On December 17 at 7 p.m., the official opening of “Automatic,” an unconventional digital art space, will take place at 11 Dunav Street in Sofia.
The gallery operates as a smart system with 24/7 access via a contactless bank card. The “Automatic” program focuses on contemporary art forms in which technology becomes a medium for critical and poetic thinking. It introduces the public to digital art whose presentation, creation, or operation involves automated and interactive processes.
The highlight of the event on the 17th is the 8:00 p.m. screening of Anna Vasof’s video “Actions Against the Right Way.” She rearranges the relationships between people, machines, and objects, offering playful, humorous, and more serious solutions than they appear at first glance.
The “Automatic” Gallery is the latest initiative of the “DA Lab” Foundation, which presents and produces digital art, including the international digital arts festival “DA Fest.” “Automatic” showcases a selection of works in the field of contemporary art created using digital media—new media, artificial intelligence, science, and innovative technologies. The project not only offers a dedicated space for presenting digital art in Bulgaria but also, through its automated operational approach, creates an innovative and unparalleled gallery practice.
The gallery was founded by Prof. Venelin Shurelov—a co-founder and instructor in the “Digital Arts” master’s program at the National Academy of Arts, as well as a co-organizer of the “DA Fest” international digital arts festival and the “DA Lab” foundation. Shurelov is also the creator of numerous interactive installations and performances.
“With ‘Automati’ Gallery, we wanted to create a new kind of cultural experience—free, accessible, and a little unexpected. This is a place where art meets technology directly, without intermediaries and without set hours,” Shurelov shares.
During the opening, the public will have the opportunity to get an up-close look at the gallery’s concept, its future projects, and the team behind the idea. Exhibitions last between one and two months, and currently, two works are on view: “Trampoline Color Exercise” by Yuge Zhou and “Predictive Art Bot” by the collective https://Disnovation.org.
"Trampoline Color Exercise" is a moving collage of images of leaping gymnasts whose uniforms and identities shift as they somersault on pink trampolines. The figures are also perceived as an abstract interplay of primary colors—a subtle allusion to national flags and shifting allegiances within an ever-changing geopolitical context.
Predictive Art Bot satirizes the predictability of media-influenced artistic concepts by automating and circumventing the human creative process. Beyond automation itself, it aims to stimulate unrestrained, counterintuitive, and even unsettling associations of ideas.
We look forward to seeing you there.
You can find out more about the “Automatik” Gallery at:
https://automatic.gallery.sofia/
Instagram: @gallery_automatic
Contact: Maya Ivanova, PR and Communications, +359 894 63 81 99, mailto:maja.ivanova@gmail.com