Æther Sofia

@aether_sofia got the cover post by @contemporarylynx art magazine, with @jofetto ‘s work, show at this year edition of SAW 8 Sofia Art Week GENDERFICATION. In between Sofia's green spaces and layered centuries of history, its contemporary art scene has been blooming. Slowly but surely opening up to an international audience, established artists mingle with younger generations in carefully curated shows, fairs, and festivals all throughout the year. Explore active galleries that have initiated festivals, journals, and prizes, hopping between Sofia's first art fair and empty swimming pools, passing by commercial galleries and old water towers in the article by @m.iliv & click the link in our bio! @swimmingpoolprojects , @puntagallery & @postaspace , @ko_op_sofia & @fig.sofia , @plus359gallery & charta.art.gallery, @ica.sofia , @aether_sofia , @credobonumgallery , @toplocentrala , @sofiaartfair Photos: (1) Grand Tour by @jofetto . Courtesy of Æther Sofia; (2) STÁRKOVÁ, BLAHA, MENOUSEK, LAVABO, a perfromance at Swimming Pool, 2023. Photo by Boryana Pandova. Courtesy of Swimming Pool; (3) Are You a Modern Girl. Rituals & Nowness, photo by Mihail Novakov. Courtesy of Punta Gallery; (4) Ivelina Ivanova, Low Poly Fever Dream, exhibition view. Courtesy of KO-OP; (5) Freefall exhibition. Photo by Bozhana Dimitrova. Courtesy of t+359 Gallery; (6) @martadjourina exhibition view, 2024. Courtesy of ICA Sofia; (7) Sofia Art Week 8. Courtesy of ther Sofia; (8) Art Start 2023. Courtesy of Credo Bonum Gallery; (9) Happy Together - Unhappy Together, 2025. Photo by Teodora Tsaneva. Courtesy of Toplocentrala; (10) Sofia Art Fair 2024. Courtesy of SAF.

WÆ @aether_sofia nearly made it… sometimes it’s the trip, not the destination…It has been an year of work to create a new method, and I can’t be more excited to try it out in India, at the @kochibiennale on the invitation of @forplaysociety . I want to thank all the artists who took the challenge and jumped in the boat with me, and delivered incredible insights, and knowledge to the platform. Your love and kindness has healed me! We are embarking, and we will open on 23/01/2026 until 08/02/2026. THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING A platform for collective dreaming and psychic archaeology. In the Shelter of Shared Imagination. There are transmissions that exceed intention. Long after the event has passed, their presence remains. Some gifts do not come wrapped in meaning. They pass silently through proximity, through repetition, through the atmospheric residue of the unsaid. They do not require consent. They embed. They linger. They return. Not because they were invited, but because they cannot be dismissed. This exhibition takes that condition, not as metaphor, but as architecture. It explores the radical potential of dreaming together not merely as an escape, but as a generative and political act. Across cultures and histories, dreams have served as maps, messages, and mirrors offering insight, healing, and sometimes prophecy. When these dreams are shared, whether in conversation, ritual, or image, they begin to shape a language beyond logic, one that resists the rational enclosures of the waking world. The commons of sleep expands, encompassing all who dare to close their eyes not to escape, but to imagine otherwise. The gift persists. It moves through us. It dreams us forward. This platform is made possible by multiple partnerships like @nationalculturefund @the_singer_zahariev_foundation @dozagallery @ifa.de @goetheinstitut_bangalore @savvycontemporary @mondriaanfonds @prohelvetia and many more. Graphic work by Elena Chergilanova @echilotta Artists participating: @lola_von_geroell @nataliyata @kiril.bikov @kinga_unofficial @dissociative_dreams @lambswoolf @lubrikante @valentina_bardazzi_art @thestormfactory #ivtoshain @alexanderyuzev

@aetherartspace are delighted and eager to bring to you our latest edition and common effort of 111 artists SOFIA ART WEEK 8 — GENDERFICATION October 15—25, 2025 Opening 15 Oct 6 pm @ Doza gallery Organised by Æther Sofia In partnership with Doza Gallery & Krasno Selo Municipal Cultural Institute @okikrasnoselo The eighth edition of Sofia Art Week (SAW) turns its gaze toward two urgent forces shaping our present: gentrification and gender identity. Brought together, they form a new word — Genderfication. This hybrid concept reflects the violence of erasure, the deepening inequalities between classes and genders, and the fragility of identity in a world where global processes of urban transformation unfold at overwhelming speed. At the same time, Genderfication stands as a gesture of resistance: a refusal to accept displacement, silencing, and exclusion. Genocide and war as main critical point of humanity, where under the bare witnessing from our phones – we became complicit. Through visual and experiential art, participating artists will investigate the power dynamics at play where gentrification and gender collide. The works will show how gentrification does not merely shift demographics or displace communities — it reshapes hierarchies, repositions identities, and disproportionately impacts gender-nonconforming individuals and marginalized groups. The project aims to empower viewers to confront systemic forces of exclusion while also celebrating resilience, solidarity, and the ongoing struggle for self-determination. Genderfication is both a critique and an act of defiance — a reimagining of identity, memory, and community in the spaces we inhabit. Program follows up!

As part of our group, on Thursday in Tokyo Hven, you have the chance to see the stunning works by @dissociative_dreams Behind it stands Jess MacCormac @jessmacurl ( They/Them) is a queer, mad artist, activist. Their art practice engages with the intersection of institutional violence and the socio-political reality of personal trauma. Working with communities and individuals affected by stigma and oppression, they use cultural platforms and distribution networks to facilitate collaborations which position art as a tool to engender personal and political agency. See you Thursday peeps! @aether_sofia

FUTURE CULTS Curated and organised by @aether_sofia Opening Thursday 14/5/26 7pm. Hven Tokyo With Hanayo, Anna Fuji, PPKK, Kinga Kielczynska, Dissociative Dreams, Farhan

Super thrilled to have with us on board Farhan @farhan.wav this Thursday in Tokyo, for the after party of my new show FUTURE CULTS, at the amazing @hven.tokyo “Born in Toronto, Canada and now living in Berlin, Germany, Farhan gathers his inspiration through shared moments on the dance floor, since this is the place that unites us all. In his DJ sets, Farhan likes to take dancers on a journey through the vast spectrum of electronic music and beyond. While the musical focus is on techno, Farhan does not want to pigeonhole himself into any specific style or genre. As he likes to say: “Variety is the spice of life. A DJ is a vibe-starter. At the end of the day it’s all about the music, so why limit yourself to one dish when you could have the entire buffet?” @aether_sofia

WÆ @aether_sofia are beyond excited to have as part of our Æther’s take over of Hven Tokyo on 14/5/26 Hanayo @hanapooo An artist based in Tokyo. She wears many hats, including those of photographer, geisha, musician and Japanese classical dancer. She creates photographs and collages that capture her daily life in fantastical colours, as well as installations that combine these elements with the body, music and spatial expression. She has held numerous solo exhibitions and participated in many group shows, including at the Palais de Tokyo. Her photographic collections include *keep an eye shut*, *Hanayome*, *MAGMA*, *berlin* and *Tenko*, whilst her music albums include *Gift / Kenjo* and *wooden veil*.

And the @labiennale golden lion goes to… @martina_yordanova @bulgarianpavilion.arte @marianalbantova @raynateneva @veneta_androva @_gery_georgieva

I’m happy to invite you to a new fold FUTURE CULTS, that will be presented in Tokyo at @hven.tokyo HVEN OPEN STUDIO: FUTURE CULTS 2026.5.14 (Thu) 19:00 - 00:00 Voin de Voin & @aether_sofia invites: Anna Fuji (JP) @fujianna2012 Kinga Kielczynska (PL) @kinga_unofficial Hanayo (JP)@hanapooo PPKK (DE/CAN) @P_P_k_k Dissociative Dreams (CAN) @dissociative_dreams We gather in a time where trust is unstable, narratives move faster than institutions, and invisible systems shape what we see and follow. From this landscape, new forms of devotion emerge-not built on doctrine, but on data, aesthetics, and shared experience. Future Cults is a collective art event unfolding as one continuous environment: a listening session, live performance, and film screening. Expect sound that draws you into algorithmic rhythms, moving images that blur authorship and identity, and performances that question who—or what—we choose to follow. What does belief look like when it is curated? Who becomes the leader when intelligence is synthetic? How do images, sound, and code bind us into communities? Can dreams function as maps? About the artists: Voin de Voin / Ather @voindevoin is a conceptual performance artist blending philosophy, psycho-geography, and live interaction to question how reality and identity are constructed. Anna Fuji @fujianna2012 is a French-Japanese artist working between photography and embodied practice, exploring perception where the real, unreal, and dream converge. Kinga Kiełczyńska @kinga_unofficial is a Polish visual artist working with moving image, reflecting on the relationship between humans and their environment. PPKK @p_p_k_kis a Berlin-founded nomadic lab by Sarah Ancelle Schönfeld and Louis-Philippe Scoufaras, generating complex mythological and technological narratives rooted in local contexts. Hanayo @hanapooo (1t1t) is a Japanese musician, photographer, and artist known for playful, subversive works grounded in Japanese culture. Jess MacCormack @dissociative_dreams (they/them) is a queer artist and activist whose practice explores institutional violence and the politics of personal trauma. Join the cult

Thank you magazine Kultura and @martina__stefanova for the article of our project at @kochibiennale @forplaysociety The Gift That Keeps On Giving For a change buy yourself the printed edition of the April issue, and read about the insights!

Is the Venice Biennale a double standard? Of course it is—like many European cultural institutions that continue to operate within systems of selective ethics and political convenience. And what is the fear behind the refusal to cancel Russia, Israel, and the United States from the network of official presentations? The answer seems painfully clear: the fear of losing the financial power they bring—the vast streams of private and public funding that circulate through the art world while simultaneously supporting wars, occupations, and ongoing genocides. This image was taken in Giardini during the previous biennale in 2024, when @valentina.sciarra (find her in the photo) and I joined forces to speak, intervene, and to create The Feathered One, presented as part of a collateral event during the preview days. In that moment our collaboration became both a gesture of solidarity and a form of resistance within a cultural system that too often claims neutrality while operating through deeply political structures. Lately I have been thinking more intensely about the notion of ownership—about the unsettling, paralysing realization that our lives do not truly belong to us. Instead, they seem increasingly confined to the whims of those who play a ruthless global game of Russian roulette: actors who hold a weapon to the face of humanity, pulling the trigger again and again, while destruction spreads blindly across the world and is perversely reframed as a reward for “the common good.” We challenge the cultural machinery that regulates visibility: the institutional systems that determine who is allowed to be seen, who is permitted to speak, and which narratives are granted circulation on the international art stage. And more urgently—why are these systems still allowed to operate in this way? We hope that @angalliance , along with other agencies, collectives, and political voices, will respond critically to @labiennale ’s decision to continue hosting these tyrants counties, posing a tread to the entire world!

The Cow and I Performance by @sandrazanetti_ Sandra Zenetti Curated by @aether_sofia at @kochibiennale @forplaysociety assisted by @_joshphilpott_ How might gentleness, presence, and intimacy serve as acts of resistance against the systemic normalization of suffering? The Cow and I is an act of mutual recognition and peace. The cow, often revered and simultaneously commodified within cultural and economic contexts, becomes my mirror, and hopefully, a friend. The interaction unsettles hierarchical structures and opens a space to witness a body without harm—raw, alive, unpossessed. This performance situates itself within broader conversations on ethics, ecofeminism, cultural symbolism, and the relational self, but first and foremost, it is a gesture of peace and attentiveness in a world too often defined by consumption and estrangement.