The current exhibition at the “Elena Karamihaylova” Art Gallery in Shumen is a final stage of the project, further developed and enriched with new works. The artworks in the exhibition reflect the individual commentary and artistic interpretation of each participant on the theme “Air, Light, World as Gas Under Pressure.” Set as a starting point, the theme allows for a broad range of conceptual and philosophical interpretations and analyses. Some works reveal an unguarded and painfully honest psychological self-analysis by their authors; others base their concepts on the transformation and reconstruction of reality through the envisioning and building of a possible dystopian existence. Despite the seemingly divergent concepts, within the collective presentation we can discern connecting threads: the artist explore themselves and their place within the current reality — spatial-physical, socio-cultural, emotionaly-psychological, and others — as well as the constant problem of the mechanisms of connection (or the impossibility thereof) with other individuals.

This determines the nature of most of the works as reflective, open, and discursive — they are not simply beautiful images or objects, frozen in contemplation, but demand, expect, and insist on reflection; they pose questions and provoke continuation beyond themselves. Such a naturally developed, unintentionally sought approach among these (relatively young) artists is not accidental. One of the key figures of French personalism, Emmanuel Mounier, analyzed the characteristics of the personality and stated that it exists in continuous movement and presence toward others (personalities) and the world. They do not limit it — on the contrary, it exists and knows itself thanks to them. He reminds us why: „…the original experience of the person is the experience of the second person. The „Thou“ — and within it the „We“ — precedes the „I“ , or at least accompanies it.” He explains that in cases of disrupted or lost communication, the person loses themselves: „…all madnesses are the failure of the relationship with the other — alter becomes alienus, and I, in turn, become alien to myself.” For this reason, Mounier defines the person as communicable, existing only as such. Hence, titles within the exhibition — such as “This Is Not Me?”, “We Are”, “Sunshine; or What the Light Hides” — as well as the interactive and reflective elements in some of the works, are a logical and adequate position for artists who seek, find, and reveal themselves through and before others and the world. The wide range in which these viewpoints unfold also suggests a dynamic positioning of different media and approaches within the exhibition. In a single space, drawing and painting interact within the conceptual field, alongside photography, text, video, transformed ready-made objects, installation-based pieces, interactive elements, and more. This homogeneous environment of collaboration is both provoked by and inherent to the essence of intermedia — an open field for artistic gestures.

Ekaterina Ivanova