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At the latest since his participation in the 2007 Venice Biennial and documenta 12 Nedko Solakov’s work has been at the forefront of contemporary art. The Bulgarian contemporary artist, who was born in 1957, is a gifted storyteller and a commentator of art and today’s world. His work is as humorous as it is dramatic: It offers an animated realization of existential human themes, be it fears, hopes or aggressions. Examples are the two of his main works, „99 Fears“ (2006-07) and „Top Secret“ (1989-90), which can be seen in Darmstadt.

“At Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt, Nedko Solakov has used all his talents for a special kind of ‘friendly takeover’”, says Director Dr. Ralf Beil, explaining the exhibition concept. The total installation “Emotions (without masks)” is arranged over the complex, dramatically illuminated exhibition architecture of the previous exhibition “Masks. Metamorphoses of the Face”: “Thus a new butterfly of art with its own individual coloring unexpectedly emerges from the discarded cocoon of the past masks exhibition.”

“Emotions (without masks)” – this means the feelings to which Solakov openly gives free reign here as well as the unmasked museum in the double sense: the empty space of the previous exhibition, in which Solakov’s devilish and cheerful masquerades now take place. Tiny figures and handwritten notations populate the empty spaces. Nedko Solakov has created a total artwork that alternates between dream and reality, challenging our view of art and life with absurd micro-stories and tragicomic thought impulses.

From July 12 until November 1, 2009 the Mathildenhöhe Darrmstadt thus hosts one of the strangest and most fascinating projects in contemporary art this summer. The public can follow the artist’s traces in both Mathildenhöhe’s historical exhibition building and the water reservoir below. The “Emotions (without masks)” show crowns Solakov’s major exhibition tour, organized by Institut Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt together with the Kunstmuseum Bonn and the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen.