"Between the past that is about to happen and the future that has already been" is an art installation on the site of the former mausoleum of Georgi Dimitrov in the center of Sofia. It is related to the special symbolic significance of this place, which has left its mark on the city. But it is also addressed to visions of the future, in which we are not just the audience of monumental spectacles.

Grounding

Formally, but also conceptually, the project is based on a horizontal structure, in opposition to the already realized vertical structures of the "Bronze House" (2018) and "One Person" (2021) within the program of temporary artistic interventions in this reminiscence-laden place in the heart of the city - the site of the former mausoleum.

In contrast to the accentuation of the view from afar and the vertical orientation towards the sky - approaches which the previous two projects rely on, here a structure of a circle laid horizontally on the ground is proposed, allowing a view from afar only at night when the inscription lights up, but along with that, the sculpture come to life providing the opportunity for people to enter the circle, sit on the letters and become part of the work in a symbolic but also quite physically inclusive way. We might say it is the combination between the virtual character of the text, the materiality of the three-dimensional, double-illuminated letters and the people present that makes the work complete.

Space of influence and interaction

The figure of the circle is widely used in the modeling of spaces that emphasize a non-hierarchical structure of communication, democratic decision-making or simply informal conversations and discussions (in antiquity: the tribal council, in modernity: the European Parliament, brainstorming sessions, etc.). The text inscribed in the circle suggests a certain intense sense of the present at this particular place, marked by the blasting of the past.
The presence of people inside the circle and their interactions create conditions for the development of the given present condition into vectors of the future. The project plans a special mediator position to curate and program a discussion forum.

The message

The text at the heart of the project is an attempt to synthesize a paradoxical sense of the present moment in which we reside. A strange twist in historical time, where the past is reworked, rewritten and re-imagined at a breakneck pace: conspiracy theorists revisit history to find clues leading to monstrous global plots, various national and cultural communities are harnessed in the development and dissemination of narratives and phantasmagorias - new national origins, ancient roots and so on. In short, hard work is boiling over to reconstruct various moments of the past again and anew. At the same time, imagining the future is getting increasingly more and more difficult and is either thought through recycled 1970s retro-futurological images or is entirely outsourced to machines and technology. The attempt to realize and experience this particular twist of time in the present moment is synthesized in the sentence "Between the Past That Is About to Happen and the Future That Has Already Been."