The 60th Venice Art Biennale (La Biennale di Venezia) takes a broad look at migration, foreignness and how the movement of human beings shapes today’s geopolitical landscape. The theme for this edition is Foreigners Everywhere, borrowed from the work of the artist Claire Fontaine. Curated by Adriano Pedrosa, the artistic director of the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), the Biennale’s theme has a dual meaning. “First of all, wherever you go, you will always encounter foreigners—they/we are everywhere. Secondly, that no matter where you find yourself, you are always, truly, and deep down inside, a foreigner,” Pedrosa explains in a press release.

The Bulgarian Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale 2024, curated by Vasil Vladimirov—the curator and director of KO-OP Art Space in Sofia and the founder of the Festival for Illustration and Graphics (FIG)—has taken Pedrosa’s theme as inspiration for its presentation. It explores the memories of survivors of political violence in communist Bulgaria from 1945 to 1989, in a new multimedia installation, The Neighbours. “[The Neighbours] responds to the Venice Art Biennale 2024's theme of Foreigners Everywhere by excavating the silenced memories of survivors of state violence from Bulgaria's socialist era (1945-1989),” says Vladimirov. “It explores the troubling legacy of repression, where individuals deemed non-compliant with the ruling communist party were treated as foreigners within their own country. Despite hopes for transitional justice, reparations, and acknowledgement of their suffering, their stories remain unrecognised, reinforcing their status as outsiders.”

Created by the visual artist Krasimira Butseva, multimedia artist Julian Chehirian and Dr Lilia Topouzova, the Assistant Professor of History and Creative Nonfiction at the University of Toronto, The Neighbours blends objects that are commonly associated with domestic life with items found in indentured labour camps, implying that the traumatic memories of state-sponsored persecution permeate every part of an inmate’s life, long after they have been released.

The Neighbours was selected for the Bulgarian Pavilion’s presentation at the international art exhibition through a competition organised by the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture. Its presentation marks Bulgaria’s 11th appearance at the art biennale. The installation art piece uses found objects, sound art and video art to convey the stories of people in Bulgaria who were persecuted by the government because of their perceived otherness.

Despite hopes for transitional justice, reparations, and acknowledgement of their suffering, their stories remain unrecognised, reinforcing their status as outsiders. – Vasil Vladimirov, curator of the Bulgarian Pavilion at the 60th Venice Art Biennale

Beginning with 1945's ‘Bloody Thursday'—a moment in Bulgarian history when pro-Soviet courts tried and summarily executed more than 100 top state officials —Bulgaria saw a brutal communist regime that lasted through the late 1980s, with the state of affairs in the nation gradually shifting to become more liberal and western-leaning by 1992. It is unclear how many people faced death, imprisonment or exile during the mass purges launched by the communists, but some estimates place the death toll alone at over 20,000 people.

The Neighbours was significantly informed by co-creator Dr. Topouzova’s academic research into the trauma caused by Bulgaria’s communist history, particularly by looking at the treatment of silence as an agent in historical narrative-building, and her identification of three ways of remembering traumatic experiences. Vladimirov expands on this, telling STIR, “These insights are reflected in the exhibition's three rooms, each representing different responses to trauma: the vocal, the reluctant or neglected and the silent and forgotten.” Her collaborators Butseva and Chehirian have also worked extensively with survivors of state violence in Bulgaria, each bringing a wealth of experience to the production process for The Neighbours.

Beyond her scholarship, Dr. Topouzova has a documentary filmmaking practice that explores history and memory. In the past, she was the scriptwriter for the documentary The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories (2007), which explores the relationship of the Bulgarian town of Belene with Bulgaria’s history of forced labour camps. She also worked on scriptwriting and co-direction for Saturnia (2012), another documentary, which examines Italian immigration to Canada through the lives of five people.

Additionally, Dr Topouzova’s artist collaborator Butseva has researched the homes of survivors of state violence, treating them as vernacular museums, which influenced the installation’s structure and artefacts. Meanwhile, Vladimirov continues, “Julian Chehirian's exploration of art therapy contributes to the exhibition's focus on care and collective healing. Overall, the exhibition synthesises a wealth of scholarly work into an accessible installation, bringing previously silenced histories to light and utilising silence itself as a powerful historical agent.”

The Bulgarian Pavilion’s offering in Venice, Italy invites audiences to enter the disquieting space that the collaborating artists have created, where they may bear witness to real stories of persecution and survival, but also resilience and a staunch refusal to be omitted from historical records. While these stories are Bulgarian, they reflect a brutal reality that continues to unfold worldwide.

‘The Neighbours’ will be on view at the Sala Tiziano at the Centro Culturale Don Orione Artigianelli, Venice from April 20 - November 24, 2024.

The mandate of the 60th Venice Biennale, which aims to highlight under-represented artists and art histories, aligns with the STIR philosophy of challenging the status quo and presenting powerful perspectives. Explore our series on the Biennale, STIRring 'Everywhere' in Venice, which brings you a curated selection of the burgeoning creative activity in the historic city of Venice, in a range of textual and audiovisual formats.