Press Text / MACHINES / 2015

From 25 April to 2 May 2015 the international Sofia Underground Performance Art Festival comes out with its 12th release. The festival was first organized in the city of Sofia, Bulgaria in 1997, by the curator and art critic Ruen Ruenov; since then it outstands the local art scene as an event of rare and distinctive output.

Sofia Underground Performance Art Festival this year will be back, as originally conceived, in the underground of the National Palace of Culture. Its topic, announced as early as November 2014 is MACHINES . Based on a a philosophical essay (the antropotechnic thesis by Boyan Manchev) – this subject deals with exploring the hypothetical area of crash or void between the techne and the psyche in the context of the contemporary situation of society. Curator of Sofia Underground ’15 [Machines] is Yovo Panchev.
The open call and selection was disseminated internationally and resulted in a wide selection of artists and forms. The festival developed in a program featuring two days of performances in the underground “electronic control room” of the National Palace of Culture, followed by two days of performances, lecture and screening in Plovdiv, and finishing a post-program featuring a theoretical lecture, happening and an installation presentation.

Over the week of events: April 25th – May 2nd the festival will present the works of:
Alek Laslo / backpullver / Bilyana Dobreva / Bogdan Alexandrov / Diana Gomes / Dimiter Dimov & Lora Azza / Dobromir Ivan / Emiliyan Lalev / Georgi Ruzhev / ghk / Iliyana Kancheva / Ivaylo Hristov / Joveta & Lilyana Karadzhova / Kamen Stoyanov / Medea Yankova / Mery Adam / Mincho Todorov / Arch. Philip Bitrakov / Prodan Markov / Savina & Stassy / Stela Vasileva / Stanimir Panayotov / trakk / Trifon Tashev / Trohi / Ultra Fuels / Valko Chobanov / Yanko Velkov – Yanetz / Arch. Yassen Markov / Yves O / Z3n / Zdravka Kantareva & Nevena Todorova / *Ad usum delphini
Works by students and debutants from the New Bulgarian University, The Sofia University and the National Art Academy are also among the participants of Sofia Underground 2015.
The foreign participants this year are:
Adam Rose (USA) / Amber Tonelle Lee (USA) / Anonymous Boh (Estonia) / Gopakumar R. P. (India) / Izvanredni Bob (Serbia) / Krefer (Brazil) / Mathieu Sylvestre (Germany) / Mélodie Duchesne (France/Indonesia) / mondual (Turkey) / Nina Yhared (Mexico) / Non Grata Group (Estonia) / Silvia Amancei & Bogdan Armanu (Romania) / Steffi Weismann (Germany) / Xiao Yurong (China)

The event is organized by the collectives of Studio DAUHAUS– independent culture and contemporary art platform, and eXAF.org.
Sofia Underground ’15 is realized in partnership with the National Palace of Culture in Bulgaria and with the support of the “Culture” Program of the Sofia Municipality, Goethe institute – Sofia and the Ruf Award for Contemporary Art.