© Image taken from: https://devetslona.art/projects/project-1/

NINE ELEPHANTS: SMALL FINALE

NINE ELEPHANTS and Galerija Galerija invite you to the final events of the summer art program on July 20 and 21.

NINE ELEPHANTS is a summer art program taking place in Sofia, Bulgaria, between July 11 and 21, 2024. Within the program artists, authors, researchers, experts and residents have been telling and sharing the city in a new and extraordinary way, using the calm of the summer weeks and transporting themselves to different neighbourhoods in the city. In the first edition of “Nine Elephants”, we have been invited to get involved in performance and momentary interventions in space, street theatre, literature between the neighbourhoods, to hear stories of those living and working in the city, to above all encourage sharing and talking about things, that excite us. Topics covered in projects are the environment, urban planning, cultural heritage and cultural history, architecture and nature, social inclusion and equal opportunities, human relationships and urban communities.

NINE ELEPHANTS – SMALL FINALE (at the Swimming Pool)

JULY 20

18:00 – 21:00 – DISCUSSION WITH KALINA ZECHEVA (REBONKERS) AND COLLEAGUES

The ReBonkers space has been through many uses – a gunpowder warehouse, the iconic alternative music club BONKERS, a concert venue, and in its neglected years, a playhouse behind the block for the kids living around. Although it enjoys a well-bred audience, building a sustainable relationship with residents in nearby neighbourhoods is a topic their team is just beginning to work on.

This is also the reason why Kalina Zhecheva (operations manager of ReBonkers) and Victoria Georgieva -MOUSE (artist) invited the residents of the area to join in the creation of a common work at the end of June. This makes ReBonkers one of the few cultural institutions that seek to create opportunities for cultural mediation and direct contact with their neighbors.

19:00 – 20:00 – WHAT ART IN THE CITY?

A tour of the “Nine Elephants” collection and a conversation about art in the city with Victoria Draganova (initiator and curator of “Nine Elephants”) and participating artists.

20:00-21:00 – UFO ELEPHANT – dance walk-flashmob: Ira Stoyanova and Andrea Dragov (dancers), Hristo Zhelev (musician).

Everyday walking down the street will turn into a dance adventure! Irina Stoyanova, Hristo Zhelev and Andrea Dragov invite us to show the city and ourselves that free self-expression in public space is a practice that is available to everyone! We will take a UFO elephant around the city – starting at 19:30 at the Swimming Pool with a dance performance and live music. Somewhere in the pool, the elephant will be waiting for us. At 20:00 we start a street flashmob – we go through the central streets, provoking the imagination of the people of Sofia. Anyone who wishes will be able to catch one balloon – a “tentacle” of the “Elephant” and being it along the streets with us. The route of the walk will be Swimming Pool – Crystal Kindergarten – National Theater – National Assembly – Largoto – Serdika.

JULY 21

19:00 – 21:00 – ROOM AT THE END OF THE WORLD, Performance by Veronika Desova

Mladost 1, European Trade Center (next to The Mall), Building C, Floor 4

The finale of “Nine elephants” will present the performanceand multimedia installation “Room at the end of the world”, where Veronika Desova (artist) and Aga Mlinčak (curator) examine our relationship with nature and the environment we live in – a choreography in the style of tableau vivant, in a mist with the aroma of forest, between notions of the corporate-sublime and banal office tasks. Using mist with the scent of forest and nature as the center of its composition, the work navigates between notions of the sublime and the banal, depicted through tableau vivant style choreography. The work examines our relationship with nature and the environment we live in.

Veronika Desova is a Varna-based multimedia artist and architect currently based in Glasgow, UK. Her work explores the inherent connection between the spaces we inhabit, our bodies, and the potent ways in which architecture and ourselves can merge through the mediums of photography, sculpture, painting, and architecture.

Veronika’s work was developed with the curatorial assistance of Aga Paulina Młjńczak, who represents the 16NSt Curatorial Collective and Gallery, Glasgow, UK. 16NSt Collective aims to challenge gender and class differences in the contemporary art sector and beyond, the rights and employment opportunities of socially marginalized and emerging cultural narratives.

Further information: https://devetslona.art/programme/