Bulgaria’s Twentieth Century in Arts and Culture

The Institute of Art Studies published two books, in Bulgarian and English, Bulgaria’s Twentieth Century in Arts and Culture, an interdisciplinary collaborative project funded by the Bulgarian National Science Fund (BNSF). Authors: Ingeborg Bratoeva-Daraktchieva, Irina Genova, Claire Levy, Joanna Spassova-Dikova, Theodora Stoilova-Doncheva, Stella Tasheva and Elka Traikova. The study seeks to present a historical overview of the development and the existence of arts in twentieth-century Bulgaria. General, but specific parallel intellectual and artistic processes in literature, drama, music, film, visual arts and architecture are highlighted. Phenomena associated with the modernisation of Bulgarian culture and its place in the context of the supple, dynamic cultural dimensions of contemporary Europe are accentuated. The book contains three chapters: Under the Sign of Modern Europe (1878–1944), Metamorphoses of Modernity (1945–1989) and Challenges in a Time of Transition (1989–2000). Splitting the period into thematic fields makes it easier to outline more distinctly the focuses on various aspects of changes in the development of certain art and its specific reflections from the viewpoint of personal and communal identity analysed synchronically or diachronically. Such cores of intersection (timescale, socio-cultural, institutional, genre, etc.), following a mosaic-chronological pattern, are conditional and challenging the traditional notion of the developmental trends in twentieth-century Bulgarian culture. The book is lavishly illustrated, including an extensive bibliography, and is intended for wide readerships.