CUBE TALKS - THE PAST WITHIN US

Join us for a series of CUBE TALKS held as part of Alexander Valchev’s exhibition The Past Within Us.
👉 Cube Gallery — Toplocentrala

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👉 22 September | 18:00

PAST / PRESENT
How does the past return to the present?
A conversation with Alexander Valchev, Zhivka Valyavicharska, Krasimir Terziev
Moderator: Vladiya Mihaylova

How does the past exist in the present — through images, stories, places and symbols? How do we reconstruct and interpret it, and how do its meanings change through the different ways it is used in the present?

The starting point for the conversation is Alexander Valchev’s exhibition The Past Within Us, in which the reconstruction of the Mausoleum’s façade brings back a recognisable image without restoring its historical narrative or offering a definitive interpretation of it. Between historical memory and contemporary art, the conversation asks how we construct narratives about the past and what actually returns when its images reappear in the present.

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👉 26 September | 18:00

AFTER THE MONUMENT
What remains when we destroy the symbol?
A conversation with Georgi Lozanov
Moderator: Vladiya Mihaylova

What happens to the symbols of the past when their material forms are removed? Can their destruction free a society from the meanings they carry, or does their absence create a new space for memory, conflict and interpretation?

Taking the fate of the Mausoleum and the current debate around the monumental heritage of socialism as a starting point, the conversation will explore destruction and re-signification, memory and forgetting, and the possibility for a society to turn inherited symbols into subjects of critical reflection rather than simply erase them.

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👉 27 September | 16:00–18:00

LAST DAY OF THE PAST WITHIN US
For those who would like to see the exhibition on its final day — or return to it once more — Alexander Valchev and architect Veselin Aleksiev, who collaborated on the realisation of the project, will be at Cube Gallery from 16:00 to 18:00.

You will have the opportunity to talk with them about the exhibition and the realisation of the large-scale reconstruction of the Mausoleum’s façade within the gallery space.