Choosing a name
At that moment we were clearly aware of the significance of choosing a name – it had to be an
expression of the primal, the unadulterated, the gnarly – both in our overall behavior and
in the art which we wanted to create. The name of the group had to match our idea. "Edge"
was a provocative password. It couldn't be more fitting!
The topics and questions that excited us built our manifesto:
– We gather because we think alike and we give each other the mutual trust in
creativity.
– We want to merge our path through creativity, we want to react as citizens.
– To create a tense contemplative and mental space.
– To experiment in art...
– How to do it? – according to the availabilities of our own maximum, with inner
valor.
The creation of Edge coincided with the preparation
of our first exhibition. Initially, we wanted to develop the theme of shame and guilt, to
cover it with politically engaged signs and to awaken the social thinking in the philistine
city.
We talked and considered ideas that would conceptually build the exhibition:
“Who is guilty before whom?
Political art is the art of the day; it goes away the moment the problem is solved, or does
it remain unsolved?
What do we do with self-censorship, with democracy?
The fall of the regime on November 10, 1989 should find its reflection in our works in the
exhibition.”
From the Edge diary
The title of our first exhibition “Symbols and Signs” carried documentary value, it fully
reflected our process and claimed neutrality in opposition of our works. And the genie from
the bottle was unleashed.
Feeling like Edges, we fantasized, we dreamed, our ideas flowed from yesterday's lie to
tomorrow’s unknown. At the time we could not have imagined the coming of the
post-social-folk-sur-realism that flooded us in the 1990s.
From my diary on the exhibition: 'Symbols and signs' will be a columbarium, a panopticon of
favorite things or of reflections of hateful ideological limitations; albums with photos
from pioneer camps and military education that will hardly move you; medals and flags,
having lost their dignity, will be crucified on display with the cruelty of playing
children. There will be a cake 1m in diameter, with a five-pointed star that will be eaten
with a sickle and a hammer and it will leave blood-red marks on the lips. The cult will be
culinary. The opening of the exhibition will be a big celebration with the lambada dance, a
birthday party. A choir of young pioneers will be singing, a trumpeter will be blowing,
champagne will be poured and star confetti will be showering above us".
We celebrated euphorically with dozens, maybe hundreds of friends. The guests could not
believe their eyes. What was the celebration of the Edge? Our joy of the new age, or perhaps
the realization of our first collective dream? Carnival, de-scaling and change of values,
and a dizzying sense of freedom charged the atmosphere in the crowded hall. Ceramic balls
bounced at the feet of those present and their sound resembled the ticking of a sped-up
clock. For whom was time in a rush? For the Edge.
Artists
Albena Mihaylova
Emil Mirazchiev
Igor Budnikov
Ivaylo Grigorov
Dimitar Kelbechev
Karanfilov - Mitovski
Monika Romenska
Nadya Genova
Paul Albert
Rumen Zhekov
Veneta Marinova
