GRAFFITI / STREET ART

Urban realities change mindsets

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Amorpha Youth Group is an informal team of young people active in youth work with a focus on the local community in Varna since 2009. Among its key areas of interest is urban art, in particular street art and graffiti. Organising activities of different format to encompass all age groups and skill levels among young artists, the group seek to help the development of the local urban scene with enhanced national and international collaborations. These activities include also large scale thematic projects, or murals. Such are:

• Mural on the National high-school of humanities and the arts in Varna, 2009
• Mural on Kliment Ohridski High-school – Varna, 2011
• Entire-building mural on Bratya Miladinovi School for Children with Special Needs, 2013
• Mural on Community Centre Prosveta 1927 in Asparuhovo, Varna, 2013
• Interior visual project in Kapitan Petko Voyvoda Primary School in Galata, Varna, 2013.

In 2015, in a collaboration project with the French Institute and its local representation, Amorpha invited artists to create their original joint mural projects at three outstanding venues: Centre Francophone de Varna, Fifth Language High School in Varna and Le PAVILLON du Dr PIERRE in Paris, France.

Other urban art initiatives include an urban action with street art painting on public outdoor power boards on the topic of preserving the environment for International Youth Day 2010, and another such urban action on the topic of youth migration for International Youth Day 2013. Multiple urban artist events include three major international events at Varna Breakwater:

• Sprite Graffiti Jam 2011 (European artists)
• Balcans Graffiti Jam 2012 (artists from the Balkan region)
• Archigraff Lighthouse Graffiti 2014 (part of Archigraff project for collaboration between graffiti/street artists and young architects).

The event aimed at young and beginner graffiti and street artists organised on a big, real wall in the city centre to inspire them to think big and imagine themselves as experienced writers and artists:

• Balcans Graffiti Jam 2013.

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Another international visual project explored the cross-section between graffiti & street art and preserving the environment. Part of a European project to save the endangered species of the red-breasted goose, a festival located in its habitat in Dobrudzha, Bulgaria, hosted our international project where graffiti and street artists painted 4m and 12m cylinder tanks and containers dispersed in the fields by the coast:

• Shabla Lighthouse Graffiti 2011, 2012, 2013.

Amorpha’s urban art initiatives include also international and local artist joint and solo exhibitions, sketch contests, formal discussions and informal meetings and workshops all aimed at supporting the development of the graffiti and street art scene and its artists of all skill levels (from wannabes to professionals). These activities also have an important social work aspect as work with the young artists often includes strengthening key social competences and self-awareness.

An interdisciplinary project which aims to take the perception of urban art by the community to a different level is

• Archigraff (2013 – ) – collaboration between mural artists and young architects.

The initiatives includes an ongoing series of events such as introduction and working meetings; development of joint projects between the most experienced Bulgarian mural artists and young architects consulted by prominent local architects of different generations; presentations of painting materials and techniques, history of urban art, architectural heritage; public discussions on urban planning, urban arts and architecture; mural and joint project exhibitions at the house of architects and an architecture university department. Partners to the initiative are the Union of Bulgarian Architects and the House of Bulgarian Architects in Varna, and Varna Free University – Department of Architecture and Urban Studies.

In 2013, Amorpha participated at the local stage of the Bloomberg Competition with a developed concept for the method of introducing and renewing large-scale murals into the city as part of its cultural strategy for contemporary artistic development and citizen involvement.

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Editions

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Time Machine Project[/one_third]

[one_third padding=”20px 20px 20px 20px”]ARCHIGRAFF Project[/one_third]

[one_third padding=”20px 20px 20px 20px”]Mural projects and walls[/one_third]

[one_third padding=”20px 20px 20px 20px”]Shabla Lighthouse Graffiti[/one_third]

[one_third padding=”20px 20px 20px 20px”]Balcans Graffiti Jam[/one_third]

[one_third padding=”20px 20px 20px 20px”]Sprite Graffiti Jam[/one_third][one_third padding=”20px 20px 20px 20px”]

 Demonstrations and workshops[/one_third]

[one_third padding=”20px 20px 20px 20px”]Actions[/one_third]

[one_third padding=”20px 20px 20px 20px”]Exhibitions[/one_third]