Valko Chobanov
Solo Show
August 29 – September 20, 2026
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Opening: August 29, from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
An interactive happening during the opening.
(Visitors are advised to wear comfortable clothing and shoes for rough terrain)
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The exhibition will be open for visits on the following dates: August 30, September 5-6-7, September 12-13, September 19-20, 2026. For visits, a preliminary appointment via Instagram is required.
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Valko Chobanov is a multidisciplinary artist and curator. As an artist, his interest is focused on the mixture of digital debris and physical reality, drawing on his experience in scenography and digital arts. His work is characterised by a playful, poignant exploration of internet folklore, the aesthetics of “bugs” and the absurdity of modern consumption. Whether through painting, video or performance, he often explores how technologies transform human identity and memory. GOLFIN tackles once again the topic of social performativity and acts of consumption, while the applied visual solutions introduce the issue of digital fiction overload experienced today and its impact on our perception of reality and nonsense. In his remarkable visual approach, the artist does not fail to express his criticism of irresponsible trends, whose inert multiplication only deepens the negative ecological or social footprint in which they thrive.
Three common dolphins have left the Black Sea, which has turned into an unhealthy environment for them, to try the alternative of land. Equipped with accumulated impressions of the organisation of life on the coast, observed by generations of their relatives from the water, these dolphins arrange for themselves a new environment that looks like what they have observed as living on land – balls are hit with sticks or a cart is driven on a mowed terrain. The migrant dolphins take up those self-assigned roles and, showing their natural intelligence, indulge in their version of hedonism.
A life-affirming and at the same time tragic story in which absurdism helps to stay sober.
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Valko Chobanov (born 1991, Plovdiv) held his first solo exhibition “Inorganic / Organic” at Coffee&Gallery Cu29, Plovdiv, in 2017, with the support of the “Gaudens B. Ruf” Award. He is the winner of the BAZA / Young Visual Artists Awards for 2019. In 2022, he realized five solo exhibitions in Sofia: „An Otherworldly Backup Plan For A Vicarious And Accidental Visit to An Ineffable After Party“ at ICA-Sofia, “A Carefree Visit to a Vain Party” at lo3eto, Cleanse All Your Sorrows at Posta, Cater at Unicredit Studio, Arboreous Psychopomp Hypersigil at Punta Gallery. In 2024, together with Tsvetomira Borisova and Marina Genova, hi did the collaborative project Drama Class, shown at Charta Gallery, Sofia, as part of DA LAB Foundation e-valuation platform.
Among his group participations are “Immersion – Background: Young Artists from Plovdiv”, curated by Vera Mlechevska, Bulgarian Embassy in Helsinki, Finland (2018); “Dear Provincialist” in 2017 at Swimming Pool, Sofia, “Places of Pleasure” part of the project “Multipolis”, organized by The Fridge, at Sofia City Art Gallery, in 2017, “Creative Powerlessness”, presented as a result of a previous residency, at the Goethe-Institut Sofia in 2024.
His video art works have been shown at the Bad Video Art Festival, Moscow, 2018 and at “Niglo”, 2017, as well as #VERYSHORTFILMFEST @ Vine, 2013. His original performances such as “Pizza slut” have been part of DA Fest, 2015 and the eXAF art gallery, while “I have a pale cultural dissonance, yeah like whatever f**k it and feelings and stuff”, 2017 and “LOL”, 2018 were part of the program of the performance art festival Sofia Underground.
https://www.instagram.com/valko.chobanov/
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Location of lo3eto:
By the road connecting Vetren dol and Patalenitsa villages
42°08’40.3″N 24°11’04.5″E
42.144538, 24.184575
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This exhibition, together with the related to it artistic residency, are realized with a financial support by the Singer-Zahariev Foundation.
