ONE GALLERY SOFIA
ONE Gallery Sofia is an independent contemporary art gallery founded in 2015 by Desislava Zafirova. The gallery operates as a platform for contemporary artistic practices from Bulgaria and the wider Eastern European region, connecting them with international collectors, curators, and institutions.
The gallery’s program focuses on concept-driven, research-based artistic production, with an emphasis on critical, political, and philosophical dimensions of contemporary art. ONE Gallery works with artists across multiple generations and media, including painting, sculpture, installation, photography, and new media.
In addition to its exhibition program, ONE Gallery actively engages in international collaborations, cross-border exhibitions, and cultural exchange projects. It also develops innovative models of art patronage and collecting, positioning itself at the intersection of the contemporary art market and curatorial practice.
Through its projects, ONE Gallery aims to expand the visibility of Eastern European artists within the global art ecosystem while maintaining a strong intellectual and curatorial identity.
DESISLAVA ZAFIROVA
Curator, Gallery Founder, Cultural Entrepreneur
Desislava Zafirova is a Bulgarian curator and gallery founder working at the intersection of contemporary art, cultural entrepreneurship, and international exhibition-making. She is the founder and director of ONE Gallery Sofia, an independent platform established in 2015 that focuses on contemporary art from Eastern Europe within a global context.
Her curatorial practice explores questions of identity, power, memory, and the construction of truth in post-socialist and post-digital societies. Through both institutional and independent projects, Zafirova has developed a curatorial language that bridges artistic research with market-driven sustainability, positioning contemporary art not only as cultural production but also as a long-term intellectual and economic ecosystem.
She holds a PhD in Art History and Visual Arts, with a dissertation on contemporary Bulgarian art in institutional contexts (2000–2017), and has conducted extensive research on private and independent gallery models in Europe and the United States. Her work is grounded in both academic inquiry and real-world gallery practice.
Through ONE Gallery, she has curated and produced numerous exhibitions, artist projects, and international collaborations, working with both established and emerging artists. The gallery operates as a hybrid platform combining exhibitions, collecting, and cross-border partnerships, aiming to position Eastern European artistic voices within the global art discourse.
In parallel, Zafirova develops curatorial and strategic projects focused on new models of art circulation, patronage, and cultural diplomacy, including independent exhibition platforms and international pavilion formats. Her current major project is “TRUTH / ИСТИНАТА – When the visible lies, and the invisible speaks”, an independent Venice pavilion conceived for the 2026 Biennale, addressing the politics of truth, manipulation, and memory in contemporary Eastern Europe.
She is based in Sofia and works internationally.