03 Apr 2015

Krassimir Terziev at Dobrich Art Gallery

The exhibition is the first solo presentation in Dobrich by Krassimir Terziev, who is aclaimed for his work in contemporary art, the moving image and the post-digital condition. Terziev's work focuses on how our perceptions change by the influence of mass media and new technologies, how notions of past and future, history and mythology change, and the borderlines between personal, group and public space merge. Those topics are embodied in the form, choice of medium and display of the works. Differing from traditional logic in the arts, they do not master a personal visual language, but are full of internal references, quotations, familiar images and motives in a way that communicates directly with everyday life. Large part of the works included in the exhibition have been part of solo and group exhibitions by the artist. Among them are: Si tu veux voir le monde, ferme tes yeux: Part 1 (2015), Argos Centre for Art and Media, Brussels; 'Disconsent' (2014), Centre for Contemporary Art 'The Ancient Bath', Plovdiv, curator Iara Boubnova; 'Cosmopolis' (2013), ICA-Sofia, curator Iara Boubnova; Rencontres Internationales (2012), Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin/ Centre Pompidou, Paris/ Reina Sofia National Museum of Art, Madrid; Cinema like never before (2006/2007), Generali Foundation, Vienna/ Academie der Kunste, Berlin, curators Antje Ehmann/Harun Farocki.

'Between the Past Which is about to Happen and the Future, Which has Already Been' is situated in a specific present, where scenes, pictures and images from the past and future inevitably rush into it. There was a time when with a relative confidence we could confirm the sequence of continuity of these three times: the past was followed by the present and subsequently by the future. This certainty however evaporated after the world was saturated with digital images. In 1990's one of the Microsoft slogans was 'Where do You want to go Today?'. The correct slogan at the present moment would be 'When do You want it to be Today?'. Indeed, today I would be going into the future like a colonizer of Mars and tomorrow (God willing) I could undergo adventures like a Medieval knight, a Roman soldier or a prehistoric primaте. There are plenty of technologies out there that can execute those journeys: fantasy movies, 3D animation, virtual walks, embeded realities, various apps. It's a matter of choice to immerse oneself with futurology or anachronisms or why not both.
Krassimir Terziev

The exhibition offers a selection of works, dating from 2004 to 2015, which by various methods and in different perspectives raise questions on the production and circulation of images, on the various modes of their reception and economy.
The video installation 'A Movie' (2004) sets the point of departure. It is a quasi historical drama without a subject. Fifty actors, dressed in period costumes from the collection of 'Boуana' Film Studios hang around amidst a film set, waiting for an 'action' signal.
'Monu – mental' (2011) is a video in which a camera observes from a distance groups of youngsters killing time round about the Monument of the Soviet Army in Sofia without paying special attention to the ideological charge of the immediate surroundings.
'Domestication. The First Five Thousand Years' (2014) collides the visitors with a figure of a dog which is not a part of the living long ago.
What is following are more recent works that focus on various hardware and software components and familiar images from the screen.'Like water, gas and electricity come from afar…' (2011) is a set of colour photographs, depicting scenes of the everyday world of an amateur – astronaut. 'Family' /2015/ tosses a hypothesis of what a family life looks like on the Moon, while 'Monument to the Time Elapsed' takes us back to the site of memorials. But this time, a discharged personal laptop plays the role of an imaginary tomb.

Krassimir Terziev, born in 1969, in Dobrich /Tolbuhin/, lives and works in Sofia.
Graduated the National Art Academy (painting) in 1997. Doctor in Cultural anthropology /Sofia University 'St. Kliment Ohridsky' (2012).
In 2015 he was part of the exhibitions: 'South by Southeast', 07.03 – 03.05, Osage Art Foundation, Hongkong; 'Si Tu Veux Voir Le Monde, Ferme Tes Yeux', 08.02 - 05.04, Argos Center for Arts and Media, Brussels; 'Grammar of Freedom/Five Lessons': 'Works from Arteast 2000+ Collecton', Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow; 'Art for Change 1985 – 2015', 20.01 – 05.03, Sofia Art Gallery; 'The Romanian – Bulgarian Union. A Retrospective', 04.12.2014 – 15.02.2015, Salonul de Proiecte/Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest.
His last solo exhibitions are: 'Off the Record', One Night Stand Gallery, 2014; 'Cosmopolis', Institute of Contemporary Art - Sofia, 2013.
His works are part of a number of public collections, among which: the Musée National d'Art Moderne/Centre Pompidou, Paris; Arteast 2000+ Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art/Moderna Gelerija, Ljubljana; Sofia Art Gallery etc.
In 2012 he is awarded the 'M – Tel Award for Contemporary Art' (together with Daniela Kostova and Tsvetan Krastev) and in 2007 he received the 'Gaudents Ruf Award for new Bulgarian Art'.
In 2012 his book 'Re – composition, Author and work in the Age of digital reproduction' is published by East – West/Institute of Contemporary Art - Sofia.