OFFICIAL VISIT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL ART GALLERY FROM SKOPJE DITA STAROVA - KERIMI IN SOFIA
At the invitation of the Director of the State Cultural Institute Snezhana Yoveva-Dimitrova and with the assistance of the Bulgarian Cultural Information Center in Skopje in the face of Director Antonia Veleva, the Bulgarian Embassy in the Republic of North Macedonia, and in partnership with the Ministry of Culture in Sofia on its first official visit between October 5th and 7th arrived Dr. Dita Starova-Kerimi, director of the National Art Gallery in Skopje, and Ana Frangovska, a leading art critic and curator of a number of national and international exhibitions.
The visit of the delegation from Republic of North Macedonia is significant and important for the exchange of ideas and good practices in the field of cultural management, management of art collections and funds, as well as for the planning of joint events on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the official recognition of the Republic of North Macedonia as an independent state on the part of Bulgaria.
The delegation was received by Foreign Minister Svetlan Stoev, who expressed hope that this first official visit would mark the beginning of an active joint activity that would help "walk together on the path of European cooperation".
"There is a huge untapped potential for us to work together and get to know each other even more, which I hope will be realized literally in the coming weeks and months," said our foreign minister. Ms. Kerimi expressed her desire to build a cultural policy together and thanked to meet with representatives of important cultural institutions during her visit to Sofia. During the conversation with Minister Stoev and the directors of the State Institute for Culture and CIC-Skopje were discussed the possibilities for visiting a representative exhibition in the Republic of Northern Macedonia, as well as projects of the National Gallery in Skopje in the gallery "Mission". Among the areas of potential cooperation are training in the field of cultural management on Bulgarian official development assistance.
During the official visit to our country, the guests from Skopje had a busy program of meetings. The first official one was with the director of the National Gallery "Square 500" Yara Bubnova and her team, and possible exchange exhibitions and exchange of good practices in the field of restoration were discussed. The director of NHG shared that Macedonian modernism is of interest because it is not exposed (enough) to the Bulgarian public. The guests from Skopje visited the modernized studios for restoration and conservation, the exposition of the International Biennial of Glass - 2021 and "Bohemiae rosa" - an exhibition of contemporary art from the Czech Republic, special emphasis was placed on the retrospective exhibition of Alcek Mishev, who respected them.
A fruitful working conversation took place in the Academy Gallery with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Stefan Belishki, Head of the Department of Restoration at the National Academy of Arts and Prof. Svilen Stefanov, who is preparing an interesting exhibition in Skopje in 2022. As Vice-Rector for Research, Art, Publishing and International Affairs, Prof. Svilen Stefanov discussed specific ideas for future joint projects.
The meeting with the art of Christo and Jean-Claude excited Dita Kerimi and Anna Frangovska at the Sofia City Art Gallery, where they viewed the exhibition, as well as had a fruitful working meeting with the director Adelina Fileva. Interaction between the Sofia City Art Gallery and the National Art Gallery in Skopje exists, the last visiting Bulgarian exhibition in 2018 is on the occasion of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, the idea is now to continue and upgrade.
The Museum of Contemporary Art - Sofia Arsenal welcomed the guests with a modern exhibition, as the curator Nadia Dzhakova and the art manager Martina Stefanova from the Home Art Foundation discussed ideas for future projects in the field of contemporary art.
On the special visit to the Ministry of Culture, the guests were received by the head of the cabinet Boris Danailov, who reaffirmed the intentions to activate contacts at a professional level and to continue similar visits from Bulgaria to Skopje, to plan and implement joint creative projects.