The national Gallery
Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
and
‘Ivan Asen 22’ Foundation
presents
5+5 / art+fashion
KAMEN STARTCHEV + GEORGI FLOROV
NADEZHDA KOUTEVA + DILIANA IVANOVA
MIRYANA TODOROVA + MAYA KARANESHEVA
ANGELIKA RADEVA + NELI MITEWA
ALEXANDRA GEORGIEVA (sashettu) + ALEXANDER GERGINOV
30 April–21 June 2026
Curators: Nadezhda Dzhakova, PhD, and Neli Mitewa
Opening on Thursday, 30 April 2026, at 6 p.m.
SAMCA, 2, Cherni Vrah Blvd., Sofia
Can fashion design and fine art coexist as equivalent practices without submitting to hierarchies, but, through mutual transformation, create a new visual language? The exhibition titled ‘5+5 / art+fashion’ offers an answer: not through juxtaposing but through joint action of introducing a domain of intersection where disciplinal boundaries become blurred, giving way to a hybrid territory.
Historically, fashion has been conceived as transient, bound to the present, to the body, and to its application subject to cycles of renewal and fungibility. In contrast, fine art asserts claim to autonomy and sustainability beyond its function. In the context of contemporary cultural and social transformations, however, these distinctions are increasingly difficult to maintain. In both fields, the body is thought of as a progressional, constructed reality, while the object—be it a garment or an artistic form—becomes a means of critical articulation, rather than a reproduction of norms.
‘5+5 / art+fashion’ is positioned precisely in this zone of tension and opportunity. Five artists and five fashion designers engage in a dialogue that requires a shift from their established practices and methodologies. The collaborating pairs do not follow a uniform model but develop it as an open process: the fashion designer translates the artistic image into structure, matter and movement; the artist designs the form as wearable, as an extension and activation of the body in space. The result is artworks that function simultaneously as objects, clothing and spatial interventions.
The exhibition treats clothing not as a utilitarian product but as a carrier of ideas and a mediator between body and environment. In this sense, it approaches the status of an installation: mobile, variable, and dependent on the presence of the subject wearing it. In parallel, the artistic object is liberated from its static nature and opens up to the possibility of use, movement and corporeality.
In a time marked by digitalisation and fragmented communication, the exhibition proposes a model of work based on sharing, physical presence and slow process. The creative act moves from the individual to the relational—towards interactions between artists, materials and contexts.
‘5+5 / art+fashion’ does not simply combine fashion and art; it offers a critical framework where the two domains function as mutually dependent, transforming practices. In this environment, a novel, hybrid visual language is formed, one that does not absolutely belong to either discipline, but arises precisely at their intersection.
With the financial support of Sofia Municipality Culture Programme and BIODERMA
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
For further information:
Nadezhda Dzhakova, Head of SAMCA, +359 (0) 879 834 030
Neli Mitewa, +359 (0) 888 399 506