{"id":893,"date":"2015-07-21T13:44:51","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T11:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nia.watertowerartfest.com\/?p=893"},"modified":"2021-01-14T16:54:27","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T14:54:27","slug":"epilogue-wtaf-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nia.watertowerartfest.com\/?p=893","title":{"rendered":"Epilogue WTAF 15"},"content":{"rendered":"

The motives for Epilogue photo performance was based on CONTEXT OF FESTIVAL WTAF \u2013 Since 2006 we initiative the Water Tower Art Fest in Sofia. This festival is an international art event with performances, installations, presentations and workshops that takes place every year in different spaces throughout the city of Sofia and beyond in Bulgaria. From very local grass roots based initiative, we have proved throughout the years to be the most important international contemporary art festival in Bulgaria, using abandoned buildings and art in public spaces. The purpose of the project is to attract public attention to our immediate urban environment filled with abandoned spaces and tackle issues of tolerance, democracy and environment via contemporary art using socially engaged artworks. By using the abandoned buildings we tackle issues of importance to the local community, integrate marginal groups and different generations in communication through the arts. WTAF is an artist run initiative started only with a few people in Sofia encompassing ideas of art, creativity, urban renewal and alternative art spaces. Gradually it became an international event gathering artists from around the world that came together as independent entities representing their individual style and search for mutual understanding and cosmopolitanism in the face of widely spread apathy and unwillingness to cooperate. The motivation has been a major point to all of us \u2013 to communicate freely on the basis of artistic expression within spaces that allow our imagination to run wild and at the same time reflect upon history and architecture, social and other issues as well as urban habitat\u2013 to find our own place within a particular city structure. The places inspired us and gave direction to the format, which the festival took shape and form \u2013 through communication. We felt that by doing this we have the will power to change our own surrounding where we live, how we communicate with space and transcend the past and future in a way possible only through art with direct response to the social environment, transcribing histories, memories, textures and functions into art. It is an an injection of international creative thinking of alternative spaces in Eastern Europe. \u201cWe believe that art has a function in the society and we delegate that function back to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IMG_6810\"<\/a>“Epilogue”<\/b> by Nia Pushkarova initiator of <\/b>\u00a0Water tower art fest – international contemporary art festival and usage of abandoned water tower with aim to turn it into an art center by NGO IME since 2006
\n\u201c<\/b>The idea was to use the resources of the city with a clear notion and social responsibility in a creative way to care for the immediate surrounding of where we live.<\/b>
\nThe metaphor here is that the attempt to go and make our way through, by clean communication and clean notions, unfortunately met the corporative interests prior to real unbiased communication. In this sense as a result the water we drink is compromised and with disputable quality.<\/b>\u201d<\/b>
\n\u00a9NiaPushkarova 2015<\/p>\n

Chronology of Water tower art fest: Festival of contemporary arts and culture in alternative spaces in Sofia 2006 \u2013 2016
\nMission: Artistic activities inducing better quality urban living, artist run initiative offering a platform for exchange for national and international artists working in all sphere of contemporary arts, trough socially engaged artworks in alternative spaces.
\n2006 \u2013 First art\/citizen initiative involving cleaning of space around the water tower garden and party \u2013 making it a symbol of the idea for socially engaged arts, discovering spaces around town and making them available for citizens and artists to explore.
\n2007 \u2013 Poduene project \u201cChisto\u201d- encompassing ideas of clean communication
\n2008 \u2013 \u201cUrban Guardian Angels\u201d
\n2009 \u2013 Water tower art fest\u2013 involving international artists for first time
\n2010 \u2013 Water tower art fest \u2013 \u201cClairvoyance\u201d
\n2011 \u2013 Water tower art fest
\n2012 \u2013 Water tower art fest \u2013 \u201cFollows the white rabbit\u201d \u2013 fest goes outside Sofia for first time at Vidin synagogue and Troyan art Tryavna art colleges
\n2013 \u2013 Water tower art fest \u2013 \u201cTemporary protected spaces\u201d \u2013 tower closed for us \u2013 top floors by Municipality because of safety reasons \u2013 occupying only first platform. Fest goes to Vidin and Stara Zagora for traveling exhibition. For the first time there is a restriction order to enter the tower,we are allowed only on the first\u00a01st platform\/floor due to safety reasons according to Region of Lozents Mayor, Sofia Municipality.
\n2014 \u2013 Water tower art fest \u2013 \u201cTemporary protected spaces\u201d edition 2 \u2013 tower completely closed by Municipality because of safety reasons. Fest goes to Dimitrovgrad and Stara Zagora and Plovdiv with traveling exhibition. The tower is completely closed and restriction has been put upon us to enter it \u2013 due to safety reasons according to Region of Lozenets, Sofia Municipality
\n2014 \u2013 Water tower art fest edition in London, UK \u2013 \u201cThe Bulgarians are coming\u201d
\n2015 \u2013 Water tower art fest \u2013 \u201cTowns in need of love\u201d \u2013 fest moves outside city to Pernik, tower given to unfamiliar art gallery after a secret bid for tender under Municipality procedure involving reconstruction offer and mission goals for its usage for 10 year period
\n2016 – Water tower art fest – last 10th edition – goes to margins of Sofia incorporating many unused places, such as train depot’s and involving places adopting social aspect trough art such as \u00a0in Psychiatric hospital recreational park.\u00a0 The water tower is closed with no sign of any activity.<\/p>\n

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\nAs a result of this exhibition the project was shown at Coahuila, Saltillo Mexico at festival\u00a0Raya en el agua<\/a><\/p>\n

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The motives for Epilogue photo performance was based on CONTEXT OF FESTIVAL WTAF \u2013 Since 2006 we initiative the Water Tower Art Fest in Sofia. This festival is an international art event with performances, installations, presentations and workshops that takes place every year in different spaces throughout the city of Sofia and beyond in Bulgaria. READ MORE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nia.watertowerartfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nia.watertowerartfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nia.watertowerartfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nia.watertowerartfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nia.watertowerartfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=893"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/nia.watertowerartfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1328,"href":"https:\/\/nia.watertowerartfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893\/revisions\/1328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nia.watertowerartfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nia.watertowerartfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nia.watertowerartfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nia.watertowerartfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}