Conversation Between Berlin-Based Curator Boris Kostadinov and Kamen Stoyanov (Vienna/Sofia)
As part of its 25 anniversary celebrations, ArtMargins Online hosts a series of dialogues between critics and curators from Eastern Europe and one or several artists. With this series of short conversations, we want to shed light on the challenging political and economic conditions under which artists and other producers of culture in the region operate today, yet we also aim to highlight the amazing vibrancy, resilience, and resourcefulness of its art scenes. We begin the series with a conversation between Berlin-based curator Boris Kostadinov and Kamen Stoyanov, who is based in Vienna and Sofia. The conversation was recorded in Vienna on September 15, 2024.
Still from Kamen Stoyanov, The City of the People (2024). Digitalized 16 mm film, length 3.50 min., black and white, silent. Image courtesy of the artist.
Kamen’s film The Town of the People was created in the context of a research project the artist realized, over several years, in the Bulgarian city of Dimitrovgrad (Collective Urban Visions of Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria. An Art-Based Research of Collaborative Artistic Filmmaking supported by the University of Applied Arts, Vienna). As part of this project, Stoyanov restored Bulgarias first amateur cinema club, called Kinoklub 57 – Dimitrovgrad. The Town of the People represents a symphony with the town as protagonist.
Boris Kostadinov is a curator and critic based in Berlin. He graduated in art history and theory at the National Academy of Arts, Sofia and curatorial studies at the European center for art, culture and science Felix Meritis, Amsterdam. He is the artistic director of the international artists-in-residence program and project space Scope BLN, Berlin. Kostadinov’s projects explore the interaction of art with political and geopolitical realities, economics, social processes and theories: economy of art, art as a social or activist gesture, art as a political platform, gender constructions in art, gender ecology and others.The second guideline of his work is art & technology. Such projects are defined by artistic practices that moderate relationships between elite science, future forecasts and social consciousness.
He has curated projects for: Scope BLN, Berlin; Kunstverein Tiergarten | Galerie Nord, Berlin, Ortstermin Festival, Berlin; DNA Gallery, Berlin; Mitte Media Festival, Berlin; The European biennial of contemporary art MANIFESTA 11, Zurich, Switzerland; Radiator Gallery, New York, USA; Leo Kuelbs Collection, New York, USA; IG Bildende Kunst, Vienna; viennacontemporary International Art Fair, Vienna; Parallel Art Fair, Vienna;Ernst Hilger Gallery, Vienna; Forum Stadtpark, Graz, Austria; National Gallery, Sofia; FLUCA – Austrian Cultural Pavilion – Plovdiv 2019 European Capital of Culture, Bulgaria; Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia. Kostadinov was a board member of the Visible Award 2015 – Tate Liverpool, UK. He is a member of Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin and Independent Curators International, New York.
Kamen Stoyanov lives and works in Vienna and Sofia. He studied painting at the National Academy of Art, Sofia, visual arts at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, and film directing at the New Bulgarian University, Sofia.
His artistic practice is diverse and multimedia, encompassing film, video, performance, installation, painting, and drawing. In 2024, with the support of the National Film Center, Kamen Stoyanov directed “Zvezda” his first feature-length film. Over the years, Stoyanov’s work has been showcased in numerous institutions worldwide, including 17th Biennale of Sydney; Museum of Contemporary Art Australia; Aichi Triennial (Japan); Institute of Contemporary Art, Sofia, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (Germany); Kunstverein Salzburg; MANIFESTA 7 (Trentino, Italy); MANIFESTA 11 (Zurich, Switzerland); MAK Center for Art and Architecture (Los Angeles, USA); Media Biennale Wroclaw (Poland); MUMOK – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna; Museum of Humour and Satire (Gabrovo, Bulgaria); 5th Mardin Bienali (Türkiye); National Art Gallery (Sofia, Bulgaria).
He was awarded, among others the following prizes: The Sovereign European Art Prize (2011), Otto Mauer Prize (2011), Alexander Resnikov Award (2010), Kunstpreis Europas Zukunft, (Galerie für Zeitgenoessische Kunst Leipzig, 2008) MUMOK Prize for the Zone1 at the VIENNAFAIR (2007), Prize for Visual Arts of the City of Vienna (2007) and the MAK Schindler Artists and Architects-in-Residence Program in Los Angeles (2012). He won the award Best Experimental at the Dumbo Film Festival (2020) and was nominated for Best Experimental at the Long Story Shorts International Film Festival in Bucharest (2020).
