspectives on the topic, seen in the forms of as various artistic developments. Each artwork was carried out solely by the means of analogue media, without the intervention of digital technology. Thus, the audience was stunningly intrigued and gave an extremely positive feedback to the event, stating its interest in future events of the organizers.

The success of the “Art Positive” festival for contemporary art is obvious, first of all, through the high attendance which the exhibition experienced at the openning day and ahead throughout the whole period of the event. Next comes the Openning party at Nebet Tepe – a single and remarkable event for the city and its audience. It attracted a lot of young people, who enjoyed the event, and furthermore, gained the approval of older residents, as well, viewed be them as a quality and necessary event.

The 10th edition of the festival expanded its communication both with the artists and the audience. In the selection of participant this year were included artists not only from the city of Plovdiv, but also from other cities in the region. Thus, in a way, it attacked the centralized approach followed traditionally in city’s cultural policy. Also, the festival events engaged the audience not only with the exhibition presented at CCA, Plovdiv – “Banya Starinna”, but with an outdoor party. Thus it enlivened one of the best known archeological sites of the city, exhilarating it with the impulse of contemporary musical, audiovisual and dance-performative culture. These outlined characteristics in the implementation of the 10th edition of the festival “Art Positive” mark it as one of the major 2013 events in Plovdiv’s cultural calendar, especially considering city’s candidacy for European Capital of Culture 2019.

The festival “Art Positive – Analogue” was carried out with financial support of the Municipality of Plovdiv.

Media partners of the event were: BNT, BNT2, BNR, Katra FM, Darik Radio, Darik News, programata.bg.
The event was covered by media such as: BNT – “The day begins with a culture”, BNT – News; BNT2 – “Bulgaria Today”, BNT Plovdiv, BNR, Darik radio, “Maritsa” newspaper, www.podtepeto.com, www.events.plovdiv.info, kulturni-novini.info, www.novini-te.com, www.focus-news.net, www.mediacafe.bg, www.plovdiv-online.com, www.bulgariautre.bg and others.

The press conference was held on April 24 and was attended by over 20 journalists from different media.

The organizing team of the festival included: chief organizer, coordinator, assistant and PR.

 

Official blog of the event: http://analogue.exaf.org/en

 

 

EXHIBITION CATALOGUE

 

 

 

 

 

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