Optimism for Bulgaria

Assistant Professor Elena Kantareva-Decheva is the deputy director of the Ancient Plovdiv Institute. She is a painter-restorer and lecturer at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts in Plovdiv. Since 2015, she has headed the team that restored the mosaics of the Bishop’s Basilica of Philippopolis.

Nikolay Tonkoff is a graphic designer and founder of formschlag, a design company based in Berlin and Sofia with over 25 years of experience in crafting corporate visual identity. The formschlag team worked on some of the most recognizable Bulgarian brands such as Bulgarian National Television, BG Radio, Nova Television, and the Golden Rhyton Film Festival. International clients include Shell, BMW, Daimler, and L’Oréal. Nikolay is the author of the Bishop’s Basilica of Philippopolis logo and other visual elements.

FourPlus were among half a dozen businesses that worked on the Basilica interactives, but the Sofia-based design and motion graphics studio was instrumental in connecting all the creative work into one coherent whole — “a job they did with remarkable success,” according to Diana Trifonova, program officer at ABF, who managed the Basilica’s interactive elements for the Foundation.

Crediting the work of all who lent muscle power to this project would cover a full basilica floor layer or fill a good-size book. This photo story celebrates them all and is a reminder that a project of such monumental proportions is the work of hundreds, if not thousands, of anonymous ALEs.

History in particular might benefit from VR reconstructions, according to Yavor Bonev, founder of Animajor Studios, the company behind the VR reconstruction of the Bishop’s Basilica of Philippopolis and the world’s first ever VR-enhanced city tour (of Vienna, Austria).

“We cannot create a normal business environment if there aren’t equal conditions for everyone, and if those in power do not play by the rules,” Iva says.

Illustrator Ralitsa Tchobanova has a message for her peers: Voting is important. Inform yourself. Participate. Vote.

By the time Louisa could vote in an election, democracy was well established in Bulgaria, but enthusiasm for voting was on the wane. The Bulgaria-specific reasons for this are manifold, but the outcome is also consistent with what happens worldwide. “Paradoxically, the more democracy you begin to have, the lazier you become as a democrat,” Louisa says.

We have all been there. The novelty is gone, and the challenges appear to loom larger than the gains in life quality we experienced since we have democracy in our lives. This six-step guide will help you reevaluate your relationship with democracy and ultimately make it stronger.