Venelin Shurelov

Venelin Shurelov has a really rich experience with solo and group exhibitions, festivals, interactive installations, digital projects, video and art theory, theater performances, costumes and scenography. Through his work, he examines the intermediate states of the human body, focusing on its marginalization. He decodes the language of modern myths and codes them into new creatures, in the intersection between man and machine. This is the starting point of one of his most significant projects – SubHuman Theater. Shurelov teaches in the Digital Arts Program at the National Academy of Arts, and he’s part of DA FEST (Digital Arts Festival) curator’s team.

Venelin Shurelov was born in Burgas, 1977. He graduated from the National Academy of Arts, Stage Design (PhD – 2009, Master 2004).

DESIGN IS: something extraordinary.

Awards:
2016 – Small season – 2016, Sfumato theatre

2016 – 40 to 40, an annual ranking of Darik Radio for the most influential young people
2014 – IKAR Award for the scenography of Cancun by J. Galceran,  directed by Stilian Petrov
2013 – Askeer Award for the scenography of Hamlet by W. Shakespeare, directed by Yavor Gardev (together with Nikola Toromanov and Daniela Oleg Lyahova)
2013 – IKAR Award for the scenography of Hamlet by W. Shakespeare, directed by Yavor Gardev (together with Nikola Toromanov and Daniela Oleg Lyahova)
2011 – Award for contemporary graphic techniques from the Competition for Young Artists, Critics and Curators of the International Foundation “St. St. Cyril and Methodius”

2010 – Award for the performance Nirvana at Konstantin Velichkov theatre, Pazardzhik
2009 – M-tel Award for Contemporary Bulgarian Art
2007 – Diploma for best scenographic solution for the performance “Rogozen” at the VGIK International Festival, Moscow
2005 – 5-th Salon at the Gallery of Contemporary Art, Panchevo, Serbia
1996 – Special Prize of the Ministry of Culture at the XIV International Biennale – Gabrovo

Participations (festivals, exhibitions, etc.):
2016 – “Intermedia Body”, Ars Electronica Center, Linz (Austria)
2014 – Fusebox, hybrid art festival, Austin, Texas, USA
2013 – Globalize Cologne, theater and dance festival, Cologne, Germany
2013 – Dimanche Rouge, performance art festival, Helsinki, Finland
2009 – DAFest – International digital arts festival, National Academy of Arts, Sofia
2009 – Black / North SEAS project, Odessa, Istanbul, Batumi, Elsinor, Gothenburg
2008 – Symposium for emerging arts, “Fucina.off ’08”, Spoleto, Italy

2007 – “Agorafolly outside / inside”, “EUROUPALIA 2007”, Brussels
2007 – Third international Balkan art festival [Terminal00], Ljubljana / London
2006 – International festival “Theaters from East I”, Viterbo, Italy
2002 – April meetings – Belgrade
2001 – 10-th Biennial of young artists from Europe and the Mediterranean “Chaos and Communication” – Sarajevo
1998 – International symposium on plastic arts “Alan Kayryak”, Yasna Polyana