"Vincent van Gogh, the Bulgarian period", Tsarino/Chorbadzhiysko, Bulgaria, July 2011

After the first interactions between the Tsarino collective and the locals, many stories went around the village of Chorbadzhiysko. Why did these westerners come to the deserted village Tsarino? What are they doing there? Are they gold diggers, into tortoise business, smuggling women or body builders?

In the end the collective told the locals, "we are landscape painters". That seemed plausible, as the landscape is very beautiful.

The concept for this performance was initiated by me and became a collaborative work together with Terry Vreeburg. In practice nobody in the collective is a landscape painter. I wanted to present a landscape painter of highest standards and asked Terry if he would be interested in becoming van Gogh.

Terry Vreeburg took part in the art-residency program in the village Tsarino, Bulgaria. There he made three paintings of the surrounding and a fourth one during his performance.
The performance was held during the opening of the exhibition, Tsarino 2011, in the nearby village Chorbadzhiysko. The art-residency and exhibition were organized by the Tsarino foundation.
http://tsarinoproject.blogspot.com/

Performance by Terry Vreeburg.

"Instruments" / "Skinning", installation, Water Tower Art Fest, Sofia, Bulgaria, June 2011

Self-made instruments, dried pumpkin shell, sheep skin, wood, metal strings, nails and rope.

Video projection, skinning of sheep, which the skin was used to make the instruments.

The self-made instruments became some sort of artefacts. Suggesting they were found in the deserted mountain village Tsarino. The idea to make these instruments came from my personal search and romantic longing for unknown ethnic music that was there to discover. I couldn't find any so I created some.

"Tort[n]oise", Water Tower Art Fest, Sofia, Bulgaria, June 2011

Tortoise shell with build-in speaker

A Greek myth about the origin of music says, that Hermes has invented the lyre when he surmised that the shell of the tortoise, if used as a body of resonance, could produce sound.

In the village Tsarino I made several field recordings in 2009. These recordings are part of my first sonic experiences of the village. 
The thought around this work is mainly aroused by writings from R. M. Schafer, Pierre Schaeffer, Francisco Lopez and Pauline Oliveros. 
I started to think about the influence we had on the sound environment and the soundscape by our presence in the village. In some ways the recording can be seen as a historical document. From 2009 we created a new anthropic meaning for this abandoned village, with the visits by the art collective and organized art residencies.














The shell was found in Tsarino. Together with the recording it symbolizes being in the village and the feeling of seclusion, a withdrawal, and protected from the intensities of urban life. A subtle sound comes from the tortoise echoing from Tsarino.