INTERWEAVINGS | AN ONGOING EXHIBITION BY MARIA MINKOVA solo exhibition curator vessela nozharova

In a span of one week in Credo Bonum Gallery’s main hall, Maria had bean weaving her interpretation of events happening around the world. All this happened live in front of the eyes of the visitors. A script written in python created by ghostdog collected, arranged, “ground” and constantly provided news to the artist. This thick mess of information forcibly fed to Maria’s mind was interpreted by her through different fabrics with colours, mirror like stripes, human hair, movie tapes and other materials loaded with symbols and emotions. Each day she wove different piece so at the end of the week the audience could experience the artistic product - newsfeed foot print from the past seven days.

Maria Minkova, through her voluntary placement in a weaving-robot role, explores the relationship between the robot-creator and the human-machine. Haven’t we suppressed them for too long? Haven’t we made them work too hard? Are the tables turning now? Can the artist be enslaved? Is it possible to dehumanize the creative process? These are questions that this ongoing exhibition hopes not to answer.

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VIDEO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_4bJ0I83rY

INTERWEAVINGS | AN ONGOING EXHIBITION BY MARIA MINKOVA solo exhibition

The “Interweavings” project began with the idea of turning the small Credo BOX exhibition space located in the gallery corridor into a weaving frame. Gradually, it stepped out of the niche and took its place in the main hall of the gallery. The small BOX presented the artist’s reaction to the drama of the war in Ukraine. It featured a series of photographs of what was woven in the first days of the war, as well as a short video showing the artist’s work process.

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https://youtu.be/6KFF-WkHkB4

ENTAGLEMENTSprovincialistscontemporary artists from bourgas curator ivo bistrishki

Traveling through our lives, looking for our best version, we come across people, events, objects that transform us and become part of us. If we are lucky, a different, better self will emerge from these clashes. A new, changed self, a reflection of these entanglements. My entanglement (Maria) is with Burgas. Burgas and the sea that digs, speaks, gives birth, attracts and with its tireless rhythm paints the footsteps of my path. They are part of me.

Through the installation "Entanglements" I wanted to challenge people's senses, to test their feelings and perceptions. To make them look at themselves and try to discover their own entanglements.

VIDEO:

https://youtube.com/shorts/svlAl5rBUJM?feature=share

WEAVING VIRUS / 03.2020

It”s an art project. The corona virus is a serious subject. By no means we advice people to wear masks from yarn. Life will continue and more beauty and shine will not hurt.

WE LOVE WEAVING

CONTINUUM /IN PROGRESS/

Nothing in the universe exists in isolation. Throughout the vast continuum of time and space, everything is interconnected. Like the fibers in a cloth. Take one out and all will fall apart.

Trust me, I'm a weaver.
And as a weaver I understand that in an interconnected world you cannot review the feminine apart from the masculine.
Our ancestors knew that and they embodied their knowledge in symbols. 
In my work I have used the Kanatitsa: a symbol of the feminine and masculine in unity. The symbol resembles an hourglass and I believe that is no coincidence. The hourglass represents the ever turning roles of the man and the woman in time and the point of intersection between them.
Take a look at history and you will see the deep truth locked within this symbol: women were not allowed to vote. Now they are being elected. Women were supposed to stay home. Now they can build homes. As the hourglass is turning, the poles are blending.

There used to be specific roles assigned to women and men. Now these roles overlap and complete eachother more and more. Because as the social role of women changes, so does the social role of men. They are now allowed to cry, show weakness and fully live the happyness of parenting their children in a different, much more devoted and tender way. A way that used to be reserved for women. 
With my work I want to express my deepest belief that everything is truly just fine. We, as a society, are walking the right way, becoming more and more awake and more and more aware: no matter what our gender is, each of us, as an individual also contains the great principles of the masculine and the feminine ever in motion. Ever in balance. And only at the point where the feminine and masculine meet, creation is possible.

No matter how scary things look sometimes, no matter how much populism wants us to feel afraid, there is no reversing of the natural ascendance of consciousness. We have known the truth before. And we will know it again.

Because our world is the work of the greatest weaver:

Nature. 

 Thank you to Elitsa Mavrodinova for the brilliant text.

The STARS of HARMONHY

The world is a complicated thing. We live in it as individuals, yet our collision with others form firm structures called societies - the bricks of the humanity. We were thinking of different ways to portrait togetherness in its whole beauty and came up with a project called “Star of Harmony”. The star is composed of 20 triangular metal pyramids mounted together to form a stellated star-shaped construction called Icosahedron - one of the most mysterious and harmonious shapes, that lies at the very basis of ancient geometry. The “Star of Harmony” is a bridge between the ancient past and the present. It is a gate in space and time through which shines the very truth that we are all fibers, rays, weaved together in the harmonious and everlasting light of the Universe.

All the spikes of the construction are covered with colorful hand-weaved cloth. The laces used in the weaving are symbol of different cultures, religions, characters, sexualities, believes. The tangle that they form portraits and celebrates the beautiful mixture called common life. It is known that we perform way, way better when we exist and interact together. Our mission as people should be to preserve the colors of the various personalities, but survive and flourish as one.

The whole preparation process from the creative idea, through the samples and the actual hand weaving happened in the span of 2 months. The actual assembly of the 4 meter tall construction took 2 days and 5 people that hand sewed over 100 m of fabric to the metal skeleton. The installation became a colorful instagramable spot and all the passers-by added their own personality layer in the thousands of pictures that were taken next to the Star of Harmony.

Commissioned by THE STARS GROUP for KAPANA FEST.

VIDEO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix_jpUlshhA