- Legs? exclaimed Dany the junkie when opening in a public square at night a stolen suitcase and finding inside a pair of freshly cut woman's legs. (from "Junky Christmas" in "Spare Ass Annie and other tales" by William Burroughs)

Once upon a time there was a pair of legs. Or more precisely the sketch of them. Svetlana Mircheva had in mind to realize in her computer a short animated movie where these legs would walk, jump and dance. The sketch was in a Jpg file. When the artist pressed the enter key, the machine hiccupped and delivered an image featuring dots, lines, plans, colors, totally unlike the model.

To a simple rational mind, it is puzzling that one cause would produce a number of such different effects. A computer expert might explain it in simple terms. To the ignoramus, it belongs to magic. What is a "corrupted file" anyway? Does the term imply a moral notion? At that point, there would be a temptation to view Mircheva as an apprentice sorcerer who trigged some mysterious instinct in the machine. The spirit that she called did wander randomly (freely?) and generated those chatoyant forms. Had the system taken over Mircheva's intentions (Kunstwolle?) and interpreted her sketch in its own personal way? Is the viewer facing 103 versions of the computer's idea of a pair of legs? Did the machine anticipate the walk/jump/dance initial idea to elaborate scenarios for a ballet, whether inspired by Swanlake, Gisele or Ballet Mecanique? Merce Cunningham, Pina Bausch, or Busby Berkeley? the duets of Astaire/Rogers or Kelly/Charisse? Who knows?

Olivier Boissiere
UN CABINET D'AMATEUR Art Gallery, Sofia



103 MISTAKES, Ehxibition catalog

Exhibition cosists of 103 color prints, size 50 cm x 40 cm each, assembled in 7 separated groups.

NURTUREart is very pleased to introduce Svetlana Mircheva in her first solo exhibition in the United States,
POSSIBLE EXHIBITIONS.

For this series, Mircheva strays from technology and automation to present a series of diminutive, some quite simple, other slightly inscrutable dioramas from an ongoing collection of imaginary gallery-size installations. With their quiet and unassuming presence, the models lead both artist and viewer to imagine an infinity of possible scenarios, suspended between past, present and future. Possible Exhibitions showcases Mircheva's signature sleek, highly-professionalized daydreaming at its most powerful. With this exhibition we are ready to transform our gallery in a temporary zone open to imagination, projection and reflection.

Marco Antonini
NurtureArt Gallery, Brooklyn, NY



POSSIBLE EXHIBITIONS at NURTUREart

POSSIBLE EXHIBITIONS photos on Flickr

POSSIBLE EXHIBITIONS Exhibition catalog

Exhibition cosists of a set of 10 plexiglass models, size 53 х 29 х14 cm each,
and an additional set of 14 preparational drawings, size A4.

 

The works of Svetlana Mircheva often present the specific features and particularly the mistakes in the use and operation of various technologies. The author seems to be constantly wishing to shake our trust in the accuracy, clarity, and reality of our perceptions of the world that are formed by contemporary digital culture. For that purpose she often uses the tools of design. Her works include prints, models, short videos, photography, and various digital images, in all of which there is keen interest to the graphic symbol and the visual characteristics of the image.

Random Show is once again related to the idea of uncertainty of perceptions, only this time referring to the random, accidental as a loss of frame, of context, and of the immediate environment of events and objects. The core words for the exhibition, TIME and PLACE, are represented as strange monuments that mark the space as a place of absence, but also of discovery, where the accidental is an open horizon of imagination. The four models of the gallery space represent undeveloped, unaccomplished ideas for exhibitions. In such a way Svetlana Mircheva overturns the very idea of how an exhibition is created, presenting the very action as random. The exhibition is an "open" space, which similar to a box serves as a receptacle for various "saved" images, found objects and symbols.

Vladiya Mihaylova
Vaska Emanouilova Gallery, Sofia



RANDOM SHOW photos on Flickr

RANDOM SHOW Exhibition catalog

Exhibition cosists of works
SAVED IMAGES - 3 gif files, printed on buckram, 150 cm х240 cm each,
TIME PLACE - 2 transparent panels, size 60 cm x 130 cm each,
RIVERSIDE - 10 found in Sofia streets images and pages,
POSSIBLE EXHIBITIONS - 4 plexiglass models, size 53 х 29 х14 cm each.

 

103 color prints
103 different error visualizations of one and the same drawing of two legs
size 50 cm x 40 cm each
2012

Shown at: 103 MISTAKES, solo exhibition, Un Cabinet D'Amateur, Sofia
 

10 plexiglass models of the gallery space
plexiglas, pvc, glass, wood, rope, textile, stones
53 х 29 х14 cm each
2011/2012

ongoing project

Shown at: POSSIBLE EXHIBITIONS, solo exhibition, NURTUREart Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
RANDOM SHOW, solo exhibition, Vaska Emanouilova Gallery, Sofia  

3 gif files of unknown origin and date of creation
selection of mysteriously appeared folder with gif files
printed on buckram, 150 cm х240 cm
2011

Shown at: RANDOM SHOW, solo exhibition, Vaska Emanouilova Gallery, Sofia  

10 photographs and pages
found in the streets of Sofia
dimensions variable
suggested age 14 to 40 years
2011

ongoing project

Shown at: WHO LEFT WHAT BEHIND, exhibition, at Art Gallery Ilya Beshkov, Pleven
RANDOM SHOW, solo exhibition, Vaska Emanouilova Gallery, Sofia  

two transparent panels with words
plexiglas, laser cutting, 60 cm x 130 cm each
2011

Shown at: RANDOM SHOW, solo exhibition, Vaska Emanouilova Gallery, Sofia  

video work
showing gallery space after an exhibition
NTSC, stereo
01:47 min.
2010

Shown at: There has been no future, there will be no past, ISCP, New York  

stories and details about MISTAKES work
color prints, time shemes, stories, conversations with printing houses
explaining the process of creating the MISTAKES and the way that other people perceive it
2010

Shown at: BAZA Award for Young Contemporary Art Exhibition, Sofia, 2010

video work, animation
about beeng at the same time in different places
PAL, mute
01:00 min.
2009

Shown at: WHO LEFT WHAT BEHIND, exhibition, at Art Gallery Ilya Beshkov, Pleven
Moscow International Biennial for Young Art, Moscow, 2010
DA FEST, National Academy of Art, Sofia, 2009
artnewscafe, Night of Museums and Galleries, Plovdiv, 2009  

video work, animation
based on a painting of Ivan Milev
PAL, mute
2:36 min.
2009

Shown at: Magmart video festival, Italy, 2011
Goethe-Institut Bulgarien, Sofia, 2009

video work, animation
reconstructing a memory of a bowling club
1440 px x 900 px, mute
01:30 min
2005

Shown at: Larroque Film Festival, 2011
Digital Games Exhibition, Ivan Asen 22, Sofia, 2007
University of Leeds, 2005

video work, animation
PAL, stereo
3 min.
sound by Ivailo Milenkov
2006

Shown at: + SKLADA, screenings curated by buldoc, Sofia, 2010
Human Traffic: Ten Authors' Opinions, Red House, Sofia, 2006

camera obscure photography
9 paper cube objects
20 cm x 20 cm x 20 cm each
mapping Sofia central area
2006

Shown at: Mobile Spaces Exhibition, Goethe Institute, Sofia, 2006
Mobile STudios, Sofia, 2006

video work, animation
turning off perceptions hipnotic video
PAL, stereo
01:46 min
2004

"The space between two points, which people ignore, wishing to be at the same time in two different places, doesn't exist in their minds. These are the invisible places. The time of crossing is erased. An idea of movement is all that stays after they finish their journey."
Invisible Places is an eye-stressing and disbalancing animated 360° panoramic view from a certain place in Deptford, London, in which the movement is so fast and the images are so constantly changing and blurring that the feeling of zero-time train and totally missed landscapes is unavoidable. The work presents my vision for the city, its fast speed and erasing of time, and my personal perceiving of local movement and time.

Shown Infrastructure Exhibition, Studio Voltaire, London, 2005
Blind Date Exhibition, Temporary contemporary, London, 2004

video work, observation
one-day-long-diary of the square San Vidal PAL, stereo
10:20 min.
2004

Shown at: BAZA Award for Young Contemporary Art, Sofia, 2010
TIME PLACE Exhibition, artnewscafe, Plovdiv, 2009
RADAR Infopoint, Venice, 2004

interactive video documentation
2003
ZKM International Media Art Award 2004, best 50


Shown at: YOU FAIL! periscope:project:space, Salzburg, 2010
DA FEST, National Academy of Art, Sofia, 2009
Night of Museums and Galleries, Plovdiv, 2007
Mobile Spaces Exhibition, Goethe Institute, Sofia, 2006
18 Stuttgarter Filmwinter, Stuttgart, 2005
ZKM | Museum für Neue Kunst & Medienmuseum, Karlsruhe, 2004

video work
displaying a 180˚ video landscape from the morning till night 7 videos for 7 paralel video channels
7 stereo sound tracks
PAL, 15 min.
2003

Shown at: RADAR project, Contemporary Art for European Cities, Venice, 2003

animation
28 animated pixel portraits
portraits of friends from 5 nationalities,
showing their personal face colors,
simplified to the size and brightness of a computer desktop icons
800 px x 800 px, mono
2:15 min.

28 pixel portraits, color prints
printed on photo paper
2003

Shown at: Night of Museums and Galleries, Plovdiv, 2008
Sofia Underground Festival, Sofia, 2007
Open Fest, Sofia, 2006
RADAR, Contemporary Art for European Cities, Venice, 2003

video work, animation,
turning off perceptions hipnotic video
PAL, mono
14 min.
2002

Shown at: VIPER Basel Festival, 2004
COSMOS, 11 Biennial of Young artists - Athens, 2003

video work, animation
PAL, mute
1 min.
loop
2002

video work, animation
PAL, mute
1:30 min.
loop
2001

video work, animation
640 px x 480 px, mono
01:46 min.
loop
2000

Shown at: 5th International Sofia FIlm Festival, 2001
Videoarcheology, Sofia, 2000