Edge Group / Projects The Ideal project 1992

Text by Nadya GenovaEdge Group The Ideal

After the first two appearances of the Edge Group, which conveyed the enthusiasm and revolutionary pathos of the street and made sense of the political and ideological accents of the time, the Edges carry out projects with a different direction of meaning. The euphoria of breaking with the totalitarian past begins to subside, especially after the many examples that change cannot be quick and that in the actions of the contemporaries there is more destructive passion than creation. The group's sixth consecutive project is called “The Ideal”. For the Еdges, the Ideal is not a pretence, they do not seek the creation of “perfect” objects, but for them it is necessary to objectify the Ideal.

See video from the project

RuB - BNT1, a documentary film about the Edge group and the Ideal exhibition

The beginning is set with the construction of an eightwalled structure that isolates its own place in the gallery space. It forms an arena for the action where the Edges will work in front of an audience. The construction plan includes a narrow corridor which leads from the entrance of the building to the interior of the construction. Three marble stones are laid on the floor in the corridor, and there are words carved on each of them in ancient style: on the first one – “Time discovers”, on the second one – “Return again”, and on the third one – “The Tenth Day”. The joint decision for this multi-level performance is to use canvases. Ten primed white canvases are mounted on the walls of the construction. An opening with an audience is organized. The Edges, dressed in black suits, standing in front of the empty canvases, listen to the speech of the artist Nedko Solakov, who was invited to open the exhibition. The military airport near the city provides a truck with a powerful searchlight that illuminates the hall from the outside. The light marks the place of the “Ideal” in the evening city.

Projects

Symbols and Signs exhibition 1990

Black Happening eco-action 1990

Root High in the Sky action 1990

Large Photography exhibition 1991

Bright Light action 1991

The ideal project 1992

The Overt Breakfast action 1992

The Brick action 1992

The Body of Water action 1993

Opus Probect 93 exhibition 1993

Edge in the Back instalation 1993

The Edges announce that for ten days they will be working on their canvases in public

The Edges announce to the people that for ten days they will be working on their canvases in public. Those wishing to observe the process can come at any time. The same night it is announced that the group has established an annual prize for especially strong and lasting impact of style and approach in art on a large groups of artists. The first prize is awarded to the artist Svetlin Rusev, who is not present, but has sent a letter of thanks, which is read in the night of the opening. The Edges are ready to go to their canvases without being slaves to the socio-political topicality or the aesthetic affiliation locked in strict frameworks. On the next day, day one, when they should start their work, they find themselves in front of an empty hall. There are police in the gallery building, the officers are questioning the staff and taking fingerprints. It turns out that a side door was broken during the night and all the canvases were taken out. This is the story of the day. Someone's Ideal is stolen. The press is divided in their comments. Most of them believe the Edges have organized a publicity campaign by arranging the theft. A series of rebuttal interviews are given. The Edges have nothing to do with it. A few days later, the canvases appear in the luggage department of the Central railway station in Plovdiv, with a note that they should be handed over to the Union оf Plovdiv Artists. The one who took them there remains unknown. The Edges return the canvases to their places in the hall. The next day they start to work. After 10 days, the group is ready to make a second opening and show the canvases on which there is the imprint of their material choices, of their gestures and ideas, of their Ideal at the moment.

Exhibition hall of the Union оf Plovdiv Artists, Plovdiv

Albena Mihaylova, Dimitar Mitovski, Emil Mirazchiev, Igor Budnikov, Ivaylo Grigorov, Kolyo Karamfilov, Monika Romenska, Nadya Genova, Rumen Zhekov, Veneta Marinova.