Dec 28, 2020, Monday
Official opening of SQF2020: Bulgarian Drag History and guided tour by the artists and curators Yasen Zgurovski and Boryana Rossa
18h, Structura Gallery & online
The opening is simultaneous at Structura Gallery (if the epidemiological situation allows it) and online at http://dragbg.sofiaqueerforum.org.
March 5, 2021, Thursday
Discussion 1: Tradition and Contemporary Drag Culture
online, 9pm
Participants: Martina Baleva, Nicole Barborini, Christian Chalakov
Moderator: Stanimir Panayotov
Cross-dressing and drag practices and their popularity today have a wide place in pop culture, mainstreamed by global phenomena such as Ru Paul’s Drag Race show. The mainstreaming of drag launched into the public area figures that were marginal until recently, and this is an important sign of the progress of LGBTQI + and feminist movements. But before this mass mainstreaming did happen, it can actually be said that the beginnings of drag, as well as the popularity of the practice of crossdressing itself, also existed. This is especially evident in the unique for Bulgaria and some neighboring countries folklore practices, as well as in practices rare for urban culture. In this discussion we will try to build a bridge between tradition and contemporaneity, between folklore and art, to break the cliché that drag culture is something external and even threatening to our cultural environment and reality. We will ask ourselves questions such as: Can we think of modern drag culture as a continuation of our own traditions? How can we compare folklore to drag as part of urban cultures?
April 7, 2021, Wednesday
Discussion 2: Art, Drag and Pop Culture
online, 7pm
Participants: Malina Yank, Mihail Vuchkov, Boris Kostadinov
Moderator: Vladiya Mihaylova
Contemporary art today is influenced by practices and phenomena that arise from drag culture, and we tried to show this in the Bulgarian context with our exhibition at the gallery "Structura". In this sense Bulgaria is not only not isolated from the world , but also has adequate examples to offer for the relationship between art and drag. But what is the significance of this connection? What is the weight and importance of drag for the artists themselves? What about the very community of queens and kings themselves who are the inspirers of these artistic practices? What are the important themes and problems coming from drag culture that contemporary art faces today? In this discussion, we will look for answers to these questions in order to create a context and understanding of the relationship between the two phenomena, which need their explanation to the general public.
July 14, 2021
TRIPTYCH II: Performance
Anto López Espinosa, Anna Lounguine, and Voin de Voin
Tell Мe Bar, 19h
This triptych is a collage of intersectional voices that happened to cross paths here in Sofia under the umbrella of School of Kindness. From this fortunate encounter, a desire to join narratives was born, as a way of proposing a multi-discursive ritual in which voices intertwine into one imagined entity, to exist as an ever changing location, both for and within itself.
