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Aksiniya Peycheva (www.aksiniyapeycheva.com) is an artist with an interdisciplinary practice based in Sofia, Bulgaria, with participation in group and solo exhibitions in Bulgaria and abroad, including ARS Electronics 2019 and two solo exhibitions at ICA-Sofia Gallery. She holds a PhD in Mural Painting (2019) from the National Academy of Fine Arts, Sofia, as well as an MA in the same subject. She has completed a postgraduate program in contemporary art at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Sofia.
The focus of Aksiniya Peycheva's work is the process of "visual translation" or the exploration of possible ways of moving pieces of information between different fields of knowledge. She often collaborates with scholars and her projects are accompanied by a theoretical part and include topics such as the visual translation of music or pain. Using a scientific methodology, her works question the problem of redefining fields of knowledge and the initial necessity of setting their boundaries.
The interdisciplinary project "Tale of the End" by Aksiniya Peycheva in collaboration with Phys. Martin Yordanov (technical performance) and Yordanka Dermendzhieva (microbiologist) explores the idea of the act of creation and its limitations. The work of art in the form of a "mosaic" is the result of a continuous exchange of information between three spheres - visual art, artificial intelligence and microbiology. The project creates a "closed system" that uses neural networks to generate mosaic-like human portraits built not with classical materials but with living bacteria. The visual information thus becomes an indicator of the functionality of the entire medium, and the project problematizes the laws by which this happens.
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Veronika Tabakova (www.soundcloud.com/fif-mechonkata) graduated in Sound Direction, Sound and Media Design at the Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music (2016) and Music Technology and Performing Arts-Piano at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (2018). Her professional experience includes working as a Sound Engineer at BNR, the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the Plovdiv Drama Theatre. Since 2020, she has been a sound engineer at the Sofia Opera and Ballet.
As part of the Combino Project she has participated in the Beglika and Wake Up festivals, and in 2019 with the interactive sound installation SOULT - in the Water, Night of Museums and Galleries festivals in Plovdiv and DA Fest, Sofia. In 2018, he put on the interactive sound performance Forest Labyrinth as director, producer and sound designer. Veronika has won numerous awards from national and international piano competitions, as well as two SSL and Audient awards for sound recording, editing and mixing.
Yana Melamed holds a Bachelor's degree in Scene Design from the National Academy of Arts, Sofia (2013) and a Master's degree from prof. К. Valkanov in "Designing an original visual performance" from the National Academy of Arts, Sofia (2015). Studied one year at Topeel Academy, Maastricht, The Netherlands (2012). She is the author of the set and costume design of productions such as the author's "Before the beginning, was there an end?", Sfumato, 2013 and "The Shepherd's Chameleon", NATFA, 2014, as well as being the artistic director of the festival "Beglika" 2009-2014 and author of installations for private clients.
The interactive audio-visual installation "DigiPhysics" is the work of Veronika Tabakova and Yana Melamed, and features guest dancer Elitsa Popova.
The installation engages the audience as an accomplice who can create a dynamic audio-visual environment through their movements. The project provokes the viewer to rethink the relationship between the physical and digital worlds, through abstract compositional principles that seek the meaning of the relationship and communication between the human and the digital.
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Vladislav Iliev (Vladzen) is an interdisciplinary visual artist focusing on our perception of light and space, stage design and video. He graduated from NATFA (2010), majoring in Stage and Screen Design, and since 2016 he is a guest lecturer in Video Mapping, majoring in Digital Arts at the National Academy of Arts, Sofia. In 2009 he founded Phormatik Studio with an interest in developing digital culture in the field of art and creating experiences through art, technology and design. In recent years she has been working in the field of interactive design, 3D mapping and new media, and developing their integration in theatre and performative arts.
Vladislav Iliev's installation AURA (Vladzen) looks at the mask as a cultural phenomenon, asking the question: how does society treat different people and who are they? The work connects historical symbolism and contemporary materialism with the societal problem of ethics and equality to question to what extent we are the same. AURA highlights our responsibility for self-awareness.
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Ivelina Ivanova is a multidisciplinary visual artist based in Sofia. From 2014 to 2017 she lived in London and worked as an experimental animator, creating several short films that were recognized by a number of international festivals. Currently, her main creative activity is in the field of 3D animation and video mapping. Ivelina's works are mixed media: drawn animation, 2D and 3D digital animation and film collage.
Martin Lukanov (www.avr.one/init/_inc/_ctn/lang/bg/_portfolio.html) is a musician and programmer born in Sofia, working mainly in the field of mobile and computer application development. Alongside this, he has created numerous augmented and virtual reality projects for clients such as Coca Cola, Bayer, Absolute and Serdika Center, as well as for music concerts such as "American Tour of the band Foundation" (2018) and theatre productions such as "Change" (2019).
Ivelina Ivanova and Martin Lukanov's interactive game project Top Dog engages the audience in a simulation of the life of a stray dog in Bulgaria. While the narrative of the game is the life of the dog, the storyline is also the backbone of an artistic interpretation of the post-socialist urban environment.
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Marina Genova (www.vimeo.com/user51074164) is a graduate of Stage and Screen Design at NATFA "Krastyo Sarafov", as well as a Master of Digital Arts at the National Academy of Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Her works have been shown in exhibitions such as "Special Impulse" (2020, FLUCA - Austrian Cultural Pavilion in Plovdiv), "Here the Food Never Goes Bad" (2020, Gallery Gallery, online gallery, Sofia), "Electronic Dreams" (2019, +359 Gallery, Sofia), The Gift (2018, ICA, Sofia), "Critiquing Media" (2017, Credo Bonum Gallery, Sofia) and "Toyophilia and Toyphobia" (2016, ICA, Sofia).
In her work, Marina Genova perceives technology as a tool with a huge impact on ideology, economic and political structures. Paradoxes such as "the virtual as real", "nations as brand", "people as data", "culture as capital" are at the core of the artworks she creates.
"Kunst - art follows the everyday life of a girl (Mina) who wants to be a contemporary artist. She lives in a small, backwater town, with a population whose interests are outside art. The dreamy Mina (protagonist) haunts the shop of a closed art gallery. Along with her dog, who is her only audience most of the time, and her iphone 6+ friend Siri, Mina seeks knowledge and information about art history online. She spends her days pondering fundamental questions about the state of art today.