Ventsislav Zankov
Born 1962, Sofia, Bulgaria
Education
1988 M.A. in Fine Arts, National Academy of Fine Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria, Department of Sculpture
Professional Experience 2010 adjunct lecturer at National Academy of Fine Arts
1997 ongoing Lecturer – New Bulgarian University – Sofia,
2009 founder of VENTSISLAV ZANKOV contemporary art foundation
2007 ongoing Art and Bulgaria [online] – editor in chief
2008 art section at ontheweb.bg – editor
2005-2008 – 39grama – bi-monthly /newspaper
2004 co-founder of E80 Association – Exit Strategies Projects
2003 Creative director of Web studio – New Bulgarian University
1999 establishing „[Zet_maG]- e-zine“ for art and culture in Bulgaria, also co-founder of Interspace – Media Art Centre, Sofia establishing mailing list for art, culture, and communication in Bulgaria
1992 president of AAA (Art-in-Action Association)
1990-1992 art teacher, High School of Applied Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria
Additional Trainings 1991- course in “Use of Computer and Video Technology in Education,” Sofia University, Bulgaria
Workshops
2005 VocINet workshop: Interactive Storytelling
July 8-10, 2005, ICNM Salzburg
2000 communication front [crossing points] Plovdiv, Bulgaria
1997 Net.shop, Fleshfactor Ars Electronica’97, Linz, Austria MEMBERSHIPS
2004 Board Chair E80 Association – Exit Strategies&Projects
1997 resident of Cite des Arts Internationale, Paris, France
1990 elected member of the Union of Bulgarian Artists PROJECTS
2009 ‘ZERO Gravity’ supported by New Bulgarian University
2004-2008 All About Him project
2006-2007 4×4 off-road animals ‘close-up’ thematic discussions
×4.39grama.info 2005 -2008 39grama – /newspaper/
2004-2008 ‘Close-up’ discussion club /every thurasday at 6.30 PM
2004 ‘GO & SEE’ PROJECT the visual, the conceptual, the political – modus operandi “close-up” thematic discussions
2001 White Male Straight project CURATORIAL ACTIVITIES
2007-2008 „All About Him” project Goethe-Institut Bulgarien & 39grama
2007 ‘Zeitgeist –Face Control’ contemporary Bulgarian photography at the Photonic Moment
2007 Photon Gallery – Ljubliana, Slovenia
2006 10 years videoart in Bulgaria idea A. Popnedeleva, curators – Ventsislav Zankov, adelina popnedeleva, Nadejda Ljahova, Boris Kostadinov 2004-2005 ‘male in transition’ project ‘All about Him?’
2002-2003 ‘Aggression, Auto-aggression, Accident’ international art&theory project in collaboration with Goethe institut, Sofia
2001-2002 White, Male, Straight’ multimedia project – group exhibition, Sofia supported by Prohelvetia foundation
2001 Sense of style *painting &fashion Irida gallery Sofia
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2011 New Ghostly Painings/ we are now all shadows/ „Rakursi“Art Gallery, Sofia Post-romanticism. Reloaded – Berlin, Bulgarian cultural center
2010 The road left rests behind us, drawing, Art 36 Gallery, Sofia
2009 ‘ZERO Gravity’ – painting, sculpture Underground Hall – Modern Theatre, Sofia
2005 “HIM” painting, sculpture, multimedia and [neo]romantism ‘Rayko Aleksiev’ gallery Union of Bulgarian Artists Sofia
2004 Passion&fear painting, sculpture ‘Krag+’ gallery Sofia
2002 Gadgets for Playing painting Irida Gallery, Sofia The White Side of the Darkness sculpture ‘8’gallery, Varna, Bulgaria
2001 [error]tica, painting, XXL Gallery, Sofia A Sense of Style, Irida Gallery, Sofia
1999 porn? – A way to reach the plain truth, painting, Vision and Sound National Autumnal Exhibitions, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
1999 Tutti-frutti, or art as desert, paintings, sculptures, and drawings, Micheva’s fashion café
1997 48 hours with Zankov, paintings, Admirer Gallery, Sofia
1995 Without Innocence, paintings, Mix Gallery, Sofia
1994 Works on Paper, Wittgenstein House, Vienna, Austria
1992 Temples, series of sculptures and drawings, Lessedra Gallery, Sofia
1991 Post-Constructive Intentions, paintings, prints, and sculptures, AAA Gallery, Sofia
1990 Autumn Salon-Open Air, 10 sculptures in wood, metal and stone. Three metal sculptures permanently installed in the Doctor’s Garden, Sofia
1989 Works on Paper, Shipka 6 Gallery, Sofia
PERFORMANCES/ACTIONS
2005 “7 BRIDES SPITTING” at the opening of the exhibition ‘HIM ‘ Rayko Aleksiev Gallery, Sofia
2004 2-ND OF JUNE / reading Botev, Murgash Gallery, Sofia‘SYMPTOM’ performance thogether with Adelina Popnedeleva, Irida Gallery, Sofia
2003 A HOMELESS MAN, I BADLY NEED A MERCEDES BEC action 25-27dec
2003 Vitosha Blvd. Sofia
2002 Bubble speech at the opening of Gadgets for playing exhibition Irida Gallery Sofia
1997 Make War Not Love performance, Kapelica gallery, Ljubliana, Slovenia
1992 Limits of Agony, Action II, exhibition of blood prints, Shipka 6 Gallery, Sofia Beefsteak and Fried Potatoes, one-man performance, Shipka 6 Gallery, Sofia
1991 Limits of Agony – Action I, performance in state-owned slaughterhouse, Sofia Red, series of 4 performances Red 1, Doctor’s Garden, Sofia Red 2 and Red 3, Shipka 6 Gallery, Sofia
1990 Island, action with the Art in Action association, Bougras
Selected group exhibitions & events
2011 Re-production – 09.09. – 02.10.2011, Sofia Arsenal –Museum for Contemporary Art “20 years the fridge” – the fridge, Sofia “SGUARDI SONORI 2011” festival of media and time based art CLAC – CENTRO LABICANO ARTE CONTEMPORANEA in ROME “SGUARDI SONORI 2011” festival of media and time based art PALAZZO ORSINI -BOMARZO ( VITERBO) ITALIA DAL 19 FEBBRAIO AL 20 MARZO National exhibition “Small sculpture and drawing”
2011 Union of Bulgarian artists
2010 MADATAC (Muestra Abierta de Arte Audiovisual Contemporáneo) 5.12.2010 Madrid, Spain –official selection Squardi Sonori-
2010-2011 Infinite Spaces – Festival of media and time based art, Museo della Civilta Romana – Italy National Sculpture Exhibition
2010 Sofia,Bulgaria Video Art from Bulgaria Screening in 3H+K Gallery, Pori, Finland Videoarte de la Europa del ex-Este / Ex-East Europe Video Art „Transfera” Madrid, Spain TabuScript project – Karton Gallery Budapest; The fridge conceptual space
01-15.04.2010 –Sofia; Cultural Center „CK” Skopie, Macedonia The other eye Municipal gallery of Sofia project
2009 Section 13 – Union of Bulgarian Artists Water tower – 12.06- 19.06 Teahouse, Sofia 18. dokumentART European Film Festival for Documentaries Neubrandenburg, GERMANY/Szczecin, POLAND Second international Bad taste festival „WC Vaptzarov” – atelier “Plastelin” – Sofia Sculpture – national exhibition – Union of Bulgarian Artists Sofia
2008 CURRENT SCENE BULGARIA – LUDWIG museum –Koblenz, Germany Personal Moments, Toshina Art Galerie, Leipzig, Deutschland/Germany/ VIDEOHOLICA – AUGUST IN ART BIENNIAL – VARNA ‘Pistolet” gallery on SWAB Art Fair, Barcelona “20 х 20”- 20 years of ‘8’ GALLERY – painting, sculpture and photography, Varna, Bulgaria Squardi Sonori
2008 Itally festival of media and time based art Close distance national exhibition of painting Union of Bulgarian Artists“RED” The project “Video Salon”
(March 07-21, 2008) Galerija10m2; Sarajevo, curator Nadia Timova Photonic Moments III – Sarajevo Winter Festival – New Temple Gallery New Collected works in Municipal Gallery -Sofia
2007 ‘Zeitgeist –Face Control’ contemporary Bulgarian photography at the Photonic Moment
2007 Photon Gallery – Ljubliana, Slovenia Everything You Always Wanted to Know About “The East” But Were Afraid to Ask Curated by Boryana Rossa Troy University USA “COINCIDENCE I/
2007 European cultural center – Collogne ESKIMO COZMETICS selection of works that treat the striving for BEAUTY, HYGIENE and YOUTH April 26 – May 11 Pistolet Gallery -Sofia
2006 National exhibition of sculpture 2006 Union of Bulgarian Artists, Sofia 10 years video art in Bulgaria idea A. Popnedeleva Eastern Neighbors, Utrecht, Holland Important Announcement Municipal gallery Sofia August in Art – festival of visual arts, Varna – 7.08-17.09.2006 Section 13 – Raiko Aleksiev gallery, Union of BG artists The Body national exhibition painting Union of BG artists 6, Shipka st.”1000 km Sofia – Vienna” Dauhaus independent art space, Sofia 2005 “Actionism in Bulgaria” “Krag+’ Gallery Sofia THE ART OF THE OVERHEAD Basement, Enghavevej 42, Copenhagen. Capturing Utopia Fournos, Center for Digital Culture Athens, Greece‘The Portrait’ painting – national exhibition, Union of Bulgarian artists, 6. Shipka str. Sofia
2004 IDEA-NON-REALIZATION Exhibiton of Art gallery Pozega in the National Museum Kraljevo BG top 5 – annual exhibition of irida gallery Poetic/social painting, Union of Bulgarian artists, 6. Shipka str. Sofia ArteFiera – art has a point Bolognia, Itally 22 – 26.01.2004 Hall 34, B-21
2003 Idea-non-realization Gradska galleria Pozega, Serbia&Montenegro
Medienturm, Graz, Austria 3rd international bunkerfilm festival NL 13. internationales bochumer videofestival Germany EUROSCREEN21 PAN MUSEUM Germany EXPROT/IMPORT Municipal Gallery of Sofia
1999 Art Vienna.02 Author/Size Rayko Aleksiev Gallery, Sofia The Bulgarian Painting after 1989, National Palace of Culture, Sofia Erotic Photography, National Palace of Culture, Sofia Come, whoever you are , annual exhibit, Irida gallery, Sofia
2001 Ostensive – contemporary art from Eastern Europe, participation with video screening, Leipzig, Germany, Archaeology of Desire, Video archaeology Festival of Video art, Sofia, Bulgaria
BODY & THE EAST, Exit Art Gallery, New York, USA 2000 Bulgaria-Korea. Joint exhibition of modern painting –Sofia Municipal gallery
Contemporary Art Museum of Hong-ik University, Seul VA, Videoarcheology Festival of Videoart, Sofia NET.CONGESTION,
International Festival of Streaming Media, Amsterdam, the Netherlands,
Balkan Video federation festival of video art, Belgrade, Yugoslavia front 2000, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
1997 Commercial/non-commercial? Irida Gallery, Sofia The Other Olympia, Irida Gallery, Sofia 1998 Phothone Digital LAB, 150xSimbolo, Bern, Switzerland e-mages’98 comme_exchange, Vevey, Switzerland BODY & THE EAST – From the 1960s to the Present, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubliana, Slovenia
1997 Ars Ex Natio, Annual Exhibition of the Soros Center for the Arts, Plovdiv, Bulgaria EXPLOSIONS Kapelica gallery, Ljubliana, Slovenia MENSCHENBILDER, IFA Gallery, Berlin, Germany CONTEMPORARY BULGARIAN ART National art gallery selection at National Palace of culture-Sofia
1995 International Triennial of Painting Sofia’96, Shipka 6 Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria Evidence. The Real Diversity, Annual Exhibition of the Soros Center for the Arts, Municipal Gallery, Sofia The Visual Image of the 90’s, National Palace of Culture, Sofia Admirer, inauguration of Admirer Gallery, Sofia Erotic Salon, Season’s Gallery, Sofia
1995 VideoHart , December, Annual Exhibition of the Soros Center for the Arts, Archaeological Museum, Sofia
1994 N Forms? Reconstructions and Interpretations, Annual Exhibition of the Soros Center for the Arts, Dossev Gallery, Sofia
1993 A Personal View, May, 2nd Anniversary Exhibition of the Lessedra Gallery, Despred Hall, Sofia
1990 Happy-end, Club of the (Eternally) Young Artists, Sofia Cream- Art, ten art critics’ selection for young artists, Sofia Light Machines, installation at the Creation happening, Proshek Brewery, Sofia, organised by the AAA Island, action of the AAA, Burgas, Bulgaria A stage design for The 199 Theatre, Sofia 1aaa, happening of the AAA, sponsored by 1000 Days newspaper, Sofia
1990 Moderate Avant – Garde within the Framework of Tradition, Club of the (Eternally) Young Artists, Shipka 6 Gallery, Sofia PRESENTATIONS / SYMPOSIA /CONFERENCES
2007 Marginal Art – presentation National academy of Fine arts, Bulgaria
2002 Digital Weekend international festival for digital art ‘Digital culture [uninstall]’ lecture –National Academy of Fine Arts-Sofia 2001 Understanding the Balkans, International conference, Skopije, Macedonia 1996 Panthograph, Centre for Metamedia, Plazy, The Czech Republic 10 years later, project, Communication Front, Plovdiv
1997 Beauty & the East, Ljubljana, Slovenia
1996 Performance, Ideology and the Future of Utopia Round Table, Second Annual Performance Studies Conference at Northwestern University, Chicago, USA
1995 Artificial Environments as Artifact, International Symposium, Prague, the Czech Republic VIDEO PROJECTS 2001 Local Literacy, a series of three videos, as part of Videoarchaeology –3, The Archaeology of Desire, Sofia, Bulgaria 2000 [error]tica, a series of three videos, Balkan Video federation festival of videoart, Belgrade, Yugoslavia Dumb, a series of three videos
1999 Homework, a series of five videos
1997 Homo Sapience – reconstruction, 4-channel video installation IFA Gallery, Berlin
1992-1995 The Last Supper, 13-channel video installation, Archaeological Museum, Sofia NET/MEDIA PROJECTS 2007-ongoing Art and Bulgaria video&audio online art-archive 1999- ongoing mailing list for art, culture
1999-2001 [CTRL-Z RADIO] net radio – talks, interviews, reports…archive, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, or what will become of Bulgarian culture - interviews
2000 Morning Funeral Agency the Art of Driving a LADA – or what is up with Bulgarian culture /questionnaire/ BALKAN_ the Balkans belong to us, where do we, PLAIN-AIRS
1992 International Painting Symposium, Galicnik Art Colony, Macedonia, participation by invitation 1990 International Symposium for Wood Sculpture, Yasna Polyana, Bulgaria, participation by jury selection
1989 International Symposium for Wood Sculpture, Yasna Polyana, Bulgaria, participation by jury selection PUBLICATIONS
2009 Zero Gravity – catalogue 2009 NBU
2005 2-ND OF JUNE / reading Botev catalogue 2004 Encultura magazine, issue 2, Toledo, Espania
2002 Den Balkan verstehen Springerin, Hefte fuer Gegenwartskunst, Band VIII, Heft 1/02, Wien, Seite.14-16
2001 Morning Funeral Agency – project, Lettre Internationale magazine Metamorphoses of Utopia, a collection of texts and projects from 1991-2001, paperback, illustrated F in Fire stands for Fear, catalogue, Sofia, 2001 [error]tica catalogue, Sofia,
2001, 2000 the silence that invites no interpretation, Manifesta 3 catalogue, Slovenia The silence that invites no interpretation, CF2000, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
1999 Dear… Album-magazine, spring 1999, issue 5, year 2, Sarajevo Because, Lettre internationale magazine, issue 21,
1999, Sofia FAQ Lettre internationale magazine, issue 21, 1999, Sofia
1997 LIMES AGONIAE, catalogue
1995 Without Innocence, catalogue