Transforming Alyosha into Superman: Invented Traditions and Street Art Subversion in Post-Communist Bulgaria

Authors

  • Bozhin Traykov University of Alberta

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21992/T95D1B

Abstract

On June 17th 2011 graffiti artists transformed the West side of the Monument of the Soviet Army (MSA) in Sofia, Bulgaria. MSA comprises part of a spatial environment where the invented traditions of the Bulgarian state interact and compete. The art of provocation challenges those invented traditions and opens up the potential for alternative readings and discursive practices of the past and present, contrary to the official political and NGO discourse. As such it subverts ideological symbols in a fashion similar to the carnivalesque. The graffiti art provides the potential to reevaluate, bridge and connect a violent past with an equally violent present, as well as pose questions about the future. It signifies the presence of history and politics in everyday life.

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Published

2014-11-04

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2014): Translating Street Art

Section

TRANSLATION STUDIES

License

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