Realized in collaboration with the Regional Museum of History – Veliko Tarnovo and the Bulgarian National Film Archive as part of the Plovdiv – European Capital of Culture 2019, with the financial support of the Plovdiv 2019 Foundation, the Museum – Unexpected, Open, Shared exhibition toured the four city-finalists in the competition for the 2019 title European Capital of Culture: Plovdiv, Sofia, Veliko Tarnovo and Varna.
It recounts people and anecdotes unbound by time or dogma, inspires inquisitiveness, and prompts the inspiration. It introduces the public to inspiring characters and to their struggle for independence and to curious facts, that had left a singular mark on Bulgarian and global history.
How to gear up against the Devil? How might the owlet – the symbol of death – save human life? What was the grandfather of the SMS? What is the connection between the first military flight in Bulgaria and music industry? How are the Guggenheim’s gold toilet and the Bulgarian Museums similar? Where do preservation of history, memory, national identity, and the independence as a choice made by persons and societies meet, and is it possible for them to exist autonomously? These are but some of the questions, the answers to which give the most surprising exhibits on display to date.
This extraordinary exhibition challenges us all to rethink the way we perceive museums and reveals its surprising transformations. While before a story was illustrated through a fortune of items on display, this exhibition demonstrates in an unsuspected way that a single exhibit could speak to a multitude of captivating stories. In this exhibition, visitors are free to choose whether to follow the dogmatic concept of cultural heritage, or to use it to construct an alternative interpretation of times and events.