Bulgaria will have its own pavilion during the Venice Biennale of Architecture. After a competition, a special jury selected the project "Education is the movement from darkness to light" to represent this country at the prestigious forum in the Italian city. Its official opening is on May 20, but the city will host a number of events until November 26.

We learn more details about the focus of this year's architectural forum from architect Bozhidara Valkova:

"The topic of the Biennale is 'The Laboratory of the Future' as Africa is in the spotlight. The problems that will be examined through the prism of the projects are not only related to poverty but to the turbulent development of the continent and the problems stemming from it. Our topic is also related to two negative trends in Bulgaria - depopulation and aging of the population. While being a visual expression to the theme 'Education is the movement from darkness to light', the project focuses on a number of issues that we need to address in order to be able to look forward to the future."

Architect Bozhidara Valkova is part of the team of architect Boris Tikvarski, whose project won the competition. A total of 34 projects took part and the short time frame which the teams had to prepare and send their proposals was a real challenge. The competition was announced on December 20, 2022 and the deadline was January 16, 2023.

"We are far from thinking that two such serious problems can be solved by our pavilion. Therefore, we rather hope to provoke a discussion. We want to make ordinary people think more about the issue as it is up to us to try to slow down these processes affecting the whole country."

According to the latest census, there is no region in Bulgaria with population growth, the team's data show. Bulgaria has experienced the largest population decline in the world and the forecast is for another 22% decline over the next 30 years, the project's statistics show. Numerous photographs of abandoned school buildings by Belgian documentary photographer Alexandre Dumarey are also included. For the past 6 years he has toured Bulgaria several times with his camera. The abandoned schools became the focus of attention as they show the scale of the demographic problem in this country. To some extent this applies to almost all countries of the former Eastern Bloc.

Bozhidara Valkova has worked in several studios in Italy and Belgium and has more than 10 years of experience but here is what she told us:

"We have participated in other competitions of similar format. Most of the times we have been among the finalists, but this is the first one we've actually won. One of the competitions we participated in was for the construction of ‘Child House’ of the National Network for Children, where we came second. We have also participated in competitions related to the Karin Dom childcare center in Varna, as well as for a new look of the library in the city.”

English: Al. Markov

Photos: biennale2023.kab.bg