A Bulgarian exhibition is included in the program of the International Poster Biennale in Warsaw
On July 5, 2025, in Warsaw, the 29th International Poster Biennale opens—perhaps the most prestigious and certainly the oldest international forum for poster art. On July 10, as part of the Biennale's program, an exhibition of the International Triennial of the Stage Poster – Sofia will open at the gallery of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute.
'Bulgarian Posters with International Awards' is an exhibition-research project of the International Triennial of the Stage Poster – Sofia. It is the first attempt to gather into one collection posters created by Bulgarian authors that have earned them international recognition.
We began preparing this collection following an invitation from Prof. Lech Majewski to present an exhibition accompanying the iconic Warsaw Biennale. It is no coincidence that the timeline of awards in this selection starts precisely with the first edition of this biennale in 1966. The collection spans an impressive period of nearly six decades, carrying the spirit and reflections of events held across the globe. The true curators of this exhibition are the hundreds of members of various international juries who have shaped the image of the most influential poster forums.
The exhibition is a kind of panorama of contemporary Bulgarian poster art, presented through the evaluation and reception of the international jury. The range of nearly 50 posters on display is broad and diverse, with thirty authors representing several creative generations. The selection is varied, complex, and rich—much like the nature of the most democratic visual art form: the poster. Among the exhibits are theater, film, social, exhibition, festival, tourism, and political posters, with their geography including: Brno, Vancouver, Warsaw, Vilnius, Istanbul, Quito, Mexico City, Milan, Mons, Montivilliers, Moscow, New York, Paris, Seoul, Strasbourg, Tokyo, Kharkiv, and Hollywood.
The collection features posters awarded at several editions of the Warsaw Biennale, including that of Ralitsa Stoeva, who won first prize at the very first biennale in 1966. Lasting are Bulgaria’s successes at the International Triennial of the Social Poster in Mons (Nikolay Nikolov, Bozhidar Ikonomov, Kiril Karapanov, Krasimira Drumeva), at the Brno Biennale (Hristo Alexiev, Bozhidar Ikonomov, Bozhidar Yonov), and at numerous exhibitions and competitions—up to the recent accolades of two of the most awarded contemporary authors: Radoslava Boor (Mexico, 2024; Gold Award from Poster Stellars, New Jersey, 2024; Gold Award from Poster for, New York City, 2025, etc.) and Ivan Kashlakov (New York, Graphis Poster Annual, 2023; Seoul, etc.).
The collection also includes posters awarded at the International Biennale of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo, as well as at various editions and competitions held by the International Triennial of the Stage Poster in Sofia over the past three decades—among them, posters by the only Bulgarian artist to win the Grand Prize, Lyuba Tomova.
This bold "journey" through time and space is one of the possible narratives about Bulgarian poster art beyond the local, placing it in an international context and at the center of the dynamic and often contradictory processes that have shaped contemporary visual culture.
Albena Spasova
Exhibition Curator