No Cessation takes the viewer through the eternal circle of life in the way that it can be observed in both nature and in the human realm. Text, matter, image, and sound are combined in a synchronized experience that provokes contemplation on the beginning and the ending of the life cycle and the emotional load attached to each stage in it.

Inspired by the Eastern view of life, the exhibition questions looking at life as a slow process of dying in which the living matter loses cells and approaches its end daily, or as a race against death conditioned by clinging to an unattainable physical immortality. Instead, No Cessation points to the idea of a constant transition of life into different forms, which is not personal and emotional, but a natural process not subject to human intervention. Although living matter passes through the end of the cycle too, new form is constantly being born, whether animate or not.

Conceived and executed as a site-specific exhibition, No Cessation contains seven points of the life’s cycle and offers a circular experience symbolizing the infinity of the cycle in which the beginning is the end and the end is the beginning. Viewers are free to begin their journey from any point they choose; the beginning and the end merge in an endless cycle.

Тhe exhibition combines poems sealed on wood; assemblages and installations with plant and animal elements and found objects; and black and white film photography. Spatially separated from them, but actually uniting the seven points, a video installation takes viewers through the metamorphoses in the cycle. The combination of different media allows for storytelling on multiple levels — visually and directly, as well as through a deeper level of interconnectedness that illustrates the presence of eternity in the present moment.

Ralitsa Golemanova and Antoaneta Quick, 2022

Antoаnetа Quick (b. 1985, Sofia) is an economist by education and an artist by choice. Combining her experience from several professional fields in Bulgaria and abroad, since 2019 she has been working as an art manager and curator at Little Bird Place gallery. Her first solo project as a curator and the first public show of her artworks was the exhibition “20×20 Trans Format” (2020) at Little Bird Place, followed by “Frames of Reference” (2021) and “No Cessation” (2022). Deeply inspired by nature and consciousness, Antoаnetа combines natural elements with found objects in assemblages, collages and installations. Her works provoke reflection on the universal connectedness and the wandering between extremes in search of balance and symbiosis between human and nature.

Ralitsa Golemanova (b. 1986, Sofia, Bulgaria) is a creative producer and screenwriter of documentaries (No Place for You in Our Town, 2022, co-production with HBO MAX, selections at numerous film festivals). Attracted by the power and plasticity of language and the vast possibilities of its translation into the visual, she engages in creative writing in various forms. Both in her writing and in the creation of visual works, Ralitsa seeks new perspectives on topics combining social and psychological aspects.

Nikolay Stefanov (b. 1976, Pernik, Bulgaria) is a film director and cinematographer experimenting with a variety of visual styles and formats. His latest documentary No Place for You in Our Town was selected at the best documentary film festivals in the world and recognized by the audience as an unconventionally filmed and strong human story. In his work with images, whether static or moving, Nikolay focuses on an in-depth exploration of light in its various forms and the ways in which stories can be told through it.


No Cessation

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