Georgi Lazarov
Founder of and designer at PUNKT design studio
“We have actually been working with Open Arts Foundation for more than 10 years, and the number of projects we have realised together is impressive. We designed the logo of the very foundation as well. It all began with a manifesto which we received as an assignment. We were looking for an association for something vital and light. I can remember the variants and difficulties we went through with Katrin and Vesselina, as they have high visual culture. We came up with something which reminded of a flag – something that Vesselina bears deep inside, a zeal or strive to change.“
- Interview for the "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE" exhibiton in "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE", Open Arts Foundation, 2018
Vladiya Mihaylova
Curator anniversary program “10 Years Open Arts” at Night/Plovdiv, 2017
Open Arts Foundation was established in an important year for the new history of the country. Than Bulgaria joined the European Union and continued the ongoing processes of economic, social and cultural integration. However, the first day of January 2007, was rather an emotional event with a great psychological impact. More visibly the country has started to overcome the long years division of its existence; firstly, being on the one side of the Iron Curtain, and then facing different visa regimes and constant comparisons between “here” and “there”, we and the others (in the West). The openings up of the borders, the new technologies and social networks have brought a different perception of a world that is HERE EVERYWHERE. Through its projects and work “Open Arts” takes part in this world and shares the values it brings. Searching for new spaces, building up networks, thinking about the city as a common place of share and experience, expending the knowledge through contemporary art and culture are the directions of the Foundation’s work. They are also ways to communicate and live together. Therefore the jubilee program for the tenth anniversary of the Foundation has this motto precisely today when the ideas for a shared world have been facing different barriers.
- About "10 Years Open Arts Foundation: HERE EVERYWHERE"
Manol Peykov
Manager of Janet 45 publishing house
“Even before the foundation existed, when Vessi came to me and shared she wanted to organise a Night of Museums and Galleries, which, I believe, she had attended in Dusseldorf or somewhere else in Germany, I told her the idea was great, but I was sceptical about whether the city could accept something of this kind. The truth is that Vesi and Katrin worked wonders. This initiative transformed the city and this is no overstatement. I can trace the history of the fact that we managed to win the title of European Capital of Culture back to 10 years ago, to the launch of the Night of Museums and Galleries initiative, as that NIGHT put Plovdiv again on the cultural map of the country.
- Interview for the "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE" exhibiton in "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE", Open Arts Foundation, 2018
Luchezar Boyadjiev
Artist
“As far as I have worked with the Open Arts Foundation for the past 4-5 years, I can say that Introduction to Contemporary Art is a memorable multilateral project implemented by the foundation (among a number of other activities). On the one hand, it engages in lectures with art critics, and on the other hand in lectures which present the viewpoint of artists engaged in certain aspects of contemporary art. In my case, in 2013 I participated with a lecture on the topic of Conceptualism with a Human Face, and as a larger project, in 2016, together with the foundation I created an urban project related to the urban environment of Sofia, to the method in which artists in the past, the community in different ways, and especially myself as the author of the project, interpreted and navigated in the Sofia environment, which is laden with not only physical characteristics and circumstances – of the city planning, architecture, neighbourhoods, regions, buildings, and monuments type, but also with the living memory of the citizens of this city…
When I say modern living and attitude to the city, this is some type of complex attitude. Just as the city is the result of things which happened in the past and things planned for the future, the attitude of each individual citizen – in particular a contemporary visual artist – to this city is defined by both the past and the projected future, by the practices of the other citizens, and in general by all agents in the urban life. In my projects, I aim at demonstrating how I remember the history and possibly how the city and its population remember the history – in the tangible traces, interface, map and structure.”
- Interview for the "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE" exhibiton in "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE", Open Arts Foundation, 2018
Ameliya Gesheva
Deputy Mayor for Culture and Tourism of Plovdiv Municipality (2016 – 2017), Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Culture (2017-2021)
“I believe that this is actually one of the main contributions of the Open Arts Foundation – that it has made and is still making efforts with their daily work, not only with the Night of Museums and Galleries, to originate new audiences, form tastes, and create knowledge about contemporary art. Moreover, the foundation has also a great contribution to the existence of new spaces for modern culture and such an example is the FLUCA pavilion, which is held up as one of the best projects. I believe that, yes, this is the foundation that is one of the motive powers for ensuring increasingly more space for contemporary art in the life of the traditionalist Plovdivians.”
- Interview for the "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE" exhibiton in "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE", Open Arts Foundation, 2018
Stefan Stoyanov
Deputy Mayor for Culture, Education, Tourism, Business Development, European Projects and Innovations of Plovdiv Municipality (2011 - 2015), Deputy Mayor for Education, Business Development, European Policies and International Cooperation of Plovdiv Municipality (2016-2019), currently Deputy Mayor for Education and Business Development of Plovdiv Municipality
“The foundation succeeded in attracting a number of both Bulgarian and international authors to the Bulgarian scene, which is remarkable. It opened the doors to many young people. As a matter of fact, both the audience that comes visiting in connection with the events organised by the foundation, and the team working on the various projects on a daily basis contribute a very big added value to the city. That is why Plovdiv Municipality has always been a good partner over the years, both to the Night of Museums and Galleries and to the different projects of Open Arts Foundation, realising the fact that part of the duty of the administration is to expand the cultural product and create more opportunities for the local audience. That is why it is wonderful to have young teams of artists and curators, who always try to experiment and make new things in order to open the city to the European and the global scene alike.”
- Interview for the "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE" exhibiton in "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE", Open Arts Foundation, 2018
Thomas Stolzl
Deputy Ambassador of Austria in Bulgaria
"Open Arts Foundation has proven to be a symbol of the cultural scene in Plovdiv and an important platform for networking and art (..) we have always been and continue to be impressed by the professionalism of the foundation and its team."
- About "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE"
Victor Yankov
Deputy Director for International Affairs atPlovdiv 2019 Municipal Foundation, part of the curatorial team of Otets Paisiy Street – TEXT 2012 festival and festival director of NIGHT/ Plovdiv (2013 – 2016)
“I remember 2011 or perhaps 2013 by an exhibition of Lubri’s, which displayed his photographs on the
advertising signs, and here, right on the Dzhumaya Mosque, there was a photograph of the notorious in the Plovdiv public space hairy guy. It represented, pure Weiss’s aestheticism, a bearded man in a dress on high heels; it was positioned in those illuminated signs – an entirely advertising space. So, in less than three or four days, it created great public aspiration and total chaos. It turned out that the photograph had provoked the citizens of Plovdiv big time. For this reason, letters started raining in the Open Arts office, insisting that it should be removed, that it was not aesthetical, and then I realised the extent to which the foundation actually managed to travel in time and create new trends and models. Today, a large part of the commercial clothes and equipment brands use such type of propaganda, such type of provocative photography – already in all shop windows at the
malls, at the large shopping centres."
- About his allusions to the foundation in "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE", Open Arts Foundation, 2018
Doncho Hirstev
Project assistant at the French Institute in Bulgaria
“Through the foundation, I discovered another Plovdiv, a community contact with the urban environment and creativity. To me, the foundation has always been a free bridge of culture in Plovdiv. My meeting with Vesselina, Katrin and the people with whom I worked at the time at the foundation, such as Samuil, provided a very different encounter with the Bulgarian urban space after a long stay abroad. … To me, however, Open Arts is actually an office full of many emotions, conversations and work. For a long time, it felt like a second family. What I can say is that together with them at the beginning, I started looking from a different point of view at the city and the manner in which one can bond with the others in a purely creative way.“
- About his allusions to the foundation in "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE", Open Arts Foundation, 2018
Stefka Caneva
Collaborator in the Cultural Programme department of Goethe Institute Bulgaria
“In the beginning, there was the artnewscafé, followed by Open Arts, and then there was the Night. Respectively, the office, which has always looked in one and the same way over the years with this big logo. I can think of some more visual things, since I spent three years of my life there, in Otets Paisiy Street, and my visual memory is very strong, and that is why I find it difficult to articulate it verbally at the moment.“
- About her allusions to the foundation in "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE", Open Arts Foundation, 2018
Luchezar Boyadjiev
Artist
“As far as I have worked with the Open Arts Foundation for the past 4-5 years, I can say that Introduction to Contemporary Art is a memorable multilateral project implemented by the foundation (among a number of other activities). On the one hand, it engages in lectures with art critics, and on the other hand in lectures which present the viewpoint of artists engaged in certain aspects of contemporary art. In my case, in 2013 I participated with a lecture on the topic of Conceptualism with a Human Face, and as a larger project, in 2016, together with the foundation I created an urban project related to the urban environment of Sofia, to the method in which artists in the past, the community in different ways, and especially myself as the author of the project, interpreted and navigated in the Sofia environment, which is laden with not only physical characteristics and circumstances – of the city planning, architecture, neighbourhoods, regions, buildings, and monuments type, but also with the living memory of the citizens of this city…
When I say modern living and attitude to the city, this is some type of complex attitude. Just as the city is the result of things which happened in the past and things planned for the future, the attitude of each individual citizen – in particular a contemporary visual artist – to this city is defined by both the past and the projected future, by the practices of the other citizens, and in general by all agents in the urban life. In my projects, I aim at demonstrating how I remember the history and possibly how the city and its population remember the history – in the tangible traces, interface, map and structure.”
- Interview for the "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE" exhibiton in "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE", Open Arts Foundation, 2018
Vladislav Kostadinov
Architect and co-founder of Studio 8 ½
“On the A City Arbour project … the idea originated in joint conversations with Katrin and Vesselina, when we in a way shared a common curiosity about our city and its architectural part, in which we specialise. We decided to hold a series of lectures, accompanied by discussions on different topics related to periods of Plovdiv’s architecture – all of them periods with which I am not very familiar. So, in fact, the following project, An Alternative Map of Plovdiv, is a natural ending to and result of our discussions, as the routes in the map cover sights which we have discussed and marked as valuable and important to be presented to the people. The specific collective memory which Plovdiv has slowly disappears and here is the place of people and organizations such as Open Arts Foundation who try to preserve the memory of the city. This is important from nowadays’ point of view. The Map is a very successful project that still continues to happen. We started with 6 routes and there is now a new online edition on the Map. The project continues in timeand age because it is related to this specific urban structure, which is not constant and changes over time. New themes and routes may appear on the Map, some of the old ones are already gone. The project is important, not only from an architectural point of view, but also from a historical, cultural, anthropological point of view, because it does not only talk about the buildings, but also about the places, the ways of habitation, about everything.”
- Interview for the "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE" exhibiton in "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE", Open Arts Foundation, 2018
Nadya Zaharieva
Programme Director for Arts and Culture at the America for Bulgaria Foundation
“The Night of Museums and Galleries project was the first one which the America for Bulgaria Foundation supported as early as in the distant 2009, when we ourselves were starting to work in Bulgaria. What attracted us was the incredible success of Vesi Sarieva and her team, which had brought from 2,000–2,500 visitors at the time of the first editions to about 27,000 visitors when she contacted us for support.
We were extremely impressed with several things: the fact that she was opening the stage of Plovdiv to contemporary art. Contemporary art had had long- standing traditions in Plovdiv, but what Vesi managed to do was to affiliate a broad range of people, the general public, with it and make it more widely available. The other thing we liked about the project was that when we started work in Bulgaria in 2009, the museums and galleries were in a very difficult situation. They were defined as bastions of art and culture. And being a bastion, it was guarded, it was a defensive front, and against who – against the public.
At the time, they would rather leave in the background their function to socialise their finds and collections both for the general public and for the visitors. The foundation then started to support actively projects aimed at opening the gallery and museum spaces. In 2012, on Vesi Sarieva’s initiative, we set up this fund for small projects which supported the galleries and museums to derive new content within the Night.
To us, Vesi is a cultural manager of the new generation. Culture in Bulgaria is heavily centralised and is nearly 100 % funded by the state. Almost the entire infrastructure is state-owned and for us it is interesting to work with young cultural managers. Vessi Sarieva belongs to that generation of new cultural managers who succeed in importing to Bulgaria quality cultural content and adapting it to the environment, as well as managing the projects they develop in a transparent manner. People rarely realise that culture is a very powerful means of development not only of individual communities and neighbourhoods, but of entire cities as well.
The fact that culture brings a lot of benefits to development of the city is evidenced by a survey conducted by Industry Watch exactly about the Night of Museums and Galleries in Plovdiv. This survey shows that for each lev invested in the budget of the event, the economy of the city generates four leva turnover. It is the restaurants, hotels, and souvenir shops that generate income from that. In other words, there are actually funds that culture brings to the city.”
- Interview for the "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE" exhibiton in "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE", Open Arts Foundation, 2018
Vladimir Balchev
Historian
“We organised a big exhibition. The whole street was covered with photographs that were reminiscent of the past of that street, of the people who lived, even of their dreams and of many other things. It was more or less then that it became a tradition to look for exhibitions on the High Street, at a visible place, since the museum halls can be visited by 100 people a month, while one such exhibition can be seen by 1,000-2,000 people only in a day. It is good to go back to what Plovdiv was, because if we want to make this city more acceptable to us, we should never forget. Unfortunately, people tend to forget a lot. We should rediscover this city increasingly more often – both from a historical and from a present-day point of view.”
- Interview for the "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE" exhibiton in "10 Years Open Arts: HERE EVERYWHERE", Open Arts Foundation, 2018