Sirma Markova, Vanya Dimitrova, Penka Dincheva, Tsvetan Nikolov, Nikolay Martinov, Ventsislav Shishkov, Vladimir Michev, Iliya Novachev, Valentin Mitev, Vasil Popov

Valentin Mitev, Vanya Dimitrova, Vasil Popov, Ventsislav Shishkov, Vladimir Mitchev, Iliya Novachev, Nikolay Martynov, Penka Dincheva Sirma Markova and Tsvetan Nikolov, who call themselves STUDIO 4 USHI, present another exhibition of the cycle "Project idiot" as an attempt to involve people, not only viewers, but also artists, on a journey in a space devoid of prejudices and limitations. In the new exhibition, which is arranged in GALLERY STUBEL, the authors occupy the field of childhood, which they previously fanatically sought to escape but now, a decade later, cling to because the little man (not Chekhov’s, but the child) has the wonderful privilege to act freely.

Today, the word “idiot”, written in Cyrillic, occurs in virtual space 9.76 million times. Each of us thinks of the word in its pejorative meaning of a weak-minded man, a fool, or even a madman. Actually “idiot” can describe much more. In a primordial sense, the word can be referred to someone who does not fit the norm or whose ideas are not understood by others. To put it another way – an idiot is a person full of noncanonical ideas. In this sense, the authors of Studio 4 Ushi are searching for the conceptual being inside them, lost over the years. To find it through this exhibition, they turn to memories of childhood. Memories deleted by the educational system, by attempts at integration, by aspirations of entry into the common social frameworks and behavioral norms, by the pseudo-project for a united and infinitely tolerant world, in which ethos and morality are erased by the economic expedience and self-regulating market demands of the consumer society.

Using almost the entire spectrum of means our technocratic world offers, the authors realize their ideas in materials, shapes and styles, giving free expression to their creative potential. That is why the exhibition is a kind of invitation to complicity. An invitation to wander in a garden of scattered flowers, to penetrate into an upside down world filled with knots, woodworms, thoughts of spring. A small creative universe in which the ghosts of people create a sketch for another world inhabited by humans with many ideas – idiots. Images and objects that have a wonderful ability to draw the observer into a game of thought, imagination, and – why not – emotions.


Studio 4 Ushi (4 Ears) is a friendly circle of artists who work in different fields of sculpture, design, interior design, digital art, and more. What unites them as artists, is a special relationship to the classic practices in art. Their main desire is not to make contemporary art, but rather to make art that is not temporary. The search for true values in what they do is important for the artists. It makes the dialogue between them one of the most important tasks in this community. A dialogue in which seeing is no more important than listening and hearing. Hearing, which requires at least four ears.
Today, the studio remains an open community, with room for everyone, who feels in place.

                                              Plamen PETROV, curator Sofia City Gallery