Dear visual artists,
Art Gallery Kazanlak today stands as the custodian of an art collection whose origins date back more than 120 years. This legacy has shaped the City of Roses—and more broadly, the Valley of the Thracian Kings—into a true cultural centre. It is here that many distinguished Bulgarian artists took their first breaths: Petko Klisurov, Ivan Penkov, Ivan Milev, Dechko Uzunov, Nenko Balkanski, among others; artists who left vivid and lasting marks on the history of Bulgarian art. The team at Art Gallery Kazanlak believes that the Kazanlak Valley continues to be a vibrant hub for visual artists of different generations, whose creative energy helps shape the visual presence of contemporary art both in Bulgaria and beyond.
That is why we are launching our new ongoing project CONTEMPORARY DEPOT through which we are establishing a new depot within the Gallery’s space. This will serve as a home for the work of all visual artists active within the Municipality of Kazanlak. The project aims to create a shared territory that offers audiences, whether art lovers, children, students or collectors, the opportunity to access the art of all contemporary artists from the region. CONTEMPORARY DEPOT will provide each visual artist with a dedicated space to independently curate a permanent exhibition area for direct engagement between the public and the artist’s creative work.
We are confident that such an initiative will enable us, as a contemporary museum institution, to map the artistic life of the Municipality of Kazanlak more comprehensively, to build bridges between collectors and visual artists, and—not least—to offer residents and visitors of the region a new, and certainly more emotional, way to experience art in the gallery through direct contact with it.
CONTEMPORARY DEPOT is the zone where nothing can ever remain the same. It is a dynamic exhibition, where the only constants are the shared environment and the space given to each artist. Artists will decide for themselves how they wish to present their work; we entrust them with both the freedom and the responsibility to make changes and interventions whenever they choose. Visitors who cross the threshold of CONTEMPORARY DEPOT will not be passive observers: like true museum professionals, they will be invited not only to choose what they wish to see, but—equipped with white museum gloves—to discover it for themselves.
In the first phase of this long-term project, we invite all visual artists active within the Municipality of Kazanlak to apply for participation in CONTEMPORARY DEPOT. The application form, available on the website of the Kazanlak Art Gallery, should be completed and sent to the email address indicated, or submitted on paper at the Gallery. The form includes questions about your artistic background, which will help determine the circle of artists to be granted a permanent exhibition space. The criteria for selection are listed in the form and are designed to ensure an objective and transparent process.
Dear visual artists,
We look forward to receiving your applications by the end of August 2024, so that we may continue to be together — not only in art, but also in our own contemporary moment.