site.btaExhibition in Sofia Examines Matriarchal Future

The Romanian artist Vlad Nanca is presenting his exhibition A Map of the World as Seen by Him, said the Institute of Contemporary Art in Sofia, which will be hosting the artworks between April 26 and May 31. According to the artist, A Map of the World as Seen by Him is a reflection on the question of who owns the future and the fantasy of it.

Nanca began his thought experiment back in 2015 with the discovery of Kepler-452b, an exoplanet occasionally referred to as Earth 2.0 because of its environment potentially making it inhabitable for humans. He wondered what would happen if humans one day colonized it. Would we carry our existence along with all the mistakes, or could we have a fresh start? Reflecting on a possible new beginning, the artist imagined a fantastic future, this time led by women.

Nanca drew inspiration for this exhibition from modernist architecture, Sofia’s urban environment under socialism, Soviet astronautics, and the obsession with scientific progress that left its mark in the form of murals and mosaics across Eastern Europe. He seeks women, whether metaphorical or actual historical figures, to become images of a new possible future.

While preparing his exhibition, Nanca rediscovered two artists who have remained on the periphery of the history of art and architecture in Bulgaria and Romania. One is the Bulgarian sculptor Velichka Believa, and the other one is the Romanian architect Henrieta Delavrancea-Gibory: a leading force in Romanian Modernism and designer of many buildings in Balchik on the Black Sea.

The visual identity of the programme was created by Denislav Golemanov, and Stefka Tsaneva curated the art.

Vlad Nanca was born in Bucharest in 1979, where he also graduated from the Department of Photography and Moving Image at the National University of Arts.