Radio Papesse

Nedko Solakov had already tried twice to combine early works and the most recent production.

At the Galleria Continua the bulgarian artist is now attempting again to pieced together such artistic path from works as The day shall come (1988), Family and Associates (1991) and the newest pieces as the video Silent (but as rich as only bulgarian language can be), F words (2009).

Dating back to the Eighties and to the beginning of the Nineties, just before and at the threshold of the collapse of the communist bloc, Family and Associates depict a corrupted and beastly bulgarian society. These two works have an inner connection with the self ironic video Silent, in which a murmuring Solakov addresses the government building, yelling words whose meaning we can only presume since we can't hear him. A sarcastic comment on his own disenchanted hopes.

His approach, however, is never cheekily political; the only project through which he has taken a dig at the bulgarian politics' immorality is A recent story with ghosts, a pair of high-heeled shoes (a couple of floods) and some other mischevious acts, an installation he presented in 2008 at Prospect 1 in New Orleans: a failed attempt to find a kind of political responsible for and response to a few tragic bulgarian events. Ironically, the only scapegoat he could address was the mischievous ghost of a medieval emperor. 

We met Nedko Solakov the day before the opening of his new solo show at the Galleria Continua. We talked about his early works but also about storytelling and cinema; about iconography, winks and different layer of references in his works, about irony and laughing in a foreign language.
The music that comes with the interview is Garo by Korg Cello, Split Second by Philip Croaton & Ilia Belorukov and Poezie 07 by Vaclav Pelousek, free downloadable at foem.info; Ponimeni by Bacanal Intruder, out of the compilation Symbiosis downloadable at www.zymogen.net.