8.06.2023

STARO ZHELEZARE 2023

Opening of the first village Museum of StreetArt in the world!

Welcome on Saturday, 12 August, at 10am.


In the Museum you will see specially brought from Poland colorful panels with many original photos taken during Staro Zhelezare StreetArt Festival since 2015.

These panels were already presented at exhibitions at Poznan University and on the Old Market Square in Poznan.

There will be also exposed original artifacts, objects used by artists for creating murals, as well as original canvases with slogans from Manifesto of the Village of Avantgarde.



Откриване на първия селски музей на StreetArt в света!

Заповядайте в събота, 12 август, от 10 часа сутринта, в Старо Железаре.

 

В музея ще видите специално донесени от Полша цветни пана с оригинални снимки, направени по време на фестивала StreetArt в Старо Железаре от 2015 г.

Тези панели вече бяха представени на изложби в Познанския университет и в Старият Град в Познан.

Ще бъдат изложени и оригинални артефакти, предмети, използвани от художници за създаване на стенописи, както и оригинални платна с лозунги от Манифеста за Селският Авангард.


Besides the Museum opening, you will have the occasion to see fresh wall paintings created in this year edition. The theme is "KNOWN AND LIKED ON TRAVEL". This time, the village walls host characters from adventure and travel movies, there will be scenes known to everyone, e.g. Indiana Jones, 80 days around the World, or Forest Gump sitting on a bench with a Bulgarian granny, on one of the many stops in his life journey. There will also be Polish and Bulgarian accents.

After hard years of socially engaged art, this time we decided that it is worth doing something light, and pleasant, for the body, senses, and spirit, with an optimistic, joyful, holiday or reflection message.

In their far and near trips, each of the travelers is eager to visit Staro Zhelezare, and leave his message to the world.

You can meet the Polish team on the streets of the village from August 1-17.



Започваме Старо Железаре StreetArt Festival, темата на тазгодишното му издание е „ИЗВЕСТНИ И ОБИЧАНИ НА ПЪТЕШЕСТВИЕ“. Този път стените на селото ще приютят герои от приключенски филми и филми за пътешествия, ще има сцени, познати на всички, например Индиана Джоунс, Карибски пирати, 80 дни около света или Форест Гъмп, седнал на пейка с българска баба, на еднa от многото спирки в житейския си път. Ще има също така както български така и полски акценти.

След години на тежко саркастично социално ангажирано изкуство, този път решихме, че си струва да направим нещо пoлеко, пoприятно, за тялото, сетивата и духа, с оптимистично, радостно, ваканционно или по-премислено послание.

 

В своите далечни и близки пътувания всеки от пътешествениците планира да посети Старо Железаре.

Можете да срещнете полската група художници по улиците на селото от 1 до 17 август.





















15.07.2022

Staro Zhelezare 2022 - "WE ARE THE HEROES"


 



Welcome to Staro Zhelezare StreetArt Festival 2022!

25.07-15.08.2022 - lasting of the Festival.

This year, our team of young artists from Poland and Bulgaria, under the watchful eye of Katarzyna and Ventzislav Piriankov, is preparing murals under the slogan "WE ARE THE HEROES".

Artists participating: Agnieszka Cieślińska, Weronika Nowacka, Weronika Musiał, Anna Kossyk, Tamara Tarnawska, Zofia Butkin, Basia Tomaszewska, Allen Mack, Velentina Dintcheva.


Our favourite cartoon heroes will acompany politicians and other important persons who tried to change our history last year.
We will see what kind of comments and reflections it will it will bring.
We are welcoming also young artists from Bulgaria to join us, you could come to Staro Zhelezare through the whole summer and join the project with your idea! Please contact us if you are interested.
Waiting for artistic surprices in th Art Village Staro Zhelezare!!!!

🧡💖🧡

This year's cartoon edition is a pastiche highlighting everyday life flavored by the absurdities of the world observed through the prism of a sincere commentary by Donald Duck, Rabbit Bax, Shrek, the Flintstones, and The Simpsons, or The Three Fools. The cartoon brigade arrives in Staro Zhelezare to comment on the current condition of the world, and the intentions of the New World Order players. It will surely be loud about the war in Ukraine, which suppressed the fading pandemic. Putin and Zhelensky are on the front lines. What role is America playing here? What about Russia – hated by Poland? What billionaires do - Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos take to space with Toy Story's Buzz Lightyear. From a distance, Olga Tokarczuk and Georgi Gospodinov try to find the meaning of their present existence, write down their thoughts in their books, and consult them with the wisdom of Winnie the Pooh.

Staro Zhelezare will turn into South Park at the end of July. The cartoon characters are free from embarrassment, they use exaggeration, thanks to which their statements stimulate the imagination and bluntly show the weak points of phenomena on the geopolitical stage.

Staro Zhelezare is a village where fewer and fewer people live, most of them old ones. This year, a funeral home appeared in the place of the grocery store. Today Maria passed us – she is over 90 - she was a teacher in the village in the 1960s. Sometimes we are looking for a wise man who will give us some precious life lessons. Meeting with Maria is always such a moment. Referring to the dramatic history of the village, she tearfully wished to convey that Staro Zhelezare had always fought against war. Not for one policy or another, but for PEACE! And in the name of peace, we should convey our message by painting murals. Because only some of those who control it are victorious in war.

And the present time that we are living now, after the pandemic and the time of war with the neighbors, which plunges the countries of Europe into recession, prompts us to turn Forest Gumpa back on, and like him, to run away from all the fuss, where the pepper grows, not looking back.

Or, like Alice in Wonderland, use the imagination, because "Imagination is the only weapon in the fight against reality."

Starting on July 26, you can meet our team painting new heroes every day on the walls in Staro Zhelezare.

We are welcoming also young artists from Bulgaria, or other countries to join us, you could come to Staro Zhelezare throughout the whole summer and join the project with your idea! Please contact us if you are interested.

Waiting for artistic surprises in the Art Village Staro Zhelezare!!!!


..............................................................






НИЕ СМЕ ГЕРОИТЕ / WE ARE THE HEROES

 

Staro Zhelezare StreetArt Festival 2022

Заповядайте на фестивала Старо Железаре 2022!

Тази година нашият екип от млади художници от Полша и България, под окотo на Катаржина и Венцислав Пирянкови, ще подготвят стенописи под мотото „НИЕ СМЕ ГЕРОИТЕ“.

 

Любими анимационни герои ще придружават политици и други важни личности, които са се опитали по всякакъв начин да променят света ни в последно време. Ще видим какви коментари и размисли ще предизвикат. Тазгодишното издание на комиксите е пастиш, подчертаващ ежедневието, напоено с абсурдите на света, наблюдаван през призмата на искрен коментар от Доналд Дък, Заека Бакс, Шрек, Флинтстоун и Симпсън или Тримата Глупаци. Бригада от комикси пристига в Старо Железаре за да коментира текущото състояние на света, намеренията на играчите от новия световен ред. Със сигурност ще се шуми за войната в Украйна, която потисна затихващата пандемия. Путин и Зеленски ca на първа линия. Каква е ролята на Америка тук? Ами мразещата Русия Полша? Какво правят милиардерите - Илон Мъск и Джеф Безос, които се издигат в небето с Бъз Светлинна година от Играта на играчките. От разстояние Олга Токарчук и Георги Господинов ще се опитат да намерят смисъла на сегашното съществуване, записвайки мислите си в книги, съветват ги с мъдростите си на Мечо Пух.

Старо Железаре ще се превърне в Южен парк в края на юли. Анимационните герои са лишени от смущение, те използват преувеличение, благодарение на което техните изказвания стимулират въображението и направо показват слабите места на явленията на геополитическата сцена.

Старо Железаре е село, в което живеят все по-малко хора, повечето са възрастни. Тази година на мястото на хранителния магазин се появи траурна агенция. Днес ни срещна Мария - доста над 90 - тя е била учителка в селото през 60-те години. Понякога търсим мъдър човек, който да ни даде златен житейски урок. Срещата с Мария винаги е такъв момент. Позовавайки се на драматичната история на селото, тя през сълзи пожела да предаде, че Старо Железаре винаги се е борило срещу войната. Не за една или друга политика, а за мир. И в името на мира трябва да предадем посланието си, като рисуваме стенописи.

Времето след пандемията и времето на войната със съседите, (които) което хвърля страните в Европа в рецесия, ни подтиквада включим отново Форест Гъмп и като него по-добре да избягаме от цялата суматоха, където расте пипера, без да поглеждаме назад.

Или като Алиса в страната на чудесата, да използваме въображението си, защото „Въображението е единственото оръжие в борбата с реалността“.

 

От 26 юли можете да се срещнете с нашия екип, който всеки ден рисува нови герои по стените в Старо Железаре.

Каним и български артисти да се присъединят, цяло лято cмe в Старо Железаре, до края на септември.

 






9.09.2021

7 STARO ZHELEZARE STREETART FESTIVAL 2021

LAUGHING WALL / VILLAGE OF PERSONALITIES

  
Artists, curators and producers: Katarzyna & Ventzislav Piriankov
Artists (Students of Ventzi School of Artthe University of Art in Poznan, Academy of Fine Arts Warsaw): 
Weronika Musiał, Marta Walkowiak, Anna Kossyk, Weronika Nowacka, Feliks piskorz, Lubosław Pirjankow, Krystyna Wróbel, Maks Masadyński, Michał Ćwirlej, Aleks Guezenoc, Mateusz Drozdowski.

5.07-31.08.2021 – Festival dates


This year we continue painting walls in Staro Zhelezare. 

This time the main subject is the Wall of Laughter - as this is what we need the most now, after so long-lasting pandemy, where our condition in all spheres of life is dramatically reduced.

The images of our beloved heroes Begin to appear, to give us some good portion of optimism. So we plan to place here Radoi Ralin, Todor Kolev, Woody Allen, Tatiana Lolova, Louis de Funes, Stoyanka Mutafova, Georgi Partzalev, Georgi Kaloyanchev, Stefan Danailov, and others.

 

We also continue the MoMA project, and add more world-known art pieces to Staro Zhelezare MoMA Contemporary Art Museum.


You could see more information in media:

https://nova.bg/news/view/2021/08/22/337366/%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE-%D0%B6%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B7%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B5-%D1%81%D0%B5-%D1%81%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%B8-%D1%81%D1%8A%D1%81-%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B0-%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B0-%D0%BD%D0%B0-%D1%81%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%85%D0%B0-%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE/?fbclid=IwAR1RSgPfvwIvlkMZifzXoZs_0YLHVYWle46yRqP40jVG6SpbHtL5m5WHddw


https://bntnews.bg/news/stena-na-smeha-sazdadoha-v-staro-zhelezare-1166482news.html?fbclid=IwAR19K18DAvMDYPwY3Ovedir-shijMupz1THmiOiyWyAofTbwPmtHEcx4gK0


https://podtepeto.com/aktualno/sharzh-na-slavi-trifonov-krasi-obor-v-staro-zhelezare-galeriya/?fbclid=IwAR1dv0x0OgPNeo0njOYX2RS1QRCbF4x1YYDmH5dKQN6sV6rXIvxXMcowBN0


https://www.marica.bg/region/karlovo/staro-jelezare-se-sdobi-sas-stena-na-smeha/amp?fbclid=IwAR1FK4wGYMfkL8lCnPYyf0jnqzkYe5qrk639dXxtTebF1R9NBfpfz6akTjI


Here comes the Sun!

 

And here comes another summer, the sun is shining, introducing the vibrations that we are all waiting for. All the circumstances of nature, time and place say that Staro Zhelezare is today's oasis of Love, Peace and Happiness, a land where you can drop everything and feel free. It is the perfect place for the never-ending Festival, the favorite place of the Flower Children, a return to Hippie ideals.

And why not to return to Woodstock - the local climate, clearings, liberation from commercial temptations and compulsions, nature and authenticity awaken here what is human, real, allow you to discover real desires and their meanings. The wonderful inhabitants are authentic, they live in harmony with the rhythm of nature.

 

Come alone, with a loved one, friends, let's hold hands and sing a song to happiness and sun. Artists, musicians, people who feel the spirit of art and the beauty of nature, you will meet us here - artists from Poland, in the house of the painter Ventzi Piriankov and his wife Katarzyna. We would feast in the colors of flowers, in the sweetness of plums and grapes, in the fumes of rakia ... feel like a free Rolling Stone, singing “I’m ready to go anywhere, I’m ready for to fade”, or “Can you feel it, Now that Spring has come? That it's time to live in the scattered sun.”

 

 

Here, beautiful people sing, dance, paint, practice yoga in the clearings, enjoy local culinary treasures, like cubritza with kozunak, sudzhuk, freshly picked tomatoes, peaches, and so exceptional really high-percentage rakia. It is an unpretentious place for unforced slow food, slow life and a sense of harmony with beautiful nature. The vibrations can go really deep and be felt in the skin, and in thoughts swayed with serotonin.

If you're going to Staro Zhelezare Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair. Summertime will be a love-in there.















 

20.05.2019

Futuristic Utopia. IL VILLAGGIO DEL SOLE. Staro Zhelezare 2019 / Старо Железаре 2019

We already wait for the summer, for the 5th edition of Staro Zhelezare StreetArt Festival.
It looks to be really exceptional! See you in summer!
We come on 5th July.
Main event - 27July at 6pm

This year’s edition is about Utopia, Dreams, Imagination, Carnival and Rituals which all have the power to reach much further than logic, and further than any social system in which we are entangled or trapped.
A slightly awkward utopia, a plan without any plan to build something good, a dream about a better world, a better future. Any realistic plan is excluded. Everyone is conscious of the consequences when utopia is being put into reality. The dream of a better future is drifting without a rudder, drifting with all its power as far as it can, before it is completely erased tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. It dreams about a great revolution, about a riot. It still has the audacity to rise up sometimes, break out with a shout, or even shamelessly manifest something.


The shamelessly pitiful utopia is no longer limited by shame. And this opens the door to unlimited carnival IMAGINATION ...


5 STARO ZHELEZARE STREETART FESTIVAL 2019
  
Artists, curators and producers: Katarzyna & Ventzislav Piriankov
Artists (Students of Ventzi School of Art, and the University of Art in Poznan):  Anna Kossyk, Agnieszka Grzemska, Antoni Horowski, Julia Kłodzińska, Sophia Gorączniak, Stanisław Korycki, Lidia Fizek, Lubosław Pirjankow.
Asz.Teatr from Poznan with Anna Szymczak, Klaudia Solarek, Gniewomir Solarek, Tadeusz Sławomir Lisiecki

8.07-30.08.2019Festival dates
27.07, 18:00 Opening event: “Long Live The Brave New Rural World!” happening

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RURAL FUTURISM IS COMING!
A combination of spirituality and activism, of conservatism and openness, of provincialism and cosmopolitanism


2019 is special year for Staro Zhelezare as it is the fifth edition of the Staro Zhelezare Street Art Festival. This year's themes are utopia, dreams of a better future and longing for the past, which have, in fact, been the core of our artistic activity in the village. From stagnation, defiance is born, supported by the FUTURISTIC MANIFESTO OF A BEAUTIFUL FUTURE, defiance against the dictatorship of time, physiology and biology, and against the ruthless beasts of the economy, geography, demography and politics.

As far back as 2014 the Festival opening acts' theme was “Lost Memories, Found Dreams”. Since then the “Village of Personalities” has developed character and power, and has become a recognizable 'personality' on the map of Bulgaria worth seeing. Contemporary art, murals and personal stories have become an inseparable part of the local heritage. Today Staro Zhelezare is Bulgaria's most artistic village, but it doesn’t end there. What's more important – in accordance with this place's rebellious tradition – is defiance against the hardships caused by the village's steep decline due to the elderly dying off, young people migrating, and an absence of regeneration.
An active spirit is strong within the inhabitants who remember their village's prosperous times when it was called Little Moscow and visited by Fidel Castro, Indira Gandhi, and Todor Zhivkov.  Having seen the population drop from 3000 inhabitants at that time to under 300 today, the village is but an after-image or shadow, a mere memory of its glorious past. At the time of the regime transformation, the process of its erasure began – from physical existence as well as from the Bulgarians’ consciousness. For someone not acquainted with Bulgaria it's an abstract and unknown spot, a typical place in the middle-of-nowhere.
Along comes the miraculously absurd to the rescue. What we as artists and our drawing school students imagined was created. The imagined was so probable that one wanted to ask 'why not?'. As a Czech animation master once said: “Fiction is something which exists for sure. Art of this kind is supposed to make the imagined real because it seems so feasible. It's upside down absurd reality, it shows that something else is possible, that art has no boundaries.”
From a village at the end of the world, Staro Zhelezare has become the center of the world where all people come to meet, even if only on the houses' walls – all people regardless of their position, status, nationality, worldview or other cultural criteria. Queen Elizabeth II, Winston Churchill and Angela Merkel have no problem with visiting the 'peasants' in Staro Zhelezare on a whim. There are plenty of personages painted – coming to Staro Zhelezare one gets the impression that it's full of people and full of life. This impression becomes more and more real every year, as the number of tourists increases and a growing number of urbanites choose to spend their weekends in a village house and garden.

The first guest-house has opened. Local seniors – women who are active members of a folk band and specialists in the Bulgarian slow food movement – are the media's darlings. There was good reason for their participation in the 2017 “Country Avant-garde” art demonstration proclaiming a Manifesto stating that the real avant-garde is born in the village. There is a reason why the world’s first village department of the New York MoMA was created here in 2018.
This year we want to approach dreams of Utopia and a beautiful future from yet another angle. Utopian visions will circulate and create The Sun Village – in the footsteps of Tomasso Campanela's utopian 'City of the Sun'. They are futuristic on the one hand and quite nostalgic on the other. The absurdity lies in Staro Zhelezare's circumstances being exactly the opposite of the accelerating world at the turn of 19th and 20th century when the first avant-garde Futurist Manifesto was created. The challenge at hand is all the more interesting, as in stagnation defiance is born, supported by the FUTURISTIC MANIFESTO OF A BEAUTIFUL FUTURE; defiance against the dictatorship of time, physiology and biology, and against the ruthless beasts of the economy, geography, demography and politics. The Sun Village allows life to be as close to nature as possible and allows for the temptation to disturb the passage of time.
Looking into the future doesn't mean we reject the past. On the contrary, tradition is being actively cultivated here – this year the Staro Zhelezare Street Art Festival is being held for the 5th time and the House of Tradition is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Tradition and modernity in art and culture actively coexist here. For this reason we should let our imagination run wild and connect the past and the future in the present time thus reflecting the local quality. The past is particularly present here, most likely due to the villagers' age. We realized how strongly it is entrenched in the present when some of the local characters depicted in the murals passed away, and the seed of an archive of sorts was created - an archive painted on the village walls.

Our artistic instinct is telling us to preserve what is most valuable, even if it only means traces, after-images, shadows of memories, feelings, life experiences and achievements. We want to save them from oblivion and evil forces. Recently there was an attempt at their physical destruction – one night over ten of the portraits, including portraits of Indira Gandhi and Fidel Castro, the most symbolic for the local people, were defaced with red paint. Today red traces can still be seen through the restored portraits as a witness to history and a symbol of spiritual strength and endurance.
The symbolic place where we want to hide and preserve these values is the Pyramid, situated in a spot considered by the Thracians as a place of power possessing special energetic characteristics. The Pyramid itself is in the shape of a regular tetrahedron and is a symbol of growth, willpower, courage and independence. Its form is conducive to organizing and storing energy reserves. It is the diamond of Staro Zhelezare, covered with metal sheets and light reflecting mirrors at the top. It is a reference to one of the most renowned Polish artists, Tadeusz Kantor and his artistic wrappings. Having experienced the trauma of war, he wanted to protect the most important values by wrapping their symbols. The Pyramid also relates to the Bulgarian artist Christo Javashev who, by covering macro objects, makes them more visible.
The Staro Zhelezare Pyramid is then a place of power, where we can entrust our thoughts, emotions, reflections, and where we can hang a Martynica on a nearby tree. Maybe the Bulgarian Kukeri will come to drive away the evil spirits and secure happiness and prosperity for the people and the land with their ritual dancing and singing. Pyramid, diamond, talisman... Utopia and asylum where people can find relief and peace. The structure is embedded in an atmosphere of poetry and mysticism and also alludes to rural chapels created by the Swiss architect of silence, Peter Zumthor.
It's here, around the Pyramid, where on the 27th of July the opening event will take the form of a happening, in which, among others, actors from the Poznanian Asz.Teatr will participate.
Of course, following utopian dreams is also going to take the form of painting murals. Not unlike Kantor's 'The Dead Class', current characters play their younger selves and time doesn't conform to its traditional order. Elderly ladies sit behind school desks or on a school bus, but also (as we can actually see everyday) use baby carriages to transport watermelons, milk and potatoes. They also sit alone on a swing or a bench in a playground, hold balloons or fly kites.
The recently deceased Zygmund Bauman, who described the character of contemporary society and the world as 'liquid modernity', urged his readers to create cultural utopias, which aren't ready-made political projects but open experiments in search of the limits of our abilities. As understood in this way, utopia is – as Paul Ricoeur would put it – 'the avant garde of a man heading towards the world and maturity', and 'by changing one's imagination, one changes their existence'.
The peculiarity of humanity turns out to hold invaluable potential when it comes to constructing the last resort for preserving certain forms of life and for creating a beloved utopia.
A slightly clumsy utopia, a plan to build the good, a dream of a better world with no plan... A realistic plan is out of the question, as everybody knows that putting utopia into practice in real life has adverse results. Dreams of a better future should flow without direction but with full force until they are eradicated in the near future, perhaps tomorrow. As they flow they gently hop, dreaming of a big jump, of a massive spurt, of a revolution. Sometimes it dares to rise up shouting and sometimes even to manifest something shamelessly.
Since it's doomed to fail anyway, why shouldn't we open the door to an unrestrained carnival imagination where the stereotypical becomes surreal and the ordinary becomes extraordinary? As in Švankmajer's animations, reality isn't either the sacred or the profane but it is magical. People walk or sit while searching for the meaning of the world and their own existence. One can find something mystical even in the banal.
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MANIFESTO OF A BEAUTIFUL FUTURE

We demand never-ending fun and laughter
Long live beauty and youth until old age
We want a carousel in the playground
Tear down the offices and build Disneyland!
We demand wind so we can fly kites!
We want our burnt down school to be rebuild so we can learn again
We want children to run around the village, shout and laugh
Let's grab sabers, scythes and rakes!
Let's fight for the modern village revolution!
Let's kill the beasts of the economy, geography, demographics and politics!
Let's kill the dictatorship of time, physiology and biology!
Time is dead, long live the ball!
Growing tomatoes is magic!
A cucumber is more important than an iPhone!
Swap a laptop for a live hen!
We demand a czar who will create a brave new Staro Zhelezare!
Where storks, hens and cats live, we will live happily forever!