Andrea Zapp is a German media artist currently based in Manchester, working as a postgraduate Research Fellow at the Institute for Research & Innovation in Art & Design MIRIAD, Manchester Metropolitan University. Her projects and installations focus on networked models of narration. They have been shown widely in international exhibitions and on the net. She has been lecturing extensively in international art institutions and Universities and on media conferences. She edited the book and DVD “New Screen Media. Cinema/Art/Narrative”, published in 2002 by the BFI London and ZKM Karlsruhe. For further info visit <www.azapp.de>.
Andronia Popova is a young Bulgarian musician, mainly involved in the electro-acoustic music projects “Monday Morning” and “Nassekomix”. Andronia Popova is a Bachelor of Art Management, graduated from the New Bulgarian University. She also graduated the Sofia Music School with classical singing and piano. Since 2000 she has been involved in the development of interSpace Media Art Center as an art projects coordinator. She participated in numerous concerts and music festivals as “Color of Music”, Padova, Italy, 2001 and “Color of Music” Berlin, Germany, 2002, Festival of Electronic Music, Sofia, Bulgaria 2001 and 2002. Recently works on the music for theatre plays “Jonathan Livingston - The Seagull” and “White Nights”. Together with Alexander Janev and Dejan Spasovic (Macedonia) formed “Naked Water” group, working together on multimedia projects.
Boriana P. Pandova is a visual artist working in the field of photography and video. She is also studying theatre in New Bulgarian University - Sofia. She is interested in cross-disciplinary projects, collaborating with different artists. In most of her works she is exploring the idea of visualizing a transformed reality by changing the usual understanding of gravity and dimensions.
Daniela Ivanova Kostova (B.1974) is a media artist, based in Sofia, Bulgaria. She finished National Academy of Fine Arts in 1998. Her solo exhibitions are 2001 “Frame”, Placentia Arte, Piacenza, Italy and “Play back”, curated by Boris Kostadinov, ATA Center, Sofia. In 2000 She took Onufri - First Prize of the International Competition on Visual Arts, Tirana. Among the most important international shows she took part in are “Ostensiv” , curated by Paula Boettcher, Moscow/ Berlin, Viafarini, curated by Lino Baldini, Milan, Tirana Biennale 1, Tirana, “Looming up”, curated by Walter Sedl, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna.
Diana Popova (b. 1958) graduated in art history from the Art Academy, Sofia in 1981. She specialized at the International Studio Program, New York (1999) . Founding member of the Institute of Contemporary Art - Sofia. She is independent curator and writer on Contemporary Art. ( Kultura newspaper, Kapitel newspaper, CULT.BG - server for Art and Culture). Curator. Active as an art critic and theoretician. Has curated the following exhibitions: “ANTI-FEMINISM/ ANTI-MACHISM”, XXL Gallery, 2000, 1994 “N-FOFMS”, Annual exhibition of the Soros Centre for the Arts - Sofia (together with B. Klimentiev, S. Stefanov, N. Boshev),1993 - Object Bulgarian Style”, 6 Shipka Str. Gallery, Sofia (together with Iara Boubnova, Maria Vassileva,)
Eric Kluitenberg is a theorist, writer, and organiser on culture and technology. He is currently based at De Balie - Centre for Culture and Politics in Amsterdam, where he co-ordinates the new media program.
He taught “Culture and New Media” at the University of Amsterdam, media theory for the post-graduate education programs in art & design and new media at Media-GN and Academy Minerva in Groningen, The Netherlands, and worked on the scientific staff of the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. He lectures and publishes extensively on
culture, new media, and cultural politics throughout Europe and beyond.
Since 1988 he has been involved as an organiser in important media culture events such as the First and Second International Symposium on Electronic Art (SISEA), Interstanding I, II, & III (Tallinn, Estonia), The P2P - New Media Culture in Europe conference (Amsterdam / Rotterdam), the third Next 5 Minutes festival of tactical media, “Tulipomania DotCom - A Critique of the New Economy”, “net.congestion
- International Festival of Streaming Media”, and recently the Dutch / Russian project “Debates & Credits - Media Art in the Public Domain” in Moscow, Amsterdam and Ekaterinburg, the Amsterdam edition of World-Information.Org (2002), and the fourth edition of the Next 5 Minutes tactical media festival (2003).
Galina Dimitrova is curator and project coordinator at Interspace Media Art Centre in Sofia, Bulgaria. She graduated Art History and Theory at the National Fine Arts Academy, Sofia in 1999. She is interested in new media art, net-based projects and interactive installations. She has curated projects “Urban Cycles”, “Macrovideo” (public space video installations), “Schizoid Architecture” (net-art http://schizoid.i-space.org) etc. Since 2000 she is deputy editor of CULT.BG - Server for Art and Culture (www.cult.bg). Coordinator of the International Internet Conference “Net User” (www.netuser.cc). Co-editor of Urban Cycles catalogue.
Georgi Tenev (B. 1969) graduated Vienna University, Theatre Department, “Herder” Scholarship, Wien, Austria in 1996,
1994 M.A. Degree in Theatre at the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria. He is hounder and active member of Triumviratus Art Group from 1994. independent writer on contemporary theater and culture. His sellected THEATRE PLAYS, RADIOPLAYS, SCREENPLAYS include: 2001 “Sinatra” - a radio play, 1999 “Insula” - a screenplay, 1998 “Doppelmond oder Ihre Sprache im Koerper unserer Sprache” - implemented as a joint project with the writer Dubravka Ugresic and the director Javor Gardev, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany, 2001 “The Citadel” audio-project of Assen Avramov / Georgi Tenev / Javor Gardev (Bulgarian National Radio / Triumviratus Art Group and Ars Digital co-production)
1999 “The Atoll” audio-project of Javor Gardev / Assen Avramov / Georgi Tenev (Bulgarian National Radio / Triumviratus Art Group and Ars Digital co-production) Awarded “Grand Prix Europe”, Best European Radio Drama” Berlin ‘99, Germany. Some of his published books are: 2002 “The Citadel” - a poem, 2000 “Resident’s Fear of Recall” - selected novels.
Iara Boubnova is curator and critic. She is the founding Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art - Sofia.
During the year 2002 she was the co-curator of Manifesta 4 in Frankfurt am Main, of “Reconstructions” the 4th Biennial in Cetinje, Montenegro and “Double Bind” in Sofia. Among other most important projects are “Locally Interested” (1999), Sofia; “Bulgariaavangarde. Contending Forces II”, Munich (1998); Bulgarian participation at the 48 Biennale di Venezia (1999.).
Ivan Moudov (B. 1975) is a young bulgarian artist, exploring variety of media and formats. He graduated the National Academy of Arts, Sofia in 2002. He took part in Manifesta 4, Frankfurt, 2002 with his video “Traffic Control”. Among the other important shows he participated in are “Never Stop the Action” <ROTOR> Graz, Cetinje Biennial Montenegro 2002, “Looming up”, curator Walter Seidl, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna 2001, “Trendification”, curator Walter Seidl, <ROTOR>Graz 2001, “What How and for Whom” , group exhibition, curators Natasha Ilich, Ana Devic Zagreb 2000 and Vienna 2001. “Trendification”, curator Walter Seidl, <ROTOR> association, Graz, Austria.
Ivan Nikolov is a media and graphic artist. He graduated College of Plastic Arts”Nikolay Rainov”, Sofia in1995 and Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridsky”(Bachelor of Fine Arts) in 2000. He is interested in video making, graphic design, installations and multimedia for theatre performances. His works have been shown at many national and international festivals and exhibitions.
Kathy Rae Huffman
Director of Visual Arts, Cornerhouse, Manchester, responsible for the Exhibition programme, artist projects and artistic vision of Greater Manchesters international centre for contemporary art. Former director of Hull Time Based Arts, Hull, UK, former curator/producer of The Contemporary Art Television Fun, a project of The ICA, Boston and WGBH’s New Television Workshop. A co-founder and collaborator for Web3d Art, the international online exhibition, she has developed Internet projects, online communities, and participated in the international discourse of net_art since the early 1990s. As a curator, networker and event organiser since 1980, Huffman has promoted media art and innovative use of technology throughout her career, introducing many artists.
Krassimir Terziev is media artist and organiser on culture and technology, as well as graphic and web designer. He is currently based at interSpace Media Art Center, Sofia, Bulgaria, where he is co-founder and co-director. His work is oscilating between contemporary art practices and media culture. He is working on media in media, appropriation and infiltration strategies, mutating media. His artwork occupies various formats and contexts: object installation [Let’s Dance 1996], single chanel video [Library Paranoia 1996, The End of The End 2001], video installation [Everything Seems Alright 1999], interactive video installation [For Real 2002], interventions in public space [Passing By 2002, To Whom it May Concern 2001]. He is recently working on research on mutatios of media. It is study on transformations of moving image to still image. Often the result is in traditional medium of Painting [Reality Pixels 2001, Other Ads 2002]. Since 1988 he has been involved in the development of interSpace Media Art Center, and as an organiser of various important events and projects in the programme of the center. Schizoid Architecture 2000- Open Net.Project www.schizoid.cult.bg Urban Cycles 2000-02 - Collaborative project with Idea, Manchester, UK.
Maria Berova is media artist and designer. She is member of Inter Space Media Art Centre. Her interests are determined by her education and previous experience: both physics and classic animation. In her works she is trying to reflect the mathematics in our everyday social life using the means of interactive art.
Maria Vassileva (b. 1961) graduated in art history from the Art Academy, Sofia in 1984. She specialized at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1998) and at the Institute of the History of Art at the University in Rochester, the USA (1999). Founding member of the Institute of Contemporary Art - Sofia. Consultant to the TED Gallery, Varna. Observer for Koultoura newspaper. Curator at the Sofia Municipal Art Gallery, department of contemporary art. Teaching History of Contemporary Art at the University of Veliko Tarnovo. Active as an art critic and theoretician. Since 1998 curator of the women’s group “The 8th of March”. Has curated the following exhibitions: “Ars ex Natio. Made in Bulgaria”, Annual exhibition of the Soros Centre for the Arts - Sofia, Plovdiv, 1988, “Erato’s Version”, Shipka 6 Gallery, 1988 (both jointly with Yara Boubnova); “Obsession”, Central Mineral Bath, Sofia, 1999; “Recipes. A New Artistic Manual”, Institute of Contemporary Art -Sofia, 1999; “Dressing/Undressing”, Center for Contemporary Art “Bania Starinna”, Plovdiv, 1999; “Mirror, Mirror…”, Russe City Art Gallery, 2000; “Subjects and Shadows”, ATA Center for Contemporary Art, Sofia, 2000; “Shop-art. Women on (at) the Market”, underpass St. Sofia, 2001; “Changing of Places”, international women exchange project, ATA Center of contemporary art, Sofia, 2001.
Nikolay Chakarov is a media artist and designer, member of InterSpace Media Art Centre, Sofia. In his works he explores the influence of the virtual spaces (experience) in the real world. Assuming that the digital spaces are reflection of our everyday experience he is concentrating on the opposite interrelation: projecting all these virtual and mental environment backwards to the real life. For example in his video installation “01110110 …" the author recite a Shakespeare poem translated into a binary code.
Petko Dourmana is media artist and organiser of projects in art and technology. He is co-founder of Interspace Media Art Centre, Sofia. His interests are mostly in art projects based on information technologies, his works have been shown at many national and international exhibitions, festivals and on Internet.
Peter Ratchev is a young Bulgarian media artist, exploring the resources of the video, the installation or the performance. He took part in many international events as “Supervision” Video Festival in Moscow and Sahalin Island, 2001. Presented also on the International Video Festival “Video Archeology” in Rotor Foundation, Graz, Austria, 2002 Mobius Art Center, Boston, USA, 2002 “Video Project”, Strasbourg, France, 2001 Dreamcatcher Videofestival, Kiew, Ukraine, 2001 Multimedia Center, Skopje, Macedonia, 2000 Videomedeja Festival, Novi Sad, Yugoslavia, 2000, etc.
Zornitsa Sophia is a conceptual artist, working mostly in video art, installations and also new media, painting, photography. Recently she graduates as a Film Director working on projects for documentaries and a feature film. Zornitsa Sophia is a Master of Fine Arts, graduated from NAFA Sofia, specialized in American University, Washington DC and School of Visual Arts, NYC and currently graduating in National Academy for Film and Theater. She participated in numerous exhibitions in Bulgaria and abroad. Among others are Video Positive, in Liverpool, Crossing Over, in Ljubljana, Slovenia; Process-Space Festival, in Russe, Dreamcatcher, in Kiev; Machine Times, in Skopie, WRO Poland; VideoMedeja in Novi Sad, "Dig_in_time”, in Estonia; Mediaterra in Athens, Videoarchaeology, in Sofia, SIAB Graphics Biennial, in Skopje, Sofia Underground Festival, International Graphics Biennial, Varna, ART EXPO, in Belgrade and Zurich Art Fair. And recently in DARKLIGHTS Irish Video Festival, in Kansk Video and Film Festival, EKOART Festival and Kiev Video and Film Festival. Recently working in Sofia on 4 film projects - a documentary about the heroin addicts’ commune “Death And All The Way Back”; “Art Refugees” - a fake talk show with atrsists, pushed to emigration because of their art, “Beyond The Matrix” - about nowadays nomads, and the feature “Mila from Mars”.