ATLANTIS Hidden histories - new identities

The project started in June 2009 with the exhibition Rohkunstbau in Sacrow near Berlin, it then continued in Bratislava and Vienna, crossing the Slovak-Austrian border, went subsequently to Thessaloniki and will finally end in Plovdiv, Bulgaria with the exhibition: "Reflections of Tomorrow" On 10th of November the Bulgarian communist regime collapsed. On this day the last exposition of ATLANTIS series will end in Bulgaria. Bulgarian and international artists will focus on the future of democracy in Europe and mostly on threats and challenges, which stand in front of it - new block constructions, security risks, restrictions of the rights of freedom.

The ATLANTIS project thematizes the issue of transformation of the European countries after the year 1989, simultaneously it is a significant opportunity for Bulgaria to cooperate with international partners and via artistic outputs reflect political as well as social changes occuring after this year. Confronting the opinions of artists and professionals coming from former Eastern and Western Europe ATLANTIS enables to perceive this period from various perspectives and provides diverse ways of percieving and understanding of this transitional period. The main idea of the project uniting the partners from Germany, Greece, Bulgaria and Slovakia is a mythical country sunken in the ocean that stood as a model for an allegorical example of the ideal state in the discourse about  egalitarian or elitist ideas of society between the philosophers Plato, Sokrates and Aristotle. 20 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain the mythical Atlantis gains a new meaning. The Fall of the Curtain is the fall of one of the political systems – socialism and right now in the time of celebration of this event, during the financial crisis also the other political system – democracy is being examined. The Atlantis project is a symbol for all utopias about the ideal state. Therefore we have chosen it as a title of the project which by means of artistic approaches and research wants to broaden our knowledge about last 20 years in the development of the Central European region. The methods of artistic approach and exploration, adaptation and development will deepen the view of the past history in the way politics can never name. The project is a dialogue between artists coming from the former authoritarian Eastern Europe /participants from Slovakia, Bulgaria/ and the former democratically constituted Western Europe /participants from Germany, Greece, Austria/. This dialogue promotes the European identity formation and support the European Constitution process. The core of the project create site specific works based and realised in the borderline areas with a very peculiar atmosphere, in so called no man`s land as well as works commited directly for the gallery space reflecting an issue of political, social transformation and socialism itself. Time line of the project follows historical milestones when particular activities for the public were organized. The journey of hidden identities has commenced in Germany at the romantic castle Sacrow which once served as a place for exchanging the secret agents between Eastern and Western Germany and the Berlin Wall went through its park. Here the first of the series of exhibitions took place. Symbolism of similar borderline areas is followed also by other projects in the participating countries – Slovakia–Austria–Hungary, Italy and Slovenia (Gorizia and New Gorica), Bulgaria and Greece (Plovdiv and Thessaloniki). It is important to capture the particularities of the specific local situations. 

International partners: Germany, Potsdam – Heinrich Bцll Stiftung Brandenburg, www.boell.de Germany, Potsdam – Rohkunstbau, www.rohkunstbau.de Greece, Thessaloniki – ArtBOX.gr, www.artbox.gr Slovak Republic, Bratislava – SPACE projects, www.crazycurators.org

Actions and installations in public spaces: Dan Tenev – action – Common Grave / Memorial of amity – 4th of October, from 11.00 until 16.00 Dan Tenev – action – Central Square – 9th and 10 of October, from 11.00 until 16.00 Abbé Libansky – installation – water mirror at the Gyuro Mihailov’s monument, opening on 10 October, from 20.00.

„Short video – live music” – short films by young authors from Europe dealing with the end of Cold War and the upheavels in eastern-european countries. These films will be accompanied by the german-based band "Lautstark! 4" around singer and multi-instrumental improviser Jan F. Kurth - creating an audio-visual work of art of its own. Cultural Center of Radio Plovdiv - 24th of October, from 20.00

ATLANTIS
Hidden histories - new identities. Twenty years after the fall of Iron curtain.
Part III "Reflections of tomorrow"
Kuratoren: Emil Mirazchiev, Jakob Racek

Künstler: Abbe Libansky, Adelina Popnedeleva, Alexander Yuzev, BURGHARD , Bora Petkova, Venelin Shurelov, Georgi Georgiev-Jorras, Dan Tenev, Doychin Russev, Evantia Tsantila, Emil Mirazchiev feat David Cerny, Ergin Chavushoglu, Ivan Moudov, Yohannes Artinyan, Kamen Stoyanov, Katerina Apostolidou, Krasimir Terziev, Lazar Lutakov, Luchezar Bojadzhiev, Lora Parmakova, Maria Papadimitriou, Milko Pavlov, Max Neupert, Nadya Genova, Natasha Kyupova, Nedko Butsev, Orlin Nedelchev, Pravdolyub Ivanov, Plamen Assenov, Sevdalina Kochevska, Simeon Stoilov, Francis Hunger