2023 | Constitutions

Center for Social Vision enters its second year, once again bringing together artists and organizations around questions concerning the role of art in social processes. A number of recurring questions emerged in our first year through conversations across different contexts: What role does art play in social change, and how can it not only reflect but also build relationships? How can art identify the complex links between individual and collective histories? How do people use the language of art to discover common ground with others? The lack of a consistent space for dialogue around these questions became a strong reason for us to continue developing the platform and to engage with them more deeply. To approach these issues in depth, throughout the year we collaborated with four partner organizations, each with different access points and approaches to working with communities: Art – Affairs and Documents Association, which organizes Sofia Art Projects—large-scale exhibitions in the Largo, an architecturally contested public space near key institutions; POSTA, a project space and storefront gallery on a central city street; Ideas Factory, an organization active in cultural work in villages and peripheral regions; and Sapromat, known for performative interventions and interactive installations in unconventional spaces. Each organization, in turn, invited artists and researchers to work together and explore the communities and audiences they engage with—or are in the process of forming. This year’s contributors included Stefan Prohorov, Sofia Grancharova, Mira Vladimirova-Yonder, Ina Pavlova, and Konstantin Georgiev.

Center for Social Vision became not only an informal space for exchange but also a driving force behind the conversation, providing a framework and rhythm for a shared process. In our work together, we recognized the need to move beyond the idea of public space as a harmonious environment and instead approach it with the understanding that every community contains differences and disagreements. There will be certainty and confusion, and civic participation will often unfold in unexpected ways.

The title “Constitutions”, deliberately in the plural, points to the coexistence of different communities—each with its own dynamics, visible and invisible rules, and varying degrees of shared vision for the future. These communities are fluid, adaptive, and in search of meaning, yet often driven by the need to secure their own existence. “Constitutions” invites us to consider the importance of (self-)regulation, but also of imagination within every community—and art appears to be the one element uniquely capable of expressing this complexity in full.

The public program of Constitutions opened on September 29–30 with the workshop “Imagined Scenario for a Place”, led by performance artist Zhana Ivanova. Throughout October, we presented artistic projects developed by our partner organizations, as well as works by invited artists. From October 13 to 15, we held a three-day symposium featuring local and international participants and guest speakers, a.o. Katalin Erdoedi, Georgos Sachinis, Katya Anguelova, Charles Garcin – all representatives of organizations and platforms working in the fields of socially engaged art, performance, and artistic interventions in public space.

Team
Concept: Viktoria Draganova Coordinators: Jenny Decheva, Margarita Kaloyanova Intern: Polina Petrova Graphic Design: Viktoria Staykova

Media Partner: Journal for Social Vision

The 2023 program of Center for Social Vision was realized with the financial support of the Annual Grant Program of the National Culture Fund, Bulgaria.

събития

Team
Concept: Viktoria Draganova Coordinators: Jenny Decheva, Margarita Kaloyanova Intern: Polina Petrova Graphic Design: Viktoria Staykova

Media Partner: Journal for Social Vision

The 2023 program of Center for Social Vision was realised with the financial support of the of the Bulgarian National Culture Fund, program “Structural Fund 2022”.