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About us

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A cultural and educational program that presents art in an understandable language and rethinks the museum as a place for experiences. 

"Looking with understanding" is a project of the Art Affairs and Documents Foundation, which was launched in 2020 and since then dozens of thematic tours of exhibitions for the general public, children's workshops, visits for people in the third age, have been held as part of it. lectures, as well as Martina Novakova's audio performance "Packaged Audio Guide". The program aims to offer new approaches to museum mediation and ways of communicating contemporary art. 

The project is based on several main deficits in the cultural sphere in Bulgaria: insufficient modern, comprehensive and engaging educational programs in museums and visual arts; the often inaccessible language with which contemporary art fails to communicate with wider audiences; the almost complete lack of cultural offerings for people of retirement age. Based on this context, "Seeing with Understanding" offers various educational programs in museums, created specifically for the specific exhibition, place and target audience. 

The impetus for the program is given by the project "The Museum - a meeting place" of the Goethe Institute for training museum workers in the field of museum mediation, organized and conceptualized by Stefka Tsaneva and Dr. Todor Petev. Thus, "Seeing with understanding" becomes a field for the practical application of new ideas and approaches.

The first edition of "Seeing Comprehension" is in 2021 and is dedicated to the "Jean-Claude and Christo" exhibition at the Sofia City Gallery. Tours are held for a wide audience, children's architect workshops, visits for people of the third age, including groups from the Dalgoletie Home and various pensioner clubs in Sofia. As part of the project, Martina Novakova and Miguel Valentina create a new play, which is recreated as an audio performance with verbatim elements under the direction of Vasilena Radeva. Thus, the exhibition becomes a space and a central character in the theatrical performance. 

In 2022, a second edition will follow, dedicated to the exhibition "Sybille Bergemann. Photographs" at the SGHH and including tours, lectures and children's photography workshops. In the same year, the thematic edition "The Mirror of the World" was held, which explored how art reflects social and political issues and how the museum can be a place for education and dialogue about the past and present. A number of student visits, tours for the general public and lecture-walks are held on the topics of the socialist past and women in art. 

The "Seeing Comprehension" program continues in 2023 with new tours, workshops, lectures and a special focus on audio formats.

Over the years, partners and collaborators of "Seeing Comprehension" have been: National Fund "Culture", Metropolitan Municipality, National Gallery, Socia City Gallery, Goethe-Institut, Bulgarian Fund for Women, Foundation "My Museum" and the podcast "Urban Detective".  ;

The activities under the program "Seeing Comrephension" in 2022-23 are supported by the project "The social life of art", financed by the National Fund Culture within the framework of the "Program for the recovery and development of private cultural organizations", as well as by the subprogram "Cultural heritage" and socialization" of the Sofia Municipality program "Culture". 

Team

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Founder and curator of programs

Stefka Tsaneva

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Consultant

Dr. Todor Petev

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Graphic design and copywriting

Teodor Genov

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Consultant

Vessela Nozharova

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