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Albena Baeva is at the forefront of interactive art in Bulgaria. She works with artificial intelligence, physical computing, creative coding, and augmented reality. Her works have been shown internationally at festivals, galleries, and museums in Europe and the USA and recently became part of the Art Collection Telekom. 

Albena actively presents and supports other artists in the development of their works. She is a co-founder of the studio for interactive design Reaktiv and the only gallery for digital art in Bulgaria gallery Gallery and its AR sculpture park Ploshtadka. She has also co-founded the bio-art organisation Symbiomatter and was the driving power of the interdisciplinary platform for new performance instruments Runabout project.

Albena has two MAs; in Restoration and Digital Arts from the National Academy of Art in Sofia. In 2023 she was awarded the Artist Changemaker and the Denise Allen Emerging Artist Awards from Global Fund for Women. She received an Everything is Just Fine commission from the Bulgarian Fund for Women (2019), won the international Essl Art Award for contemporary art (2011), and the VIG Special Invitation (2011).

Her work was shown in museums for contemporary art including Essl (Austria, 2011), EMMA (Finland, 2013), MCV Vojvodina (Serbia, 2015 and 2019), galleries and festivals for video and performance in Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine and the USA.

List

2024

Waste, solo exhibition, c. Firat Arapoglu, Collect Gallery (TR) 

Group Therapy, group exhibition, c. Magdalena Juříková, N. Hoyos and R. Schumacher, Stone Bell House, Prague (CZE)

The Nature of Relationships, group exhibition, c. Irina Batkova, ReBonkers, Varna (BG)

In The Empty, Still Undeveloped Space of The City, group exhibition, c. A. Baeva and R. Beekman, Gallery Gallery in Varna public spaces (BG)

2023

AI Creative Writing Anthology, edited  by Geoff Davis, by Leopard Print Publishing, London (UK) 

The World After / Post-apocalyptic Notes, video art from the Balkans, c. by Neno Belchev, Placeta de Sant Marc, Sineu (ESP)

Flag, solo exhibition, Cube Gallery, CCA Toplocentrala, Sofia (BG)

LOOK: Ecology and Technology, c. E. Thelau, R. Getzova, Arosita Gallery, Sofia (BG)

W.E.C.A.N, Mediterranean Biennial Contemporary Art, c. Firat Arapoglu, Tarsus (TR)

ADAM meets EVE (and vice-versa), c. Jorge Sellés, The Wrong Biennial

Net art died but is doing well, c. Fabio FON, Soraya Braz, The Wrong Biennial

2022

And They Whispered Softly, solo show, c. by N. Hoyos and R. Schumacher, KVOST gallery, Berlin (DE)

Augmented Seattle, AR festival in public spaces, c. by Future Arts, Seattle (US)

Solidarity Machine, group show, c. by A. Baeva and G. Baeva, Projektraum Galerie M, Berlin (DE)

How to Deal with the World, group show, c. by N. Hoyos and R. Schumacher, Wilhelm Hallen #3, Berlin 

2021

AI Messages, solo show, Move.bg, Sofia (BG)

Alternative Reality, group show, Projektraum M Gallerie, Berlin (DE)

Us and Them, a group show, c. by Nathalie Hoyos and Rainald Schumacher, Kapana – City Gallery, Plovdiv (BG) 

Trust Territories, solo show in collaboration with Natalia Fuchs, Goethe-Institute Bulgaria, София (BG)

The Sheep, The Snake, The Bitch, and Their Pig, solo show, MKC, part of ПРВО ПО ЖЕНСКО festival, Skopje (MK)

Manifesto of Manifestos, performance with the participants of Avant-garde LAB 4, part of Фестиваль “Эстетика синтеза”, Moscow, Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, Moscow (RU)

Herbarium as a Place for Storing Ideas, group show, c. by Irina Batkova,  Sofia Arsenal – Museum for Contemporary Art (BG)

2020

In-contact, dance performance, choreographer Agnija Seiko, lighthouse Nida, N-zeme festival (LTU)

Life After: The Garden of Artificial Delights, online exhibition, Gallery Gallery (BG)

Quarantäne 13, online group exhibiton, Quarantäne Artist Collective (DE)

Everything’s Right, group show, gallery Doza, Sofia (BG) 

2019

Dangerous Creatures Living in The Deep, gallery Gallery, Sofia (BG)

Perception of Contemporaneity – Universal Sea, c. by  Kojić (SRB) and  Loeser (DE), central exhibition for the festival Danube Dialogues, Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina (SRB)

Electric Dreams, exhibition, gallery +359, Sofia (BG) 

Pavement Fragments, site specific installation, part of BFW project Sense of a city: Inclusive, Safe and Sustainable Plovdiv,  Proslav and Trakia neighbourhoods, Plovdiv (BG)

The Sheep, The Snake, The Bitch and Their Pig, solo exhibition, Contemporary space, Varna (BG)

2018

Beyond Words, Mardin Bienali, German Headquaters, Mardin (TR)

2017

Shifting Layers, group exhibition, Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia (BG)

The Sheep, The Snake, The Bitch and Their Pig, solo exhibition, Credo Bonum Gallery, Sofia (BG)

Elysium, group exhibition, Noville, Berlin (DE)

Shopping and Fucking by Mark Ravenhill, directed by Mariy Rosen, video and interaction for theatre play, Mr. Bricolage (BG)

2016

                         Landscapes and Nudes, exhibition, Project space of ASU Art Museum, AZ (US)

                         Friendly Little Creatures, curatorial project for group exhibition, Sofia (BG)

                         Dior In Moscow, video for dance-theatre performance, Klaipeda (LT)

                         Peace To You, video for theatre performance, Sofia (BG)

2015

                       E.U.E.R.P.I, audio-visual performance, Our Lady Church, Copenhagen (DK)

Yordan Parushev Competition, group exhibition at Bulgarian Cultural Institute, Paris (FR)

The Baazar, presentation of Identity Move Residency Project, Prague (CZE)

WonderLab, group exhibition, Museum for Contemporary Art Voivodina, Novi Sad (SRB)

Only The Two of Us, documental exhibition, Suspacious space, Sofia (BG)

Being Post-Digital, group exhibition, Society of Artists Gallery, Plovdiv (BG)

2014

Archaeologies, solo exhibition, Vaska Emanouilova Gallery, Sofia (BG)

Living in Post-socialism, video art from Bulgaria, gallery Meno Parkas, Kaunas (LT)

Nominee Exhibition BAZA Award for Contemporary Art, Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia (BG)

What If, solo exhibition, Contemporary Space Gallery, Varna (BG)

Sudden Streets, performance, Runabout project, Sofia, Varna, Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo (BG)

2013

MiReLa, interactive installation for public space, with studio Reaktiv, city centre, Sofia (BG)

The Eyes of Others, interactive video for a theatrical performance, Ivan Vazov National Theatre, Sofia (BG)

Azamen, interactive dance performance, Runabout project, Dimanche Rouge Festival, EMMA, Espoo (FI)

2012

ARTeFACT, interactive video for a dance performance, Derida Dance, Sofia, Varna, Lymasol, Budapest, Chur (BG/CY/HUN/CHE/SVN)

The DNA of Words II, sound performance, Runabout project, Kornfeld Gallery, Berlin (DE)

Young Art from CEE, VIG Special Invitation exhibition, Ringturm, Vienna (AUT)

Hello World, group exhibition, Vaska Emanouilova Gallery, Sofia (BG)

2011

Essl Art Award CEE: Winners exhibition, Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg (AUT)

Baza Art Award: Nominees’ Exhibition, Sofia City Gallery, Sofia (BG)

Transform, international group exhibition, Foreign Art Gallery, Sofia (BG)

2010

Bergeron Experiment, audio-visual performance, Runabout project, Digital Art Festival, Sofia (BG)

Universal meeting, site specific interactive installation for public space, city centre, Sofia (BG)

Imagine, short video, 3H+K Gallery, Pori (FI)

Up:Down, interactive installation, co-work with P. Boyukova,  Nights of the museums Plovdiv (BG)