Sofia Art Fair: The success of the first contemporary art exhibition in Bulgaria in numbers

Between October 3-6, the first contemporary art exhibition in our country was held in Sofia Tech Park. The event transformed the perception of the market potential of this sector by managing to attract an impressive number of visitors, and among the guests of the opening were numerous representatives of business, the diplomatic corps, collectors and institutional representatives from Bulgaria, Europe and the world.

On the last day of the event, among its rich parallel program, a discussion panel dedicated to contemporary art exhibitions in Central and Eastern Europe was held. At the very beginning, the executive director of the Sofia Breathe Foundation, Suni Danaji, also revealed the financial parameters of the event, and later the organizers summarized the statistics on visits and sales, which are now officially published for the first time. Here is what Sofia Art Fair looks like in numbers.

The project budget is 650,000 leva. Institutional financial support comes from the Sofia Municipality and the Ministry of Culture, with the total amount of this funding being 48,800 leva. The most important financial donor is the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, which provided 65,000 leva free of charge – this is the organization with a particularly high contribution, because it recognizes the potential of the project even in its early development phase. The innovative urban parking company TEHSITI also contributes to the financial sustainability of the initiative. The remaining funds are formed from sponsorships, pavilion rentals, ticket sales, as well as an investment by the organizers.

Among the most important partners of Sofia Art Fair are the French Cultural Institute and the Embassy of France in Bulgaria, thanks to whose efforts two extremely important names were included in the parallel program of the forum – the internationally recognized curator and critic, Hu Hanru, as well as the director of the “Wrapped Arch” project by Christo and Jeanne Claude, Ms. Laure Martin-Poulet, who visited our country for the first time. From the French side, the inclusion also comes at a very early stage, which is of particular importance. The participants during the event are from 12 countries: Bulgaria, France, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Slovenia, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, USA, Azerbaijan.

The event was attended by representatives of many business and social communities, as well as popular personalities such as Evelina Pavlova, Orlin Pavlov, Kitodar Todorov, Grafa, Dimitar Berbatov, Deyan Statulov, Stefan Shterev, Stefan Valdobrev, Ivaylo Tsvetkov, Maria Ignatova, Mrs. Yordanka Fandakova, Malina Edreva, Sasha Bezuhanova, Nikola Rangelov, Gergana Passi, Lyubomir Stoykov, Tenko Nikolov, Diana Miteva, Konstantin Rangelov, the Bobokovi family, Yordan Kisimov, Krasimir Dachev, the Naydenovi family, the directors of the Sofia City Art Gallery – Mrs. Adelina Fileva, the director of the National Gallery – Mrs. Yara Bubnova, Nedko Solakov, Prof. Stanislav Pamukchiev and many others.

Of course, another big topic is related to the number of visits and not least – sales during the exhibition.

The visitors to the event are over 4000. This figure includes all organized visits from schools and kindergartens, as well as all other persons under 18 years of age, for whom the entrance was free.

The intensity of attendance made a strong impression, starting from the opening on October 3rd until the very end of the forum on the evening of the 6th.

The information on the sales made is also particularly important, and statistically, they are quite respectable, even if we compare them with other exhibitions on a global scale, even more so for a first edition. 90% of the participants have made sales. The absolute champion is the pavilion of the art manager Ilinka Chergarova, who sold out all the exhibited works, including a video art work, which is a rarity anywhere in the world. Talks have also been recorded about several orders after the end of the Sofia Art Fair. Among the best performers are also the art dealer Stefan Stoyanov, as well as the Little Bird Place gallery, which concluded nearly 20 sales. On average, for the entire exhibition, we are talking about 4-5 works per pavilion that found new owners during the forum. Among the foreign galleries, QGallery from Azerbaijan has been particularly successful, and the performance of ArtDepot from Austria is also notable. There have also been sales among young authors, with the most successful among them being Samuil Velev.

The summarized statistical results for sales realized by the participants during the exhibition:

The most expensive work presented at Sofia Art Fair by the ArtDepot Innsbruck gallery is that of Anselm Kiefer worth 220,000 euros.

Another important news is that during the exhibition, the Sofia City Art Gallery chose to purchase, for its collection, the work of the author Krasimir Terziev – “Base and Superstructure” (Twilight), 2022, oil on canvas, 200 x 120 cm, presented by the Struktura gallery. This fact is extremely positive and entirely in line with good international practices.

What’s next for Sofia Art Fair?

First of all, the Sofia Breathes Foundation team and Art & Culture Today are joining forces for the long-term development of the sector and have signed a partnership agreement for joint work for the next 4 years.

An open call for applications for the second edition of Sofia Art Fair will be announced at the end of November. It will again be held at the John Atanasov Forum, Sofia Tech Park, with the organizers aiming to significantly enrich and diversify the experience, conceptually rethink the spaces and improve all aspects of the event – for both the audience and the participants. In the period until October 2025, there will be active work to attract an even broader and more diverse audience, the team plans systematic efforts to engage business representatives and collectors from Bulgaria and abroad.

The organizers are collecting feedback from all participants and partners and are already actively working on the realization of an even more memorable edition. Expect news soon.