Luchezar Boyadjiev

"GastARTbeiter", 2000

Well, I was both angry and depressed after Stuttgart (1). For many reasons but it's not easy to explain now. Basically, I had the feeling that I am a "cultural gast-ARTbeiter" (I am not sure this is the correct spelling in German, but you know what I mean...) who for some reason should be very, very carefull now not to be considered a "sell-out" or a compromising asshole, or a neo-liberal at worst. And I think I am just working very much. It seems to me that now I have to actually "hide" my CV - both from my crtitical art practice friends (that's you (2) but you are so nice that you will forgive me this statement, OK?), and from my Net.Art friends who are after new contexts as if the Net is not already heavily infected by power art games as well... And I am so proud of my CV - it's not so easy to do all these things. Maybe it would be more decent for somebody like myself if I would just go after Art and Galleries, etc.

You know, after Stuttgart I did a small calculation based on this CV of mine. The background is (and please keep this in mind until the end of these few sentences) that right now I have only the fee from Stuttgart to my name, as they say in the US. So, I calculated roughly that for all these years after 1989 (or rather after 1990-1) when I actually started traveling to the so called "West" because of what I do professionally - for shows, temporary media labs, conferences and all sorts of events, the ammount of money which "the West" has spent on me is incredibly high. In terms of geography I have "covered" the ground from California, to Brazil, to South Korea, Turkey and St. Petersburg and everything in between. So, I started counting roughly all the costs - tickets, hotels, per diems, visas, fees, honoraria, stipends, residencies, catalogues, texts, translations, installation help and so on which the organizers of the events have spent on me. Because the truth is that I can think of only one ocassion when I have actually paid my own way to a show and that was a show in a private gallery in Munich in 1993 (but then again I could do it because at that time I had a Getty Grant in the US). I came up with a rough estimate total of upwards of 130 000 or even 150 000 $ - can you beleive it??? And, nonetheless, there is nothing left in my pocket now, no property of any sort, nothing...

So, I said to myself, I must be a valuable commodity somehow, although in terms of symbolic rather then market exchange... The important question however is - was it all worth it if we still can't agree on many things??? And here by "we" I mean West and East people in general, not just you and me. Maybe, I said to myself, it would have been more honest and definetelly better for me, if all this money was just given to me to spend here in Sofia - it would come up to 12000 or 15000 $ per year - a nice sum by all counts, don't you think so?

In any event, I think that in Stuttgart there were people, although all of them great, of far too diverse backgrounds in order to come to terms about what actually is it that we should discuss. I think that the Eastern Europe background is no longer so valid. Now it is either the "art world" or the "e-world", the power games or the critical art practices, the galleries, museums and all that "white cube" aesthetics or, as they say, the new "context" of the Net. The unfortunate thing is that even the Net is already a power game in a way. I still think that there is a need to talk but there is no common language outside of either Art, or Politics, or Economy, or the Net, etc. And the common language I am thinking about should somehow envelope all these. Or we should just talk about very specific things - such as gender issues, for instance, or "opposition in the East", etc... So, misunderstandings now come from the context(s) which individuals preffer to opperate in rather than from the EE vs. WE (and USA) issues and experiences. I don't think there is any moral legitimacy left that might come from the fact that people are either from the East or from the West - we are facing the same choices and/or compromises. And I don't necessarily think that for an artist coming from EE the choice of a career is such a bad thing.

Sofia, December 1998

(1) Conference "1st Congress about Art and its Mediation in Central and Eastern Europe", Nov. 20-22, 1998, IFA Stuttgart, Germany.

(2) Marion von Osten, artist/curator. At that time curator in the Shedhalle, Zurich, Switzerland.

LUCHEZAR BOYADJIEV

1957   - Born: October 12th in Sofia, Bulgaria; 1975/80  - National Art Academy, Sofia; 1980  - M.A. in Art History and Theory; 1983  - "How to Draw and Paint" by Henry Gasser, NY 1969; - "Don't Get Taught Art This Way!" by Theodore L. Shaw, NY 1967; 1986  - "The Simon and Schuster pocket guide to Drawing", NY 1982; - "The Simon and Schuster pocket guide to Painting in Oils", NY 1982; 1985/88  - Post-Graduate Student, Institute for Art Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia; 1992  - Works in Kunsthaus-Horn with a grant from KulturKontakt - Wien, Austria ($2270); 1993  - Works in New York with a grant from The Getty Grant Program, CA, USA ($10000); 1996  - Works in Wachtberg/Gars-am-Kamp, Austria with a grant from KulturKontakt ($1000); 1997  - Works in Wachtberg/Gars-am-Kamp, Austria with a grant from KulturKontakt ($1000); - Works at The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, USA with an Artslink grant from The Open Society Institute, New York ($8500)

One Person Exhibitions:

1999
- "Reachable(s)", CIX Gallery, Skopje (C) ($600)
- "@e-face.show", ATA Center for Contemporary Art, Sofia (C) ($100)
- "In/Out..., in again", at the Swiss Embassy Residence, Sofia ($1670)
- "What if...", TED Gallery, Varna, Bulgaria

1998
- "Small Talk 1", Institute of Contemporary Art, Sofia
- "Revolution for All", Holden Gallery, MMU, Manchester, UK (ISEA'98) ($3500)

1997
- "I love Jesus - Souvenir Shop", former Bulgarian Embassy, Cetinje, Montenegro, YU (curator Iara Boubnova) ($280)
- "Cover Version 2", Hohenthal und Bergen Galerie, Cologne, Germany ($1400)
- "Cover Version 1", Ata-Ray Gallery, Sofia
- "Up and Down. Back and Forth", 68 Hope Street Gallery, Liverpool, UK ($2600)
- "Gallery by Night", Studio Gallery, Budapest (a project with Roza El-Hassan), (curator Barnabas Bencsik) ($437.5)

1995
- "The Fountain of Europe", National Gallery for Foreign Art, Sofia
- "Astrologic", Ata-Ray Gallery, Sofia

1994
- "The Fountain of Europe: Doubletake", Center for Curatorial Studies-Museum, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, USA (curator Vasif Kortun) ($1000)

1993
- Hohenthal und Bergen Galerie, Munich, Germany (C)
- Luchezar Boyadjiev (solo stand with Hohenthal und Bergen Gallery), KUNSTRAI '93, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (curators Edy de Wilde, Saskia Bos, Henk Visch) (C)

1992
- "Festigung des Glaubens" - installations, IFA Galerie, Berlin, Germany (curator Barbara Barsch) (C) ($23500)
- "Crucifixion for the Fisherman - 150 drawings", Lessedra Gallery, Sofia

1986
- "Mirror and Basic Images", Westbeth Gallery, New York, USA

1984
- "Open Studio", Sofia

Group Exhibitions:

2000
- "L'Autre moitie de l'Europe. Social Reality / Existence / Politics", Galerie nationale de Jeu de Paume, Paris (curators Anda Rottenberg, Lorand Hegyi, Viktor Misiano) no figures available
- "Worthless (Invaluable)", Moderna Galerja, Ljubljana, Slovenia (curator Carlos Basualdo) * no figures available
- "After the Wall", Ludwig Museum, Budapest; Hamburgerbahnhof, Berlin *
- "Danube Festival", Kunstverein Ulm/Stadthaus Ulm, Ulm, Germany (curator Friederike Kitschen) * no figures available
- "100 days - no exhibition", Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg, Austria (curator Hildegund Amanshauser) no figures available

1999
- "Interstanding 3 - Beyond the Edge", 6th Annual Show of SCCA-Tallinn, Rotermann Art Center, Tallin, Estonia (curator Ando Keskkula) ($1084)
- "publi©domain", Fototriennale '99, Graz, Austria (curators Werner Fenz, Ruth Maurer) (http://fototriennale.mur.at) (C; CD ROM) ($2500)
- "After the Wall: Art and Culture in Post-Communist Europe", Moderna Museet, Stockholm (curators Bojana Pejic, David Elliott) (C) ($9080)
- "TEMP-Balkania", Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, (http://www.temp.kiasma.fi/balkania/) ($500)
- "Project END", Interspace, Sofia
- "Videoarchaeology", Ata Center for Contempoarary Art, Sofia (curators Boris Kostadinov, Zhivka Valiavicharska) (CD ROM)
- "Turning the Page", Apolonia '99, Sozopol, Bulgaria (curator Dessislava Dimova) (C)
- "Always Already Apocalypse", The Institute for Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seizmology, Skopje; Yildiz Sabanci Kultur Merkezi at the 6th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul (curator Suzana Milevska) (C) (1/3 of $2500)
- "Communication Front", Old Turkish Bathhouse, Plovdiv, Bulgaria (curators - Foundation "Art Today", Plovdiv)
- "Recipes", Institute of Contemporary Art, Sofia (curator Maria Vassileva)
- "Leisure and Survival", Taxispalais, Innsbruck, Austria (curator Silvia Eiblmayr) ($2400)
- "Translocations. (new) media/art", Generali Foundation, Vienna (curator Georg Schollhammer), (http://www.translocation.at) ($555)
- "Inventing a People. Contemporary Art in the Balkans", National Gallery for Foreign Art, Sofia; ArtExpo Foundation, Bucharest; Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece; Art Box, Kavala, Greece; Contemporary Art Center of Larissa, Larissa, Greece (curator Andre Rouille) (C), (http://www.map-prod.net) ($1562.5)

1998
- "Onufri'98. Permanent Instability", National Art Gallery, Tirana, Albania (curator Edi Muka) ($2750)
- "Money/Nations", Shedhalle, Zurich, Switzerland (curator Marion von Osten), (C), (http://www.moneynations.ch) ($970)
- "Revolution/Terror", ISEA '98, Manchester-Liverpool, UK (curators Charles Esche, Eddie Berg, Iliyana Nedkova) (C)
- "Virtual Revolutions '98", Manchester, UK (curator Iliyana Nedkova), (http://www.yourserver.co.uk/vr/vr)
- "Revolting", Temporary Media Lab, Manchester, UK (curator Micz Flor), (http://www.yourserver.co.uk/revolting)
- "Europa 24", Museum Nordico, Linz, Austria (curator Prof. Kurt Freundlinger) (C)
- "Bulgariaavantgarde. Kraeftemessen II", Kuenstlerwerkstatt Lothringerstrasse, Munich, Germany (curator Iara Boubnova, concept Haralampi G. Oroschakoff) (C) ($2780)

1997
- "Ostranenie '97", International Forum for Media Art, Dessau, Germany (curator Steven Kovats) (C, CD-ROM) ($400)
- "Aller-Retour", 3rd International Biennial, Cetinje, Montenegro, YU (curators Andrei Erofeev, Bernard Mercade, Iara Boubnova) (C)
- "Art in Landscape", 4th International Symposium, Wachtberg/Gars-am-Kamp, Austria (curator Dieter Graff) (C)
- "Deep Europe", Hybrid Workspace, documenta X, Kassel, Germany (curator Geert Lovink) ($700)
- 9th International Biennial for Graphic Art (section "Simulations"), Varna, Bulgaria (curator Iara Boubnova) (C)
- "Contemporary Bulgarian Art", National Art Gallery, Sofia
- "Is Europe just a word?", 2nd Biennial of Emerging Art, Siena-Pisa, Italy (curator Valeria Bruni) (C)
- "Ars Ex Natio. Made in BG", 4th Annual Show of the Soros Center for the Arts-Sofia, Old City of Plovdiv, Bulgaria (curators Iara Boubnova, Maria Vassileva) (C)
- "Bulgarian Art Book", ATA Center for Contemporary Art, Sofia (curator M. Pavlov) (C)
- "Escaping Gravity - Video Positive '97", FACT, Liverpool, UK (curators Charles Esche, Stephen Bode, Eddie Berg) (C)
- "Beyond Belief...", Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, USA (curator Laura J. Hoptman)
- "Papier/2", Hohenthal und Bergen Galerie, Munich, Germany

1996
- "Evidences. The Real Diversity", 3rd Annual Show of the SCA-Sofia, Sofia Municipal Art Gallery, Sofia (curators G. Gatev, K. Minchev, S. Stefanov, H. Tcherkelov) (C)
- "Chaotic - Hermetic", 6 Shipka Str. Gallery, Sofia (curator M. Pavlov)
- "Bulgarian Glimpse Show", Association of Moscow Art Galleries and BCIC, Moscow (curator Iara Boubnova) (C)
- "Eastern Europe: Spatia Nova", 4th International Biennial, St. Petersburg, Russia (curator Iara Boubnova) (C) ($900)
- "Art in Landscape", 3rd International Symposium, Wachtberg/Gars-am-Kamp, Austria (curator Dieter Graff) (C)
- "Beyond Belief...", Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, USA; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, USA (curator Laura J. Hoptman)
- "The Pictorial Image of the 1990-ies", National Palace of Culture, Sofia (curators S. Stefanov, R. Rouenov)

1995
- "Video/Hart", 2nd Annual Show of the SCA-Sofia, National Archaeological Museum, Sofia (curator Kamen Balkanski) (C)
- "Orient/ation", 4th International Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey (curators Rene Block, Iara Boubnova) (C) (1/3 of $2500)
- "Beyond the Borders", 1st International Biennial, Kwangju, South Korea (curator Anda Rotenberg, etc.) (C) ($6700)
- "Beyond Belief: Contemporary Art from East Central Europe", Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA (curators Laura J. Hoptman, Richard Francis) (C) ($3234)
- "30 Grand Prix", 6 Shipka Str. Gallery, Sofia (C)
- "Week of Modern Art", Old Turkish Bathhouse, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
- "Projects by...", National Gallery for Foreign Art, Sofia (curator Iara Boubnova)

1994
- Section 13, 6 Shipka Str. Gallery, Sofia
- "N-forms? Reconstructions and Interpretations", 1st Annual Show of the SCA-Sofia, Raiko Aleksiev Gallery, Sofia (curators B. Klimentiev, D. Popova, S. Stefanov, N. Boshev) (C)
- 22nd Sao Paulo Biennial, Sao Paulo, Brazil (curators Iara Boubnova, Nelson Aguilar) (C) ($5450)
- "Le Nomadisme culturel. Artistes contemporains bulgares", East/West Festival, Die, France (curator Irina Genova) (C)
- "Moisture - Plainair for Avant-garde art", (organized by KA Gallery, Bourgas), in Arkoutino on the Black Sea Coast, Bulgaria (curator Iara Boubnova)
- "The Artists of LETTRE INTERNATIONALE", LiteraturHaus, Wien, Austria
- "Instability - Progress", French Institute, Sofia (curator Iara Boubnova) (C)
- "Art - Ritual, Ritual - Art", 3rd Multimedia Festival, Sofia (curator D. Nenova)
- "In Search for the Self-Reflection", Old City of Plovdiv, Bulgaria (curator Iara Boubnova) (C)
- "The Nail", 6 Shipka Str. Gallery, Sofia

1993
- Art Frankfurt '93 (with Hohenthal und Bergen Gallery), Frankfurt, Germany
- "Works on Paper", Ata-Ray Gallery, Sofia (curator Iara Boubnova)
- "Object - Bulgarian Style", 6 Shipka Str. Gallery, Sofia (curators Iara Boubnova, Maria Vassileva, Diana Popova)
- "Kunst auf Zeit. Eine Recherche", Kunstamt Tiergarten, House am Lutzowplatz, Berlin, Germany (curator Paul Corazolla) (C)
- "East - West", Art Hamburg '93 (with Hohenthal und Bergen Gallery), Hamburg, Germany

1992
- "Medical Check-up", Club of the (eternally) Young Artist, 6 Shipka Str. Gallery, Sofia
- "From a Moment of Truth - Works on Paper from Bulgaria", Karl Drerup Gallery, Plymouth State College, Plymouth, NH, USA (curator Rachel Weiss) (C)
- "Hair from a Brush", Club of the (eternally) Young Artist, 6 Shipka Str. Gallery, Sofia

1991
- "Happy-krai (end)", Club of the (eternally) Young Artist, 6 Shipka Str. Gallery, Sofia
- "Negative Territories", Gallery Art in Action, Sofia (curator O. Dvorianov)
- "Kaimak (cream) - art", ten art critics' selection of young artists, 6 Shipka Str. Gallery, Sofia
- "Illusions, illusions...", Club of the (eternally) Young Artist, 6 Shipka Str. Gallery, Sofia

1990
- "10/10/10", Club of the (eternally) Young Artist, Sofia State University Gallery, Sofia
- "End of Quotation", Club of the (eternally) Young Artist, Sofia State University Gallery, Sofia
- "Moderate Avant-garde within the Framework of Tradition", Club of the (eternally) Young Artist, 6 Shipka Str. Gallery, Sofia

1989
- "11.11.('89)", Union of Bulgarian Artists, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria

1987
- "Author's Proof" (conceptual participation), 134 Rakovski Str. Gallery, Sofia (curators Kiril Prashkov, Philip Zidarov)

Curating:

1992
- 3rd International Istanbul Biennial - Bulgarian participation, Istanbul, Turkey (1/3 of $2500)

1991
- "Europe Unknown" - Bulgarian participation, Cracow, Poland ($800)

1990
- "End of Quotation", Club of the (eternally) Young Artists, Sofia State University Gallery, Sofia
- "Christo - 22 posters", National Palace of Culture, Sofia (with Philip Zidarov)

1989
- "Marry Christmas - Hanging Objects", Club of the (eternally) Young Artist, Universiada Hall, Sofia

Conferring:

1999
- "Interstanding 3. Beyond the Edge - Escaping from Marginality", Rotermann Art Center, Tallinn, Estonia
- "Communication Front", Foundation "Art Today", Plovdiv, Bulgaria

1998
- "Permanent Instability", National Gallery of Art, Tirana, Albania
- "1. Symposium zur Kunst und Kunstvermittlung in Mittel- und Osteuropa", ifa-Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany ($1455)
- "The Art Critic during the last decade", AICA-Macedonia, Strumica, Macedonia ($150)
- "Border Economies", Shedhalle, Zurich, Switzerland
- Junction Skopje, V2_East Syndicate, SCCA - MCA Skopje, Macedonia ($200)
- "Exploding Media", Salford University, Manchester, UK (ISEA'98)

1997
- "Is There Anything between "Here" and "There" in Contemporary Art?", International Conference, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
- "Erato's Version. Is It Time Now for Female Art in Bulgaria?", theoretical conference, Sofia
- LEAF '97 (Liverpool Electronic Arts Festival), FACT, Liverpool, UK

1995
- "Contending Forces - Eastern Positions in the Western World", Kunstverein
Munchen, Munich, Germany ($891)

1994
- "The Museum for Contemporary Art - Between East and West", Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, Germany ($1875)

1992
- 18th Congress in the History of Art, Berlin, Germany ($536)

1991
- 15th AICA Congress, Santa Monica, USA ($2641)
- AICA Session, Cracow, Poland

1990
- "Modern Problems of Power and Culture. The Philosophical Foundations of Post-Modern Culture", co-director for Eastern Europe, Inter University Center, Dubrovnik, Croatia ($320)

1989
- "The Post-Modern Cultural Situation", Institute for Art Studies, Sofia
- "Public Post-Modern Readings", Institute for Art Studies, Sofia
- Second SPICE seminar, Koprivshtitza, Bulgaria

1988
- First SPICE seminar (Student Pugwash International Cultural Exchange), Munich, Germany

Lecturing:

2000
- Guest Lecture Programme, Goldsmiths College, University of London, London,
UK no figures available

1999
- "The Case of the Cultural "Gast-ART-beiter", Tutorial Workshop, Akademie der bildenden Kunste Munchen, Munich, Germany ($445)

1998/9
- course "Contemporary Art - "formation" and/or information?", Dept. of Stage Design, National Art Academy, Sofia

1996/9
- course "Art and Media Space" at the New Bulgarian University, Sofia

1995/6
- course "The Art of the 20th Century", at the South-West University St. "Neofit Rilski", Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
- course "The Art of Modernism and Post-Modernism after 1945", at the National Art Academy, Sofia
- course "Visual Art as Massmedia", at the New Bulgarian University, Sofia

1992
- course "Politics of Representation in Contemporary Art", at the National Art Academy, Sofia

Awards:

1998
- Grand Prix, "Onufri'98. Permanent Instability", National Art Gallery, Tirana, Albania

1989
- Award for Art Criticism from the Union of Bulgarian Artists, Sofia

Member: Institute of Contemporary Art, Sofia (founding member), (http://www.bar.bg/ica)

TOTAL = $ 111 236
(on the basis of the currently available information)