SU 2026 – Heartbreak
Sofia Underground returns for its twenty-first edition “with a broken heart”. The theme Heartbreak will be interpreted in various formats by dozens of artists from several continents, who are ready to show their disappointment, anger, sadness and melancholy, caused by the current state of the world.
“We decided that we do not want to pretend that change comes with a well-written program text or concept. Nor with a perfectly selected exhibition.” share the organizers. “Structural changes require much more than grand conceptual gestures hanging in the air until it is time for the next edition, when we have already forgotten the previous one. We focus on the feeling of deep disappointment with the world we live in, which we have been experiencing for years, which we believe everyone feels and experiences in their own way. To this end, we selected the best from the open invitation and our own archive.” add the team of Synaesthesia, who have been the main driving force behind Sofia Underground since 2023.
As befits this year, the festival welcomes many new and familiar names from the scene, including Live Art Ireland director Deej Fabyc, Dan Li (China), Daniel Haas (Austria), Stella Goeppert (Germany), Lylie Rouvière (France), Sancha Meca Castro (Portugal), Smilka Ivanovic and Boris Kostić (Serbia), Diana Bunkin, Kalina Efremova, Georgi Pavlov, Jeff Surak (USA), Stefan Hristov (Germany/Bulgaria), Helene Ryderberg (Denmark), Ira RZ, Yuliia Shumilova (Ukraine), Ivet Dimitrova, Alissar Almaleh (Syria/Germany), Maya Antova – Mayoto, Stavros Marinakis (Greece), Born Erased (Angel Simitchiev), krallar (Ivan Shentov), mando (UK) and many more.
The festival will showcase over 50 solo and collaborative projects, three group exhibitions at DOZA Gallery, Figura Art Space and OKI “Krasno Selo”, as well as sound performance events at Fabrika Autonomia, Bobbina Cultural Space and Atelieto.
Main partners of the festival include Sofia Municipality – Calendar of Cultural Events, Goethe-Institut Bulgaria, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria, Austrian Cultural Forum and Culture Ireland.
More about the program and artists can be found on the festival’s social channels, or on the two websites https://www.synaesthesiacollective.art and https://sofiaunderground.com/en
