Nedko Solakov

In general I am not so brave. Even though sometimes I do things that may be considered to go beyond common sense or secure behaviour, I have to confess that I am kind of a coward when I have to exist under dangerous circumstances. Therefore when I was invited by the Dvir Gallery in Tel Aviv to do a project in their space, I accepted with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was flattered that one of the best galleries in the region would like to work with me, but on the other, my mind was completely blocked by: “What if, when I am in Tel Aviv, I get involved (to put it mildly) in one of those accidents that occasionally makes the headlines?” After a lot of torment and hesitation I decided to take the only reasonable step, no matter how naïve and unusual this step may sound. As I am from and live in Sofia, Bulgaria, I contacted Mrs Benvenisti-Gabay, a representative of the Israeli State there and Mr Dassouki, a representative of the Palestinian Authority in Bulgaria with the request that, if possible, during my brief visit to Israel in the Autumn of 2003, the Israelis and Palestinians could have a temporary cease-fire in order for me to do my exhibition.

March 2003 Sofia

Dvir Gallery cordially invites you to the opening of Nedko Solakov’s Show “Negotiations”, on Friday, 12 September 2003, at noon.

Dvir Gallery continues its tradition of inviting international artists to create special projects for the gallery, and is now hosting Nedko Solakov.

Suzanne Landau, Chief Curator at the Israel Museum, asked Solakov to intervene into the museum’s collections.

Nedko Solakov will arrive to Israel at the beginning of September to realize both projects.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, Nedko Solakov (born in 1957 in Bulgaria; lives in Sofia) has exhibited extensively in Europe and the United States. His work was featured in Aperto '93 (Venice Biennale), in the 48th, 49th and 50th Venice Biennales, in the 3rd and 4th Istanbul Biennales, in São Paulo '94, in Manifesta 1, Rotterdam, in the 2nd and 4th Gwangju Biennales, in the 5th Lyon Biennale, and Sonsbeek 9, Arnhem. Recently he had solo shows at Museu do Chiado, Lisbon, Stichting De Appel, Amsterdam, CCA Kitakyushu, Japan and at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid.

Nedko Solakov
“Negotiations”