First Love, Then Everything Else
2024
Commercial House (Passage opposite the Court House)
In the commercial part of a building, created in 1926 for the bar association, multiple uses intersect, reflecting different social, economic and cultural realities. Here, the artist Slavena Petkova creates an installation to evoke a sense of community in this place.
Commercial House opposite the Court House was established in 1926 for the bar association and has been used as such ever since. Later a variety of shops, merchants, and businesses appeared and today reflect the sometimes disparate social, economic, and cultural realities of a place. The truth is that private bailiffs now share space there with cult record and yarn shops as well as old bars and cafes.
In this bezistan, artist Slavena Petkova has been talking to the owners for months, gradually discovering that the place suffers not only from financial shortcomings, but also from a lack of communication and a sense of community among the bezistan users. All of this is reflected in the only google like that Commercial Home has ever received. With the project First Love, Then Everything Else Slavena challenges future visitors to give a “like” on Google and write a short review to Commercial House. Each review will activate excerpts of conversations in the space itself that she has had with the inhabitants of the place. The audience can only watch the installation work as long as the location gets likes. Through this algorithm, the artist hopes to “wordlessly” propel the web and boost the self-esteem of this location that is actually as hidden as it is charming in centre of the city.
Slavena Petkova is born in Varna (1995), grew up in Athens, lived in Austria and the Netherlands, where she graduated from the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague in 2017. Her practice is multidisciplinary – including work with textiles, photography, text, archives and communities. The artistic idea is what determines her choice of medium. In most of her projects, she draws attention to everyday phenomena and actions that she connects to a broader political context.
Part of the first edition of Nine Elephants in 2024.
In partnership with Centre for Social Vision.
Links
Presentation of an audio guide that can be listened to individually or in a group during a walk through the city