The Festival NIGHT/Plovdiv and its organizers from Open Arts Foundation launch an official crowdfunding campaign “Bring the Paintings Back to the Museum” for the restoration of 20 previously unseen paintings, part of the Regional Ethnographic Museum’s collection. The campaign will be realized through the Bulgarian platform for crowdfunding (group financing) www.platformata.bg and will continue until September 5, aiming to collect the minimum necessary amount of 3 800 BGN for the reconstruction of the canvases, according to the Open Art Foundation Sofia. 

2017 is very special for Plovdiv. One of the oldest museums in the city celebrates a triple anniversary – 100 years since its creation, 170 years since the construction of the Kuyumdjioglu house and 80 years since the death of the founder of the museum – Stoyu Shishkov. As part of museum’s various annual program, within the NIGHT.

The canvases are by the famous Encho Pironkov, Anastas Staykov, Darna Georgieva, Petko Vladov, Elza Goeva, Kolyu Vitkovski and others. The paintings show the life, the day and the celebration in the Bulgarian culture of the 20-th century – the music, the markets and the fairs, the rose-buck, the harvest, the mowing, the bakery etc. The works depict the way of life, their belonging to the collection of the Ethnographic Museum is a rare opportunity to be displayed in the context of other objects from that time.

Canvases are currently in poor condition and need urgent restoration. BRING THE PAINTINGS BACK IN THE MUSEUM is a campaign to raise funds for their reconstruction and their return to the exhibition halls of REM-Plovdiv.

The restored paintings will be shown for the first time in a special exhibition with free entrance within the NIGHT/Plovdiv 2017 festival on 15 September. Each supporter will have a small souvenir from the campaign with the image of a painting. Watch the channels of NIGHT / Plovdiv to find out more about sails, artists, their stories and secrets, and more about the craftsmanship of the restoration.