Bulgarian artist Michail Michailov and his project "There You Are" will represent Bulgaria at the most prestigious forum for contemporary art in Europe - the Venice Biennale. This will be the tenth participation of Bulgaria in it and one of the few entirely backed by the Bulgarian state – both financially and organizationally. The forum, which was established in 1895, will be opened on April 23 and will last until November 27, 2022. According to Yara Bubnova, head of the National Art Gallery the event is not really a competition of the works and the participating authors, but a contemporary art competition between the countries that present their national pavilions.

For the second time since 2019, the Bulgarian participation is the result of a contest organized by the Ministry of Culture, which took place at the end of 2021. Michailov's "There You Are" was chosen among 17 projects by a 7-member jury.

"I worked on the project for a month," the artist says. “The idea for There You Are is not only mine, but also of my curator Irina Batkova. The project itself presents a variety of my creative strategies. I work in the field of drawing, performance, installation. The whole concept is very closely connected with the specific place where it will be exhibited, with the architecture of our pavilion, as a kind of perception of our consciousness and our human existence. It is also linked to this year's topic of the biennial – The Milk of Dreams.”

When it comes to the exhibition space, we recall that in addition to countries that have their own permanent buildings, the forum is attended by others, including Bulgaria, that rent a specific space for the seven exhibition months, in order to implement the project for their national presentation. Bulgaria's artistic address this year in Venice is Spazio Rava, located in the central part of the Italian city, near the Rialto Bridge.

The artist says the space was an inspiration, not an obstacle for the project and this played a positive role in winning the competition. "Every artist dreams of something like this happening to him as a result of their efforts and talent," the artist says.

"In any case, this is a place where the work of an artist will be seen by many people - not only by amateurs, but also by professionals - curators, institutions, etc. and this is a giant step for an artist," Michail says.

He adds that as an art fan he has attended every Biennale in recent years, but this is his first participation as an artist. His project intertwines the Bulgarian creative basis and the international experience he has gained. The artist was born in the city of Veliko Tarnovo. He graduated from the University of St. Cyril and St. Methodius in Veliko Tarnovo, majoring in painting and then studied art history at the University of Vienna. He says his work for the art collective "Gelatin" was his introduction to contemporary art.

"After that I started working on my own projects. I currently live and work both in Vienna and in Paris, where I am very active after winning the grand prize in 2018 at the exhibition for contemporary drawing DRAWING NOW in the French capital. An essential part of the installation that I will present at the Biennale is a large drawing from the series that received the award," the artist says in conclusion.

Compiled by: Vessela Krasteva /based on interviews by Svetoslava Kuzmanova, BNR - "Horizont" and Konstantin Lavsov, BNR - Radio Sofia/

English: Alexander Markov