“Troubled Ground” is Antonia Gurkovska’s first solo exhibition in Plovdiv. It is a temporary installation that will be build in the main space of the Centre for Contemporary Art “Bania Starinna”. It would take up the entire floor area, aiming to leave the space intact and ???empty’, while repeating it at the same time.
The project “Troubled Ground” is related to the history and the current much debated state of ownership of “Bania Starinna”. It derives from Antonia’s past projects/installations like Void and Compensation (2013), Container(2012) and The Skin I Live In(2013). It is made, thought of and executed the way Gurkovska approaches painting, with large scale gestures, specific choices and precision, yet open to chance. It technically resembles the indexical repetitive action similar to the way the dots in the paintings are applied: all together contributing to forming a large square grid painting whose surface would flip content. Its context is closely tied to the contemporary painting discourse, which often challenges what a painting represents and what it contains. As in this case - it is a troubled ground, a container that points to itself.

Attention: No high heel shoes, heavy and sharp objects are allowed to the exhibition.


Antonia Gurkovska (b.1984) received her BFA in 2008 from the National Academy of Art, Sofia, Bulgaria. In 2009 she won the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship which supported her way to the Art Institute of Chicago from where she graduated in 2011 with a MFA degree in Painting and Drawing. Since then she has participated in numerous exhibitions in USA and Europe.Most notable - Union League of Chicago (2011); Irritable Abstraction Julius Caesar, Chicago (2011); Index at Kavi Gupta Gallery(2012); Changing States of Matter, Brand New Gallery, Milan (2012); The Question of Their Content at Zolla Lieberman Gallery (2012); The Skin I live In, Kavi Gupta, Berlin (2013); Armory Show NY (2012-2013); Art Miami|Basel (2013).During 2011-2012 she taught Painting classes and Contemporary Art seminars at the Art Institute of Chicago and the National Academy of Art in Sofia. Since 2012 she is represented by Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago. Antonia Gurkovska currently works in Sofia, Bulgaria and Chicago, USA.

Courtesy the Artist|gurkovska.com and KAVI GUPTA Gallery

official video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7nRau81FHso

Supported by

Art Today Association

invite you on the opening
of the exhibition

"BLACK SEA CALLING"

Opening of the exhibition
on Wednesday, 20th of November 2013, 7 pm
at HilgerBROTKunsthalle
in the frame of VIENNA ART WEEK 2013

Participating Artists:
Dan Acostioaei, Yesim Agaoglu, Ilgen Arzik, Michael Aschauer, Mher Azatyan, Catrin Bolt, Gabriele Edlbauer, Markus Hahn, Michael Hieslmair / Michael Zinganel, Karl Karner / Linda Samaraweerov?, Konstantine Kitiashvili / Group Bouillon, Katharina Lackner, Paran Pour, Alexandru Raevschi, Christoph Schwarz,
Vasili Subbotin, Veronika Tzekova, Gamlet Zinkovsky

BLACK SEA CALLING is an artist-in-residence exchange programme between
Austria and 9 countries of the Black Sea region. All in all 19 artists were hosted in
2012/2013 in Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova,
Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
The exhibition presents these artists with works reflecting
the different cultural contexts of the countries involved.


Location: HilgerBROTKunsthalle
Absberggasse 27, 1100 Vienna, Austria
http://www.brotkunsthalle.com

Duration: November 21, 2013 - February 15, 2014
Opening Hours: Wed–Sat 12 noon–6 pm

BLACK SEA CALLING is a project by
< rotor > center for contemporary art Graz

In cooperation with:
International Cultural Policy department at the Federal Ministry
for European and International Affairs

AIR Krems, Art Today Association Plovdiv, Atelierhaus Salzamt Linz,
Centre for Contemporary Art Chisinau, Centre for Visual Introspection Bucharest,
Cultural City Network Graz, CSM/ Foundation Centre for Contemporary Art Kyiv,
GeoAIR Tbilisi, Krasnodar Institute of Contemporary Art, Kunsthalle Exnergasse
Vienna, K?nstlerhaus B?chsenhausen Innsbruck, NOMAD & CAMP Istanbul,
Suburb Cultural Center Yerevan, United Artists Club (BRK) Baku

BLACK SEA CALLING was awarded with Bank Austria Art Prize 2011
in the category International.
http://www.blackseacalling.eu

Art Today Association
Center for Contemporary Art - Plovdiv
The Ancient Bath

Week of Contemporary Art 2013

"Disturbances in the Structure"

4 September – 6 October 2013
Center for Contemporary Art – Plovdiv, The Ancient Bath

Kerstin Flake, Replaces 14, 2012, C-print


Artists:
Nicolai Angelov (BG/DE), Yohannes Artinyan (BG), Vasilena Gankovska (BG/A), Stefan Fischer (DE), Kerstin Flake (DE), Oliver Kossack (DE), Ahmet ???t (TR), Isa Rosenberger (A), Tilo Schulz (DE), Jun Yang (CN/A)


Curated by Ilina Koralova


The exhibition presents artists whose works are concerned with structures. In concrete terms, "structures" are understood as the configuration and interrelation of different elements which, taken together, form a whole, in one of the following ways:
– the composition of form, material, composition, light, in a work of art
– the basic and component parts of an architectonic ensemble (in an exhibition room or urban space) or
– on a larger scale, the relationships between the individual and the institutions of a society.

The artists who have been invited to participate question the stability of this union and examine its internal relationships, either by pulling them apart or by suggesting unexpected ways of regarding them.
The participants approach the various aspects of the proposed concept using various artistic media – photography, installation, painting and video. Some of the basic questions raised in their artistic analysis are: the restructuring of contemporary societies and the breakdown of traditional relationships this entails, but also the simultaneous emergence of new social constellations involving formerly unrelated groups of individuals; the opening up of political, economic and cultural systems and the development of resistance and disassociation from outside influence that goes hand in hand with this.
A further characteristic of the selected works is the way in which they closely observe phenomena that are often described as "peripheral" and as such remain widely ignored, although they are important for the functioning or better understanding of a context. In the works of art, "insignificant" elements like this take on a central role, enabling the viewer to adopt a new perspective towards well-known phenomena. The main element forging a link between the artists and influencing their artistic approach is the fact that they are themselves conscious of being part of a (artistic, social, economic) system. The works of art develop "from within" - that is to say, the artists examine the individual components and aspects of the objects they have created, experimenting with them and using them in new ways, thus making a comment on phenomena that go far beyond the actual work of art and the boundaries of the exhibition space. In this way, they express their own social and artistic position within the environment and the society in which they live and work.
During the development of the project, an important role is played by the surroundings in which the exhibition takes place. The old Turkish Hamam (steam bath), a building from the 16th century, is in itself an element originating from a historical social system that has disappeared and become reintegrated within a new context. It successfully fulfils its new function as an exhibition space; at the same time, the specific architecture represents a challenge for today's "user". In this way, the exhibition space may be seen as a further structure – open to intervention, but at the same time restrictive. In keeping with the project idea, the artists are invited to analyse and interpret the exhibition space, incorporating it into their artistic contribution should the situation arise.

“Week of Contemporary Art” is a project by Art Today Association in partnership with Minicipality of Plovdiv and Goethe-Institut Bulgaria.

The exhibition has been supported by: ifa Institut f?r Auslandsbeziehungen e. V., Gaudenz B. Ruf Award For New Bulgarian Art, Austrian Embassy Sofia.

Media partners: BNT, BNT2, Radio Katra FM, Darik Radio, Darik News.

PLOVDIV – CANDIDATE CITY FOR EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE 2019

WORKING HOURS
Tue - Sun
10.30 – 18.00
Entrance fee: 1 lv. / 0.50 lv. for students and pensioners/
Thursday -Entrance free