From June 1st until 8 th 2021 in Sozopol was set the exhibition "Challenges and Directions" consisted of works by Macedonian and Bulgarian contemporary artists. The exhibition was part of the Tenth International Francophone Festival "Soleil".
On June 5 at 6 pm in the City Gallery in Sozopol, after the opening of the Festival (June 3), the exhibition was presented in the presence of part of the authors and guests.
The works of the 12 authors are made in different techniques - painting, graphics, drawing, photography, as well as installed objects and video art.
The concept of the curator and participant in the exhibition Ivo Pecov is to present the views and challenges of the artists in the period from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic until the moment. To what extent does this global problem change the ways of thinking of the authors and their direction in art. In response to these questions, the artists, each individually, made a selection of their works and tried to present our time and their individual uniqueness. The selection includes the latest works, as well as works created earlier, which correspond to the spirit of today.
"To the struggle for the survival of the identity of each individual in the global world has been added another war with the virus, which challenges the physical presence of the human race on Earth and affects its mental and spiritual life. Again, we face the challenge of building more than can be ruined and destroyed by forces that do not value our existence, especially spiritually. Thus we come to the need of creativity and the need for reality to be reconstructed and enriched.
Creative personalities connect, upgrade, do not divide and destroy, their works are increasingly needed today. Only through the creative approach can any slavery of matter and spirit be rejected. Starting from this need, for shaping an exhibition that would focus on our contemporary problem, I proposed the idea to the artists with whom we are connected in one way or another and most of them agreed to take part.
As in our previous exhibitions, the authors who are from the Republic of North Macedonia, but who live and work in the Republic of Bulgaria, besides me - Ivo Pecov, are Marjan Dzingarov - Dzin from Strumica, Marijana Ivanova from Vinica and Perica Georgiev - Pepsi from Skopje. The macedonian artist from Bitola Dimitar Hristov sent us his works from Berlin. Atanas Botev from Skopje participated in the exhibition, from the project "Connection", in 2019 and together with Ana Lazarevska and Hari Dudeski from Skopje took part in this selection. Our connection is enriched with the last two authors, who will give different aesthetic directions. Here are the works of the artist and poet Roman Kissiov from Sofia, who in the past has made numerous collaborations with macedonian authors, most often in the field of poetry. Artists and professors at the National Academy of Arts Svilen Stefanov, Rosen Toshev and Georgi Yankov from Sofia also joined in with their works.
Besides the presented works of art, the authors wrote their thoughts in a few sentences, in addition to the visual part.”
