Odyssea: Le chant des sirènes” was first exhibited at the space of Spiaggia Libera gallery in Marseille in 2024. At that time, the show was largely shaped by the perspective of artists coming from the Mediterranean context. As part of the presentation of the project at BUNA, a collaboration between PUNTA Gallery and Spiaggia Libera, seven Bulgarian artists were also invited - Veronika Desova, Gery Georgieva, Slava George, Nikola Grozdanov, Vikenti Komitski, Ivan Moudov, and Aaron Roth, who were to present their own interpretations of the topic. In the course of their artistic research, both communalities and some peculiarities of the Black Sea region came to the surface. Questions such as female identity and its millennia-long formation, the dualistic powers women possess, unleashing those powers by taking control of their own narrative, body, and sexuality - those appear to be reoccurring topics for the modern siren. On the other hand, local contemporary maritime folklore is influenced by complex geopolitical processes and tensions, related to the construction of narratives, including such concerning national identity. Thus, questions of historicity, fabricating and rewriting history also prove to be universal, even through the prism of sea and mermaids. The ongoing dialogue between the works of Bulgarian and French artists through their resemblances and differences is at the heart of this exhibition.Through this conversation, we hope to outline the intricate map of a universal human experience, in which we can decipher the aspirations and anxieties of the present, but also the love and poetry in our everyday life, manifested here through the figure of the siren. This symbolism is not surprising—the female body, even the mythological one, has always been a vessel for channeling political and social phenomena. And so, the exhibition returns to its starting point—the body and its renegotiation as a condition for freedom.

Тhe show is realised within the project “Odyssea – The Song of the Sirens and the Salt of the Earth” – presentation at the PUNTA Gallery, Sofia, and the BUNA Forum for Contemporary Art, Varna.