The exhibition by Stanislava Ivanova is a visual research of the sculptures in Zaimov Park. The artist studies the multiple layers of memory and raises the question what presence art objects have in the perceptions and imagination of the people in the park. The works comprise objects, installations with text and pictures, documents, photographs, questionnaires and parts of interviews. What the city remembers and how social processes are visually interpreted in the art objects within the city are the central themes of the exhibition.

As she sees the map of Sofia as a large clear mirror in her work Res (2016), Stanislava focuses on the passing-by images, which glide over the mirror plane and leave their momentary trace. The sculptures in Zaimov Park represent a similar type of a “scene”, which people approach as a field to express their emotional momentary reactions. They stand mute, and without any attached identifying signs, information on the artists, or any other possible communication channels for the visitors of the park, they become a white canvas for people to “draw” on it. In what way this reaction adds to, or takes away value from the particular works is an issue visually studied by the artist in the series of photographs Added Value (2017).

The city space invariably contains layers of different times and memory. They are evidenced not only by the objects preserved in it, but also by the ones time has erased, destroyed or forgotten about. How this memory could be restored, what it carries and what the artist’s role in this process is represent the themes associated with the installation 2 (2016 – 2017). The installation combines a documentary, social and artistic approach of exploring the work Foundry Worker by Velichko Iliev in Zaimov Park, and it encompasses the actual activity of restoring the missing parts of the sculpture.

The exhibition by Stanislava Ivanova raises issues that are increasingly relevant in the dynamic development of urban environment in Sofia, such as communication of art in the city and the attitude towards cultural heritage. Within its presentation at Vaska Emanouilova Gallery, also the initiative Civil Action will take place, in which part of the gallery space will be left a white wall expecting the spontaneous reactions of the audience.

Stanislava Ivanova (born1992), lives and works in Sofia. She graduated from Iliya Petrov National School of Fine Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria, in the speciality Painting. She acquired her Bachelor’s Degree in Ceramics at the National Academy of Art, Sofia, Bulgaria in 2015, followed by her Master’s Degree in 2016. In 2013 Stanislava attended the Higher Institute of Artistic Industries (ISIA) in Faenza, Italy, and in 2016 – 2017 the University of Artistic and Industrial Design ( Kunstuniversität Linz ) in Linz, Austria. Stanislava has two participations, in 2016 and 2017, in the Endeavours Programme for Contemporary Sculpture and Architecture of Vaska Emanouilova Gallery. Anonymous Presence is her first solo exhibition.