Culture – Subculture - Catalogue of the exhibition
by Elissaveta Moussakova, Iskra Trayanova,

Print date: 1999-05-05
Institution: SOROS CENTER FOR THE ARTS FOUNDATION - Bulgaria
ISBN: 954-90378-5-1
WWW: http://www.sca.bg/publications/frameset.html

Review: The Soros Centre for the Arts’ sixth annual exhibition took the challenge of entering the hazy zone of culture-subculture interaction. The curatorial team (Elissaveta Moussakova, Iskra Trayanova, Svetlomir Marinovski) announced its intentions not to provoke the artists with this choice but to draw their attention to one of the most pressing problems of the 90s – the interpretation of the dividing lines between “high” and “low” art. Is there a dividing line at all? What is culture and what isn’t? Is the co-existence of cultural and sub-cultural standards justified and to what extent? How firmly do they account for their presence/absence in our art? To what extent are the differences imaginary? And is there a serious conflict that could be settled with the elimination of one of them? Undoubtedly, posing more specific questions in this case is to give direction and clarity in the modern mind, burdened with hesitant answers and questionable criteria. The theme itself suggests the use of a very “active” environment which integrates the broadest possible range of dynamic social groups and types of behaviour.

Received on 2001-02-05 from Marek Tuszynski - Poland