The Neighbours project will represent Bulgaria at the 60th Venice Art Biennale between 20 April and 24 November 2024. It was shortlisted from 17 applications, the Ministry of Culture, organiser of the Bulgarian Pavilion in Italy, announced at a press conference today. "The Neighbours brings to light the silenced and faded memories of the survivors of the political violence of the communist regime in Bulgaria between 1945 and 1989, and examines its problematic legacy in the present," the ministry said. 

Through interactive objects, video and sound installations of authentic narratives from the period, the public will experience the Bulgarian interpretation of this year's Biennial title by curator Adriano Pedrosa - "Stranieri Ovunque" ("Foreigners Everywhere"). 

The authors of the Bulgarian project are the visual artist, writer and researcher Krasimira Butseva from the University of the Arts London, the history prof. Liliya Topuzova from the University of Toronto and Julian Chehirian, a PhD candidate in the History of Science at Princeton University. 

Vasil Vladimirov, BA in Modern History and Politics from Royal Holloway, University of London and MSc in Political Sociology from the London School of Economics and Political Science, will curate the exhibition at the intersection of art, politics and history. 

The National Pavilion of the Republic of Bulgaria is organised by the Ministry of Culture and produced by the National Art Gallery and Nadezhda Dzhakova, PhD, National Commissioner and Director of the Sofia Arsenal - Museum of Contemporary Art.