"...My method of investigation is like Bas Jan Ader's Falling. For our life consists partly in madness, partly in wisdom. Sometimes only madness compels us.. , then wisdom comes as a gift within...

...I cannot say how, but, most answers are signaled back to me from the universe - where many significant 'artists' who have passed away still pass on..."

The systematic change of the study material at school and the forcefull, rapid adaptation towards the new historical waves, applied to me and my peers, could not escape my curiosity. I have an awake consciousness and a strong sense of justness since I can remember myself. Anyway, I will go for the truth, it does not matter the consequences I have decided firmly.

It was difficult for me to grow in times of transition in a country pointed as an European outcast, but even worse - not knowing my roots. While witnessing destructive speculations I knew that this was the product of intentional foreign affairs.

For years through my entire youth I felt as floating in the vastness of a flood. Lost notion of belonging. No sense of time. No sense of locus. Just transcendence...

During the years of my constant search for the truth, I found sources of knowledge that were kept a secret for centuries, sometimes millennia. Some documents were republished on the internet from contemporary researchers - academics, historians, science doctors and archaeologists. Most of these documents were preserved in deeply hidden monasteries on the outside periphery of Bulgaria, some came from far away - Mount Sinai monastery, Vatican, British Library, etc. Nothing was left in Bulgaria after the Ottoman invasion. Later in addition to that all historical books, sources of knowledge were buried with the beginning of the Russian-Bulgarian 'brotherhood'. I would not mention the Russian predecessors in crime, for most of them are now in deep regret, and I think that the young generations of people do not deserve to inherit the mistakes of their predecessors.

This constant drifting was the reason for me to give a start to my research regarding Kukeri in 2014. I am interested in antropologie, and as an artist I thought that the most honest way to trace the lost roots is to go back in time - researching the most old and social ritual known today in the lands of the Thracians. Despite the black veil thrown on the Bulgarian identity and culture, I could relate to all preserved traditions and rituals kept unharmed for centuries. But my most precious source of information was unexpectedly so close. A lot of these sacred knowledge I inherited from my grandma. This wisdom was complemented with what I've learned from my journeys through the Balkans.

...Traveling through the small picturesque Balkan villages you will be swollen by the warmhearted and humble spirit welcoming you to become part of the timelessness that reigns there. Here you are not just welcomed by the locals, but loved from the very first moment of your arrival. Here you can dwell in the expanse, you can learn stories from the time of Orpheus who once had lived in this mountains Rhodopa and whose temples - now ruins - collect many curious; the Thracian deity Elijah (Илия) and his chariot of fire and the worshipping rituals in his name; to visit the mountain peak where according to the local people is the tomb of the Thracian god Zagrej (Adopted later as god Dionisus in the Helenistic mythology) - today it is still a sacred place for rituals where the energy is so high and if you are not prepared it hits you like a high voltage and overwhelms you with interminable euphoria; or the Devil's Throat cave that does not have a way out - considered a portal to the afterlife, and where dead leaders and warriors were thrown in the underground river to ensure their immortality. We are used to reading about such places and people in legends, or mythologies but they are preserved deep in the Balkan, they are physical and very true.

The last decades are happily years of transparency, significant archaeological discoveries and reliable technologically advanced DNA studies. Therefore, much of what was suppressed and destroyed or stolen from tomb raiders or imperial interests now slowly comes back as knowledge. Due to years of censuring and blacklisting of studies regarding the history of Bulgaria, to the 'Sovjet' authorities was addressed an official letter in which the Bulgarian science guild required the end of the neglect, suppression of the Balkan area and in particular the Bulgarian culture, identity and contribution to the world's heritage. By doing so these people fought the censorship and opened the way towards pluralism. But this pluralism brought even bigger confusion and diversion from the true facts. You may want to know that my concept for the truth is strictly defined - in reference to history, I do not believe that in a conflict/dispute truth can be born, and if there is any kind of negotiation then the truth is obviously compromised.

From 2015 onwards, various gene-studies were conducted. This technologically advanced DNA studies marked the reverse point in the methodology of research - anthropologically/historically, it changed the way of seeing and approaching the past. This research confirmed the studies and beliefs of many and refuted the skepticism that the ancestors of the Bulgarians are the Thracians.

We cannot turn our heads away from the origins of our true existence, our natural instinct to worship and depicting our cult towards the uncontrollable nature forces, as all cults start from there. How many more times the "Holy Book" is going to be rephrased and how many more gnostic movements and spiritual leaders are going to be needed in order to understand and start possessing this value system needed to have the seed of care, peace and love on earth?

These were questions from my past, and ones that I still ask myself. After graduating my Icon Painting degree I lost track of my desire to pursue anything related to the Holy Realm. I knew already in my early youth that religion is a tool to control politically, and the priceless morals of Christianity were long gone - tainted by cruel rulers and diabolical church practices. I knew that you cannot search for faith in a building beholden by the shallow materialization of Christianity.

Let's go back to the Balkan. Here I was born again…

I consider my element to be my artistic expression in its momentum, medium, meaning, and vulnerability, where the process freely flows without restraint.

Flashback:

My first performance was not planned, it just occurred naturally breaking the oficial mood at a public ceremony in Minerva academy. I cannot remember the occasion, but I remember the surprise and the reactions of the people. It was hilarious and open. This was the beginning of me being a performer, and I thought to myself that I would like to keep forth this latitude. Action-reaction.

I consider my work related to space (physical, digital, virtual, inner/outer). I always think of the space as one of the most important elements signifying my work/performances. To think in the framework of space, enhancing the characteristics of it, that create the instant mood that surrounds my work. Scenography, as a fixed element in my work, takes a very big place as a tool to influence the state of mind, where interactive installations play with the notion of Environment vs. Nature triggering perception.

In search of the physicality of the space, I observe it as possessed by a force material condition, in its pulsation, vibration or echo. I underline its character and bring forward its essence in a playful interaction.

I can dress the space, enhance the space, but my most valuable interactions with it are the common attraction - when I see space I know what I want from it and in return I know what it wants from me. This is my site-specific nature.

In relation to my performances, I search for the space that has a strong amplitude in introducing / representing the characters ( Nino, Totko and Bendida ).

• In Vondel Bunker - The characters seemed to appear from nothing - from a closed door hidden behind dark curtains;
  
• In Kink the character Totko appeared from the elevator that was located next to my interactive video installation; The space that I chose intensified the clash between both realities - virtual embodiment vs. physical embodiment.

  Kink Assen

• Basement of FMI was turned into an underground club. DJ-booth hosting the tunes from customized turntable, Cracklebox, and visuals consisting of glitching balls/installation and interactive screen as part of the VJ-show. The characters had access to the pass doors and could walk in, dance and go away during the performance.
• In Orbit festival the performances of We ourselves and us took place on the balcony of the synagogue, the space was narrow and allowed a sense of intimacy.
• In NP3 the stage turned to be the edge of an emotional state of mind, the vitrine was used for interaction with everything that moves outside the gallery - webcam motion sensor sonification.

We use to give names, define situations, depict them and after - point at them as an example. But the moment this situation occurs, it is often neglected and forgotten. What is the instance from which actions occur? In We, Ourselves and Us I tend to enhance actions, and give a special importance on the feelings that occur from these actions. Often exaggerating the moment of that action - prolonging it, or shortening it - so its importance turns into uncanny composition. The performative compositions can shift from ambient, to dramatic surrealism.

Some actions can be described by words, some not. Here time comes as a measure. In the context of two dimensional as referring to actions, motion, moment - any attempt of depicting movement is narrowed down to its final stage. As in Icon Painting and in particular in Ascension*, Jesus is depicted already up in the clouds neglecting the entire physicality of the nature of Ascension.

Timelessness relates to the psychological time - subjective and unreal, prone to illusion or in my works idealised, iconic. Timelessness: where time is captured in a circle, it never evolves and it always occurs cognate as endless repetitiveness, as Jesus caught in eternal upward stream during his Ascension.

We, ourselves and us resonate with that concept, in compositions where observing and exploiting time happenes as in a still-life. In the same context of thoughts I like to question often myself:

Where is the end of time?

How do things continue after its end?

How many beginnings and ends time has?

How long does it take me to cross a black hole?

In which dimension can we walk backwards in time?

Can you remember the moment when you stopped paying attention?

Why does time give us more answers to questions, rather than questions to answer?

I remember vividly when Baba Vanga said that time is one - there is no past, present or future.

In 2014, short before my Autonome Beeldende Kunst graduation I found the stilistic and mesmerizing charm of Kukeri. It was evoked by my urge to trace the roots of my ancestors, and I started to study its fundamentals and origins when I found that this Orphistic ritual embodies the oldest preserved kult of god Zagrej (Dionise).

In 2014 I wrote

" In my final graduation project, I dedicated my research on the importance of cultural values and their impact throughout time. Research in which essential matters are seen through the prism of history, philosophy, traditional knowledge, even indigenous values, where the main guideline is on the development of the collective mind, and against classism.

The area where I am coming from is a region, which constantly gives birth to stories - so intense that one lifetime is not enough to grasp; in which memories are sometimes terrifying, sometimes manipulated or deliberately forgotten. Therefore I focus my attention on the essence of rituals, symbols, and ancient understandings which have been judged, rejected and forgotten by the time. The Kukeri ritual in the lands of Bulgaria dates from the time of its ancestors - the Thracians. The celebration was dedicated to the Thracian god of mirth Dionysus in order to celebrate the beginning of the new year. Kukeri recreates the vital relationship between nature and man. Kukeri(mummers) are dressed with scary masks, with hanging bells, carrying swords or sticks. They dance in the obedience of nature to scare away the barren winter and the evil spirits. Then spring is welcomed with an entrenched fertile harvest year.

Kukeri revived despite its forcible neglect and prohibition during Ottoman invasion and later from Communism.

The seemingly mythological scene is set in a daily context where the relationship of contemporary society, political climate, and religious sets narrates its seemingly absurd nature.

Tsar is a directed performance impersonating old value systems in a critical dispute with the sober present reality. The multidimensionality of the performance goes through the notions of romantic, philosophical, critical, ominous but also comic.

Tsar itself marks the name of the main character of the performance. The project is a directed performance – a complex composition involving in tight relation both technical and conceptual aspects."

In my recent research Kukeri has changed its essence and grew from a visual culturally intertwined image/topic into a space of inner expression. Kukeri in the face of We, Ourselves and Us gave me the liberty of exploring my freedoms, without the fear of being exposed. It gave me the inner protesting or loving voice. And you cannot say that this is my comfort zone! This is the 'place' where I feel free from restrictions, everything is allowed while being a Kuker, and I push it even further. For me there is this potential, importantly enhanced current condition that can and does shift, as a natural force, its character. There is not a constant condition in which we are set to live, we have luckily many. I underline this moment's conditions, and each specific Kuker brings its character forward to it.

In Frank Mohr I have grown towards ultimate appreciation of distortion. As I already had many sympathies for broken or malfunctioning objects or events, or society.

In relation to technology I started to perceive We, Ourselves and Us as such: as a broken, unwanted, mischievous guest, wandering around or interfering with everything important as possible.

We, Ourselves and Us* often becomes a band of experimental musicians, poets and artists themself. During the last two years they have gained a strong identity that revealed a multitude of talents.

A big part of WoU is my method of creating and/or adopting new instruments, defected objects, impulsive/irrational actions, dematerialization and materialization of odds.

I always paid special attention to the sound in my visual compositions or performances. In Frank Mohr, I was encouraged from my tutors to develop that audiovisual approach in a more conscious way.. I started to involve more musical elements in my performance. I conducted many experiments related to sound - Sound improvisation, Sound and motion, Noise, Text and sound, Spoken words, Singing, making and playing different (unconventional) instruments, Voice change, Live coding (phasers), Sonification etc.

Technopaganism

I have always been interested in exploring new modes of expression, getting away from traditional means of the content and/or the process of creation. In my recent project the main importance is falling on the interactive element throughout ancient rituals in conversation with technology(new media art) - whether installation, performance or any kind of audiovisual work- and the interactions/interconnections created as a result of that. Therefore, leaving a space for creative play and exploration of the senses comes naturally back to me as a feedback - feedback, which I consider very important for the development of my future artistic approach. Personally for me, technology is augmenting my own creativity, but I am also very interested in observing it as a subject matter - in its social, cultural and political or philosophical implications. Art in relation to Technology helps me reach the essential points in the dialogue between human and machine. As for example when it comes to the topic of Machine learning, most people have to consider their own implications/input on that new and still very vulnerable technology. How we perceive and act upon that matter - that defines its fundamentals, that defines as well our future. I, as many of my contemporaries, perceive the human-machine dialogue as the contemporary of human-religion one, and I would like to consider further studies in this area.

***

You cannot start liking glitch just like that. This is something that goes through your life in some form, and when it finally arrives it is a love from first glimpse. I cannot explain my relation to Glitch, this is something very personal. It is a condition.

For me Glitch turned to be another dimension, of space, of seeing, of working and being. It is an encounter, detonation. It is meditation.

It is like the clouds, you see so many familiar figures, it is like the weather in the mountain - beautiful in its unpredictability; it is hypnosis that extracts from you many memories; it is a walk on a thin ice - exciting and dangerous; it is the dimentional corridor of a black whole where time and space does not exist but is about to get born; it is the neural connections that stopped working and started to make art.



My recent research surfs into the waves of synesthesia/digital synesthesia - where a sensory perception or its conceptual notion instills in the mind at the same time another notion of a sense that has not been stimulated. Through materialization of odds and errors - depicted by a performative embodiment of animal spirits(Kukeri); and dematerialization of social conventions and acceptances depicted by the malfunction of the social information stream – glitch, the elaborate dialogue between both elements give space for playful interaction while embracing the uncanny.