On 15 October FLUCA – the Austrian cultural pavilion closed the season with a pleasant evening program which included: screenings of video art from Austria, concert artist Manuel Gorkivits and Christian Egger (Kimberly & Clark) and party.

The event was attended by officials and special guests which was a great opportunity to discuss future ideas for the Pavilion as well as to plan the programme for the following years to 2020.

In September Plovdiv got a new experimental stage in the very heart of the city - FLUCA - Austrian Cultural Pavilion, thanks to the work and great will of BKA/Austrian Federal Chancellery, Austrian Embassy Sofia, Open Arts Foundation, Municipality Plovdiv and FLUC (Vienna). As multi functional stage and also an art installation by the Austrian architecture studio - tat ort, FLUCA has easily become one of the very interesting points on the cultural map of the city.

For the last four weeks in which the Cultural Pavilion has been at 38 Otets Paisiy str., many different events of dozens of Austrian artists have happened. All of them were invited to visit Plovdiv and participate specially in the programme thanks to Ursula Maria Probst (Vienna).  As curator of the project, she prepared very intense programme of video screenings, lectures, discussions, performances and installations.

The Cultural Pavilion itself is a long term project which exists and will continue to develop until 2020. Each year FLUCA will intervene in the city center and present a diverse exchange programme with Bulgarian and Austrian artists. FLUCA is also an open stage that aims to appeal local artist and directors giving them opportunity to present their works and be part of the programme. For example this season guests of the Cultural Pavilion were One Architecture Week and One Dance Week festivals.

The end of the first season for FLUCA awas celebrated with some good Viennese art again. Specially for the FINISSAGE our guests in Plovdiv were Manuel Gorkiewicz and Christian Egger also known as Kimberly & Clark.

More about Kimberly &Clark

The Viennese artists Manuel Gorkiewicz (git.) and Christian Egger (voc.) are into old-men Western-Music, Death Country and Meta-Americana at the same time. Their coversongs are about long trips and a lot of dust against windmills along the way, solitude in the head and blistered feet. They provide sensitive adaptations of unorthodox songs with the greatest possible authenticity. Whether if is a wedding, a Landeskulturpreis–gala or a Fanzine-Benefit, Kimberly & Clark are always one of the late and more welcome guests.

Christian Egger, artist and curator, studied at Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Since 2013 he has been curator at Künstlerhaus, Halle für Kunst und Medien (KM–) in Graz. Lives and works in Vienna and Graz.

Manuel Gorkivits – artist, studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, lives and works in Vienna. His works have been displayed in Kestnergesellschaft Hannover, 21er Haus Vienna, Kunstwerke Berlin, MUMOK Vienna, Pinakothek der Moderne Munich and Secession Vienna.

The material is provided by the Open Arts Foundation. More about it can be found on: www.openarts.info