"The Neighbours": Memorialisation in the Absence of the State with Krasimira Butseva

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Talk, online and in person

Tue 27 May 202527 May 2025

06:00—07:30 PM

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Description

In this artist talk, visual artist Krasimira Butseva will discuss the processes, methodology, creation and reception of the Bulgarian Pavilion at the 60th Venice Art Biennale, Foreigners Everywhere. The Neighbours is a multimedia installation conceived by Krasimira Butseva, Lilia Topouzova and Julian Chehirian, dealing with the ways in which memory is remembered and forgotten, carried and cared for in the context of trauma and political violence of Bulgaria's state-socialist regime and its aftermath.

The project draws on working with communities, collecting oral histories, and forming a counter-narrative to the official state-led one. It also produces a moving memorial – a space focused on healing, coming to terms with, and learning about the past.

Julian Chehirian, one of the project's collaborators, will join the conversation with the audience digitally after Krasimira’s talk.

Speakers

Krasimira Butseva

Krasimira Butseva is a visual artist based in London, UK and Sofia, Bulgaria. In her practice, Krasimira engages with ideas around trauma, exploring the dynamics of remembering and forgetting, carrying and caring for memory through moving images, photography and sound. Krasimira is a Senior Lecturer in Photography at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. In 2024, Krasimira and her collaborators Julian Chehirian and Lilia Topouzova were selected to represent Bulgaria at the 60th Venice Art Biennale with their multimedia installation The Neighbours. Krasimira has shown her work in solo and group exhibitions in London, Brighton, Ipswich, Portsmouth, Gosport, Pingyao, Sofia, Plovdiv, Lovech, Cape Town, Kyiv, Belgrade, Berlin and Stuttgart.

Location

5a Bloomsbury Square London WC1A 2TA

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