Life and the Flea Market
2024
At Malashevtsi Neighbourhood, “Popa” and other places in the city
Maria Makedonska, known primarily through her books and films, recently told us that writing is not just a process of putting words on a page, it is also “listening to insignificant conversations that are actually very meaningful, it is talking and being talked back to, it is a photograph and a phone conversation.” From there emerge her attempts to create spontaneous connections between strangers, driven by the belief that in our increasingly closed-off society, we need conversations and pathways toward one another.
It is precisely this path that leads Maria to create Life and the Flea Market – a makeshift stall of objects and stories that she gathers over several months through personal conversations with vendors at the Malashevtsi flea market. At first, she asks them about trade and the decisions they make at the market. When she realizes this approach does not work, her questions shift toward the lives of the vendors themselves. Maria records their words, and these recordings later become the currency that determines the price of the “goods” at her stalls. The stall is slightly fantastical – visitors can acquire the objects they like only in exchange for listening to the collected stories.
“I really wanted to show those who haven’t heard or touched the beat to feel it the way I do – with all its beauty and messiness, where you rarely hear the voices of individuals,” Maria says. Here are some of the things the artist suspects:
“Say, mate, it’s two leva a piece.” “Yeah, yeah. And I want a bath pie, but I keep eating the crusts.”
“Love is till 20. After 20 is another love. The real one. Until 20 is the child’s. After 20 is true love. That’s what we are, people who live for years and build something.”
“I don’t come here to make a living. I just come here to hang out, watch some people. If I sell something, I sell it, if not, let it sit. No bread and salt wanted.”
The project is presented in 2024 as part of Nine Elephants at the opening at Swimming Pool.
Maria Makedonska is an artist working in the fields of literature, performance, social and urban environment. She is the author of the books Gentle Men, They, the Wind, Tremorio. Together with Andrea Popjordanova, Sofia Popjordanova and Mila Yaneva Tabakova, they created the exhibition UNmovable in ARTKL, based on texts about post-socialist properties in Sofia that are rented out. Last year, Maria was one of the artists in Baba’s Residence, and this year, again together with Baba’s Residence, they created the interactive installation I Hear You, which connects two strangers to have a conversation on emotional topics within the Second Buna – Varna. In June and August, Maria Makedonska takes part in the Sporno, Sofia LGBTI Community Fest and Varusha South festivals. Maria Makedonska’s latest projects look at art as an opportunity to interpret human emotions, weaknesses and relationships through fleeting experiences that connect us.
Part of the first edition of Nine Elephants in 2024.
In collaboration with Center 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