SHORT BIO
Martina Vacheva (1988) is an artist based in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. She graduated from the National Academy of Arts in Sofia, majoring in Illustration and Book and Print Graphics. Vacheva participated in many international shows as “Baywatch”, KVOST, Berlin (2018); “Dias de Romance” Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2018); “Crack up – Crack down” Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw (2020); Keeping the Balance, works from Art Collection Telekom, Museum Ludwig, Budapest (2020); See Me Moving Placeless, from the Art Collection Telekom, Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje (2021); How to Deal with the World, works from the Art Collection Telekom part of Berlin Art Week, Wilhelm Hallen, Berlin (2022); Don’t dream dreams – Works from the Art Collection Telekom, Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia (2023); 2024 GROUP THERAPY; Collections in Dialogue – Art Collection Telekom and Prague City Gallery, Stone Bell House, Prague. Her solo shows are: “Sereality”(2016), “Mud”(2018), “Circle Pit”(2021), Sariev Contemporary, Plovdiv; “КОРЕНИ / Roots / Wurzeln”, Museum Folkwang, Essen (2019); “The Sex and the city”, Institute of Contemporary Art, Sofia (2020); The Round, Octopus art space, Sofia (2024); VLACHUGANE, Toplocentrala, Sofia (2024) and Archeological Museum,Varna (2024) where she won the main prize with her show for an “artist” of BUNA contemporary art forum Bulgaria. Vacheva took part in 33rd Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts “Crack Up – Crack Down” where she win one of the prize too. She is the 2017 BAZA / Young Visual Artists Awards winner. Her works are in the collections of Art Collection Telekom, Metropolitan museum library collection, New York, Gaudenz B. Ruf collection, Zurich, Vienna; Museum Folkwang, Essen, EVN Collection.
EDUCATION
2013 – 2015 Master graduation in “illustration” class, National Academy of Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria
2009 – 2013 Bachelor graduation in „Books and Printed Graphics”, National Academy of Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria
2012 Erasmus in Burg Giebichenstein Halle, Design and Fine Arts University, Halle an der Saale, Germany (Illustration class with Georg Barber’s (ATAK)
2003 – 2007 National School for Fine Arts “Tsanko Lavrenov”, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
RESIDENCIES
2022 Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany
2018 MGLC Ljubljana Residency, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2018 Residency Unlimited, New York
AWARDS
2024 Award for the category “artist” of BUNA (forum of contemporary art Varna) with her solo show VLACHUGANE organized by Toplocentrala, Sofia
2019 Research Residency Award of the 33rd Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts
2017 BAZA Award for Contemporary Art Winner
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 The March of Decadence, Jacky Strenz gallery, Frankfurt
2024 Olympics in local and world disciplines, Octopus art space, Sofia (curator Vera Mlechevska)
2024 VLACHUGANE (The depth of the water), Archeological Museum, Varna (curator Vladiya Mihaylova)
2024 VLACHUGANE (The depth of the water), Toplocentrala, Sofia (curator Vladiya Mihaylova)
2024 The Round, Octopus art space, Sofia (curator Vera Mlechevska)
2021 Circle Pit, Sariev gallery, Plovdiv (curator Vesselina Sarieva)
2020 The Sex and the city, Institute of Contemporary Art, Sofia (curator Valko Chobanov)
2019 КОРEНИ / Roots / Wurzeln within the exhibition format “6 1/2 Weeks”, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany (curators Peter Daners, Annika Schank)
2018 Mud, Sariev Contemporary, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
2016 Sereality – SARIEV Contemporary Gallery, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, (curator Vera Mlechevska)
2015 Best of Serial Portraits, part of The Night of Museums and Galleries, Artnewscafe, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
2015 Twin Peaks, part of SERIAL PORTRAITS – Artnewscafe, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
2015 Dr. Quin Medicine Woman, part of SERIAL PORTRAITS, Artnewscafe, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
2015 Baywatch, part of SERIAL PORTRAITS, Artnewscafe, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 ALCHIMIE; VILA CATENA, Bucharest (curators Maria Birsan, Alexandru Niculescu)
2026 Roots; Old Town, Plovdiv, Bulgaria (curator Vera Mlechevska)
2025 NEW LINES; Little Bird Place Gallery, Sofia
2025 You’ve got the potion, I’ve got the remedy; Soldout Design & Untiled Gallery; Sofia
2025 Transparent; Kapana gallery; Plovdiv
2024 SHAME AND GUILT, Vaska Emanuilova Gallery, a branch of Sofia City Art Gallery (curator: Galia Dimitrova-Dimova)
2024 GROUP THERAPY; Collections in Dialogue – Art Collection Telekom and Prague City Gallery, Stone Bell House, Prague
2023 Don’t dream dreams – Works from the Art Collection Telekom, Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia (curators Nathalie Hoyos and Rainald Schumacher)
2023 Places of Sorrow, Cu 29 gallery, Plovdiv, Bulgaria (curators: Domenico de Chirico, Velizar Dimchev)
2023 BEYOND ALL REASON. IN THE MIRROR OF SURREAL TIMES, Structura gallery, Sofia (curator Gregor Jansen)
2023 A Few Ways to Win the World, Doza gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria (curatos Dessislava Dimova, Vera Mlechevska)
2022 How to Deal with the World, works from the Art Collection Telekom, part of Berlin Art Week, Wilhelm Hallen , Berlin, Germany
2022 Spontaneous connections between unrelated phenomena, exhibition of the 2008-2021 BAZA award winners Structura gallery, Sofia (curator Marina Slavova)
2022 New Plovdivian Realism, SBH, Sofia (curator Pravdoliub Ivanov)
2021 Diversity/United, Tempelhof Berlin (DE), New Tretyakov Gallery Moscow (RU) Curated by Johanna Neuschaffer and Anne Schwanz (Office Impart, Berlin) Simon Baker (Maison Europeenne de la Photographie, Paris), Faina Balakhovskaya (Tretjakow-Galerie, Moskau), Kay Heymer (Stiftung Museum Helsinki), Camille Morineau (Monnaie de Paris), Hilke Wagner (Albertinum Dresden Prof. Dr. Peter Weibel (ZKM Karlsruhe))
2021 The Time Has Come to Talk of Many Things… from the Art Collection Telekom, National Gallery of Art – The Palace, Sofia (curators Martina Yordanova, Boryana Valchanova)
2021 Liste Showtime online with Sariev gallery
2021 See Me Moving Placeless, from the Art Collection Telekom, Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje, (curators Mira Gakjina and Jovanka Popova)
2020 Souvenirs from the Future, ICA-Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria (curators committee)
2020 Crack up – Crack down, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw (curators Slavs and Tatars, co-curator Michal Grzegorzek)
2020 Keeping the Balance (exhibition of Deutsche Telekom – Art Collection Telekom), Ludwig Muzeum, Budapest (curators Krisztina Szipocs, Nathalie Hoyos and Rainald Schumacher in collaboration with Magyar Telekom)
2019 EVN Collection: Franz Kapfer/Lazar Lyutakov/Martina Vacheva, (curator Thomas D. Trummer)
2019 Earthbound, Goethe-Institut Bulgarien, Sofia, (curator Marie Himmerich)
2019 Background: Young Artists from Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
2019 33rd Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia, (curators Slavs and Tatars)
2019 Art Brussels, with Sariev Contemporary
2019 Listen to Us – Artistic Intelligence (exhibition of Deutsche Telekom – Art Collection Telekom),Plovdiv, Bulgaria (curators Nathalie Hoyos and Rainald Schumacher)
2018 Immersion – Background: Young Artists from Plovdiv, Bulgarian Embassy in Finland, Helsinki, (curator Vera Mlechevska)
2018 Friends with Books: Art Book Fair Berlin, Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum fur Gegenwart, Berlin
2018 BAYWATCH, KVOST, Berlin, (curators Nathalie Hoyos and Rainald Schumacher)
2018 DIAS DE ROMANCE, Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina (curator Carmen Ferreyra)
2018 Schock und Schrecken, Goethe-Institut Bulgarien, Sofia, (curator Stefka Tsaneva)
2017 Let Them Draw II (Drawing and Withdrawing), SARIEV Contemporary, (curator Pravdoliub Ivanov)
2017 Exhibition of nominees for the BAZA Award for contemporary art, Sofia City Art Gallery
2017 The Image is no Longer Available, Credo Bonum Gallery, Sofia, (curator Vesela Nozharova)
2017 My Dear Provincialist, Swimming Pool, Sofia, (curator Victoria Draganova, Valko Chobanov)
2017 In Motion, part of the Prototype – Societe Generale platform, Sofia, (curator Studio Komplekt)
2017 Art Start: Young artists to follow in 2017, Credo Bonum Gallery, Sofia, (curators Vessela Nozharova, Stefka Tsaneva, Daniela Radeva)
2016 Lifestyles and Still Life, Lubomirov / Angus-Hughes, London, (curator Vera Mlechevska)
2015 Deviation, Ancient Baths Contemporary Art Gallery, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, (curator Stefka Tsaneva)
2015 Hip hip Zine Fair Sofia, Bulgaria, (curator Desislava Pancheva)
2014 International fanzine fest, Istanbul, Turkey, selection by Askin Yucel Seckin
2013 Fuck reality, go comics!, Otets Paisiy Festival, Artnewscafe, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, (curator Stefka Tsaneva)
2013 The art of the Book, Sofia Paper Art Fest, National History Museum, Sofia, Bulgaria
2011 Elasticity, Ancient Baths Contemporary Art Gallery, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, (cuWrator Emil Mirazchiev)