Located two kilometers away from the Bulgaria-Serbia border, the village of Deleyna decays into poverty, isolation and demographic collapse just like many other Bulgarian villages. A group of young people, however, will soon build their artistic residence there to show that the future of even the most secluded place on the map can be shaped through the language of art.

Five Bulgarian and five foreign artists are to look in the village of Deleyna for a working formula for viable Bulgarian villages in the course of three weeks. They will inhabit an imaginary space called “Artistic residence”, the organizers of “Factory for Ideas” association say.

“Our idea is provoked by the lack of young people, access to cultural events and people who can translate the values into a modern language in the Bulgarian  villages”, Yanina Taneva, founder of “Factory for Ideas” says.

The Bulgarian artists will live in one of the village houses and work in Deleyna, while the foreign nationals will help with ideas from a distance. Unfortunately, the initial plans according to which each guests had to be accommodated in a separate family cannot be fulfilled now due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, this does not mean that local people will not be involved in the creative process.

“Artists aim to create socially engaged art”- Yanina Taneva went on to say.- We will help them meet with the village and later we will see the final result- what the village will show and tell them and what artists will grasp and form in a message. We have left the door wide open for various artistic disciplines, because at the moment there is a lack of access to culture in the Bulgarian village beyond the culture that is created in the community itself.”

The young people will rely on the potential of art to heal. “We don’t need volunteers as much as we need spiritual experiences”, the residents of Deleyna village say.

“We cannot replace state policy, which unfortunately is missing- Yanina Taneva said further. - The trends in the Bulgarian villages are irreversible and this was written in the 2007 national strategy. So it takes a lot of effort to slow down or stop at least the few processes that are still reversible. There are several main problems in the village- the lack of democracy, because local residents cannot elect their own mayors when the village population falls under 250 people; the lack of access to healthcare; the lack of access to education; the lack of access to culture. In our view, education and culture is the foundation around which everything else should be built. New decisions are born and new roads are found when a traditional Bulgarian village meets with young urban people who bear different culture and knowledge.

The “Artistic Residence” will continue between August 24 and September 14 in the village of Deleyna. Then, it will become clear what ideas and forms of art are born after the meeting between young and seniors and between rural and urban people.

Photos: ideasfactorybg.org

English version: Kostadin Atanasov