The Pavilion

The presentation of work in a national pavilion at the Venice Biennale is of special significance for the participating artists, as well as also generally providing a boost to their international careers. But what happens to all those who are not recipients of this rare opportunity? Not just because they have not been selected, but because their home country, Bulgaria for example, may not even have a national pavilion? Their works usually go unnoticed by the public and the many artistic concepts and ideas remain unseen. Ivan Moudov (*1975) addresses the Bulgarian art scene’s lack of representation in many of his conceptual works. As of 2007 with his piece Wine for Openings he is one of the few artists to have participated for Bulgaria at the Venice Biennale, and this was the third time that Bulgaria had been represented at all. After a renewed interruption of several years, the country will again be represented in 2019. By the time this was officially announced, Ivan Moudov had already decided to simply relocate the national pavilion–during the same time period as the traditional show in Italy–to the Ruhr Area. His installation is dedicated to concepts that were not selected in the open call process for Venice. The Havkenscheid chapel at the main cemetery in Bochum would appear to be the perfect venue. The modernist concrete architecture, complete with stained glass windows, is the most beautiful Bulgarian pavilion imaginable. 23 very different artistic ideas are being presented here by the curators and the artists themselves in narrative form. Their polyphonic choir relies on the power of the imagination, making the absent present.