WIDE ART Forum 2026

How does art change the way we perceive the world? How do personal experiences, memories, and life events become works of art? Can creative imagination be a driving force for social change? What happens when design transcends function, and cinema, dance, theater, and the visual arts begin to speak a common language? And what remains uniquely human in the creative process in the age of artificial intelligence?

WIDE ART FORUM returns with a new edition dedicated to the diversity of artistic thought, the power of personal experience, and art’s ability to expand our perceptions of the world!

Six thematic lectures will introduce us to diverse creative approaches, personal stories, unexpected ideas, and artistic experiments. From transformations in the practice of the contemporary artist and socially engaged art to the interactions between matter, body, space, and time—we’ll take a peek behind the scenes of the creative process, trace how an idea moves across different artistic disciplines, and seek an answer to the question of what makes art such an essential part of the human experience.

The program combines visual presentations and moderated discussions in which the audience is invited to participate by asking questions.

GUEST LECTURERS AND TOPICS

PRAVDOLYUB IVANOV
Contemporary Artist
Transformation always takes time and energy. Art, society, and other unexpected developments.

One of Bulgaria’s most significant contemporary artists invites us on a personal journey through his creative biography. “A brief, cascading presentation of the things I do, where I started, what has changed, and why I don’t know what my next work will be.”

ANA ALEXIEVA
Program Director, Fine Acts
Art for Change—When Imagination Becomes Action

What if art doesn’t just make us feel, but helps us understand, connect, and take action? For more than 10 years, the global creative studio Fine Acts has been experimenting with different approaches to social change, transforming complex issues into stories, images, and experiences that spark empathy, curiosity, hope, and engagement. We work at the intersection of activism, art, technology, and science to tell different stories about human rights, climate justice, and democracy.

Through specific campaigns and projects by Fine Acts, we’ll see how creativity, creative play, and experimentation can open up new spaces for imagination, conversation, and action.

NIKOLAY BOZHILOV
Designer and Artist
BEYOND THE OBJECT

What happens when design goes beyond function and the object becomes a form, a sculpture, or an experience?

In his presentation, Nikolay Bojilov will share his approach to the intersection of fashion design, art, material, and performance. Through various original projects, he will explore how form, material, and space can transform the role of an object and turn it into a vehicle for ideas and experiences.

KOSTA KARAKASHIAN
Director, screenwriter, and choreographer

How many forms does an idea take? Multidisciplinary art today

How can inspiration travel from the body to the screen, across the stage, and into the space around us? Kosta Karakashian will discuss how he combines film, choreography, and immersive experiences to connect with the audience’s emotions and explore themes related to identity, empathy, and social change. Using examples from his own work, he will seek to answer the question of how an idea finds its form and why more and more artists are turning to a multidisciplinary approach.

YULIAN TABAKOV
Visual Narrative, Modeling Space and Time

A glimpse into my “workflow” for finding the means to convey an idea or share thoughts through the works I create. Mastering the space in galleries to transform the exhibition into a leading work of art, and manipulating time on stage and screen to put the viewer in a specific state of mind and predispose them to immerse themselves in the work and connect with it intellectually and emotionally.

TEODORA KONSTANTINOVA & RADOSLAV MEHANDZHIYSKI
Art historians, founders of the educational platforms Art and Culture Today and Wide Art Forum

Emotional Memory and Artificial Intelligence—Antagonism or Synergy in the Creative Process?

Against the backdrop of the ever-wider penetration of artificial intelligence into creative processes, Teodora and Radoslav draw attention to what technology can reproduce but cannot experience—personal memory, emotional vulnerability, and the unique journey of life.

ABOUT WIDE ART FORUM
Founded in 2023 by Art and Culture Today, WIDE ART FORUM is a space where contemporary art and the general public come together.

At the heart of the forum lies the conviction that art does not exist in isolation from other fields of human knowledge. On the contrary—it is precisely its encounters with science, psychology, technology, philosophy, and social processes that reveal some of the most exciting perspectives on the world in which we live.

WIDE ART brings together established artists and experts who share not just knowledge, but personal discoveries, professional experience, and ideas capable of sparking new ways of thinking.

WIDE ART BEYOND SOFIA
In 2026, the forum expanded its reach through collaborations with cultural organizations and venues outside the capital. Thanks to partnerships with the Kazanlak Art Gallery, the “You Are Sliven” Association, the “Block 14” Association for Art and Culture in Ruse, the “Tarsach” Creative Space in Veliko Tarnovo, and the “Burgas Creative Triangle,” the lectures will be streamed live online for local audiences.

The initiative provides an opportunity for viewers from different cities to participate simultaneously in the forum’s program and become part of a shared conversation about contemporary art, regardless of their geographic location.

You don’t need to know anything about contemporary art to be part of WIDE ART. All you need is curiosity!

Toplocentral, Hall 1, Sofia
November 7, 2026, 2:00–6:30 p.m.
Organizer: Art and Culture Today
With financial support from the Sofia Municipality – Calendar of Cultural Events
Capital Culture | ArtSofia | Sofia Municipality
www.wideartforum.com