PROGRAM OF WTAF 2013
19 – 23 June
TEMPORARY PROTECTED SPACES
Organized by NGO IME and friends

For the 7 time we invite you to The festival for contemporary arts and culture Water tower art fest from 19th to 23rd of June in Sofia in few locations around town
We are an Artist-run initiative!
Attending all events is free.

Since 2006 the Water Tower Art Fest (WTAF) has been promoting a vivid demonstration of the richness and diversity of the cultural life in Sofia, and at the same time points to important but often neglected urban problems such as the decay of abandoned city spaces of national importance. WTAF provides not just an agenda for the solution of such problems, but also the means for it – through the artistic creativity and cooperation established between the participating artists and the audience the festival reveals the transformative power of art.

The main idea behind Sofia’s candidacy for a European Capital of Culture for 2019, the concept of “Sharing Sofia”, is reflected by the mission of WTAF – to bring art out in the open, to liberate it from the conventional two-dimensional space of galleries and museums limited by finite walls and opening times, and provide it with the freedom and infinite opportunities of nature combined with the picturesque city landscape. By so doing, the organizers of the festival successfully promote the all-inclusiveness of art and its ability to transcend borders and maintain respect, understanding and appreciation of diversity. Overcoming the spatial borders of conventional art spaces was just the first step WTAF has made on the way to the full transformation of art into a socially-engaged ambience, capable of bringing real change to the surrounding community.

By opening up its artistic territory to a wide variety of artists of different nationalities, religions, social background and gender, the festival creates a welcoming atmosphere in which everyone feels not just secure but also empowered to transform their own life as well as the life of the city of Sofia. By combining the historical significance and multicultural heritage of the Water Tower in Lozenets with the inventiveness and originality of modern art, WTAF manages to subvert one more category of social borders – the divide between past and future – by demonstrating the intrinsic need of ascribing to the two, ostensibly opposite, temporal trajectories the common origin of social change.

And last but not least we invite you to our Temporary protected spaces:

Protected – because we need to feel this way, by coming together and expressing ourselves freely.
Protected from whom? Protected from the raging forces of ego based battles within the society, from the mass illiteracy leading to intolerant and rude attitude towards matters of the heart.
Protected by whom? By the group of artists expressing their motivation to come together and create, by the notion itself of making a festival for the arts and not a LTD company for any kind of business binding to the forces of capitalism.
Why spaces? Because we have the time, and are in need of a space.

19 June from 18:30 to 22:30 – official opening
Water tower in Lozenets
Working hours for the period 19 – 23 of June are 14:00 – 19:00
Address: map
Sofia, Lozenets, the corner of Galichitsa Str. and Sv. Tedosiy Tarnovski Str.
Transport:
to metrostation James Bourchier, then walk
tram line Nr. 10 to Energoproekt station

Music – official welcome:
Munsee & Dichkata – concert live in the garden of the tower

Artists:

Aleksandra Rasulic (Serbia) – Temporarily Protected From Dirt; installation

Claire Halpin (Ireland) – Protest Drawings Traced Transferred; drawings
The starting point of this artwork comes from media images the artist collected of the Shell to Sea Protests in Rossport, County Mayo on the remote west coast of Ireland. “I was struck by the drama and anger encapsulated in the struggling protesters and the images to me were like figures from Caravaggio paintings.”

Johannah Herr (USA) – Patterns on wall

John O’Hare (UK) – Protest in Abstract; interactive installation
Protest in Abstract is an interactive installation of materials and objects associated with mass demonstrations – political pamphlets, placards and banners – painted in bold colours and devoid of particular messages or signs. In presenting organised protest as an aesthetic visual event of which the juxtaposition of complimentary and conflicting colour is the central motif, it queries the collective authorship, mutation and manipulation of iconographies of resistance.

Jonathan Johnson (USA) – Sofia-Midwest Connection

Hitomi Kammai (Japan) – Girl; video installation

Herve Constant (UK) – The Dream; sound installation

Paweł Kowzan (Poland) – Untitled, 2013; permanent sound installation

Thomas C. Chung (Australia) – Find Me If You Can…; installation

Yolanda Adrover (Spain) – Forgive me for breathing; video

Yujin Lee (Korea) – 51 Smiling Buddhas; drawings

Vesela Mihaylova and Tiago Martins (Portugal) – TRIPO; sound installation

Yohann Walter (Denmark) – Aegis; video and sound installation
Aegis is a video and sound work made in four countries and in no less than twenty different locations. Through mountains, forests, Springs and seas, places of worship where remain our origins, Aegis explores symbolic and ritualistic approaches, where communion with our environment are revealed through sounds and gestures, sensitive and mystical vocabulary which propose the viewer a journey through a world that was, one day, protected against men.

Performances:

19 June, 21:00
Laura Cristin (Italy) – Sirena Bulgara; performance
A-live S(he)ren in Sofia: Along almost a decennial of wanderings in performing arts, while discovering/developing the identity of Sheren, I have often stepped across the (mari)TIME of my birthday: 13^th June.The WTAF further EAST around the summer solstice seems another predestined stage on this path, also for the Water Tower with its clock-like (dodecagonal) plant. Thinking, imagining, feeling about the mythology of Sheren is a daily (art) practice intermeshed with the mundane. It’s a constant attitude always ready to take (physical) shapes/appearances in case of fortunate conditions. When these occur the ephemeral magically materializes in the heARTs of many, far beyond a ‘private garden’. Space—Nature and human beings included—is important, as the Tempo. Music provides many suggestions for e-motionS and ‘moti dell’anima’ to be played with the contingency. Polyethylene veils, stick-of-rain, aquatic accessories help, sometime.
Best things are un-expected.
As a real S(he)ren turning up in Bulgaria
from the Mediterranean Sea
A living examplar along the lineage
Of the fossil mermaid of Sozopol
Found in the Net of 16^th July 2012

This time in the WaterTowerArt realm
On the 7^th note

19 June,  21:45 – 22:30
Penta Pulse (Bulgaria) – Audio-Visual Performance

If you ask us directly what PentaPuls means, we can’t give only one answer. The idea of the audiovisual installation comes from the desire to make connection between the nature, the human begging and the digital revolution, that changed the course of our development. The shapes from which the screen is made are sort of a game. And exactly the game is the basic thing that rules our lives. The preservation of these forms, actually of all subjects that surround us, can also be called a game…made out of paper the main ingredient that we use is the pentagon( one of the accurate shapes that the nature gives us, one of the shapes that is directly connected with the sacral geometry, with the Fibonacci spiral). The featured form includes the elements of the earth, air (the sky), follows the flowing shapes of the water( the waves) and represents the sharpness of the fire. With the help of the vision and the sound we will show one of the most sacral moments in the life of humans, we will make connection with the nature and of course we will make a reverence to her power, we will fall in love and smile. “PentaPulse” has not the goal to change or guide us, but to open our eyes for the moment, when the digital and the natural settle down in full harmony.

20 June (Thursday) from 18:30 to 22:30 – official opening
SAMCA – Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
Working hours for the period 20 June – 7 July are 10:00 – 18:00
Address: map
2 Cherni Vrah Blvd.
Transport:
By foot: from Hostel Lavele
By metro: Take the underground from Serdica metrostation and get off at European Union station. The venue is a walking distance away.
By bus: bus Nr. 94 (get off at Hemus hotel)

Artists:

Andy Broady (UK) – Still; photographs; with special program at the Museum of Socialist Art

Anna Simeonoff (Bulgaria) – Idioms-Anatomists; prints

Baron Studio (Bulgaria, Turkey) – Easy Star, All Stars; installation

Cathrine Constanse Gjelsnes, Frode Sten Jacobsen, Ingebjørg Torgersen & Trond Arne Vangen (The Norwegian bunch) – Leave it as you Found it; installation

David Borawski (USA) – Cage

Daria Baiocchi (Italy) – Sospeso; sound installation

Frode S. Jacobsen (Norway) – Autumn and fire; video installation

John O’Hare (UK) – Protest in Abstract

Jonathan Johnson (USA) – Sofia-Midwest Connection

Jos Bregman (The Netherlands) – Pop Art House

Katya Stoycheva (Bulgaria) – The White Book of temporary protected spaces; installation

Nataliya Petkova (Bulgaria) – La mariée mise à nu par le binaire, même (The Bride Stripped Bare by the Binary, itself); installation

Paco Simón (Spain) – Give me back my Landscape; installation

Petra Stenvall (Sweden) – Black and Blue; photography

Radomir Dankov (Bulgaria) – Talk to Nia; interactive installation

Susken Rosenthal (Germany) – Untitled; installation

Sibylle Hofter (Germany) – Balkan series; photo projection

Teodor Liho (Bulgaria) – Up in smoke; art action

Tomasz Matuszak (Poland) – All the World; photo and video

Takako Yamaguchi (Japan) – Curtain; installation

Thomas C. Chung (Australia) – Find Me If You Can…; installation

Verginiya Yancheva (Bulgaria) – Turns; portaits

Viktoriya Georgieva (Bulgaria) – Sleda-sledya, Trace-tracking

Wang Haiyuan (China) – Watch out; photography

Yuri Miyauchi (Japan) – Wire Hole; site specific installation

Performances:

20 June, 19:30 – 21:00
Radina Stoimenova (Bulgaria) – Do you want to walk with me?
A performance exploring the possibilities of getting closer, of  creating a fragile and protected space within a public one. You are invited to take a walk. The participant is invited to stroll along the streets of an imaginary city’s map. At first he becomes the listener of a particular text (different for each person), then if willing, he participates in it. The stroll gradually turns into a conversation.The texts people hear are different, mysterious, questioning or simply beautiful. For the time of the walk the artist reveals a part of his ownself, a secret he holds… Questions, discussion, bewilderment, amazement are raised.

20 June, 21:00 – 22:00
Teodor Liho (Bulgaria) – Up In Smoke; art action
Up In Smoke
Smoke
….as a hero/image/multilayer symbol:
….as thick, heavy smoke clews
….as a thin flow of white signal smoke
….as a stifling cloud
Smoke, depending on the context is charged with multilayer messages: it could
be a signal, means for communication or the opposite a curtain, a diffusion, a
sphumato….. a mystifier, an obstacle or an arena for images…..
One uses smoke to invent sayings for blessing, expulsion of evil forces, etc.
One can make preservation of ham with smoke or the fish of Christ…..

20 June (Thursday) from 10:00 to 18:00 – Seminar / workshop at the Amercian Center
Tea brake: 12:00 – 13:00
Address: map
4A Slaveykov Sq.
Transport:
Trams Nr. 10, 12, 18 (schedule) to Slaveykov Sq. station
 
Foundation In Search Of – Do-It-Yourself. Cultural Activism; educational-creative workshop (more about the seminar at the end of the program)
 

21 June from 10:00 to 18:00 – Seminar / workshop at the SAMCA (continuation)
Tea brake: 12:00 – 13:00
Address: map
2 Cherni Vrah Blvd.
Transport:
By foot: from Hostel Lavele
By metro: Take the underground from Serdica metrostation and get off at European Union station. The venue is a walking distance away.
By bus: bus Nr. 94 (get off at Hemus hotel)

Foundation In Search Of – Do-It-Yourself. Cultural Activism; educational-creative workshop (more about the seminar at the end of the program)

21 June (Saturday) 18:30 – 22:00
Opening of alternative venue – Serdika underground
Working hours for the period 21 June – 23 June are 14:00 – 19:00
Address: map
16 Maria Luisa blvd. – entrance next to the Roca Showroom.
Transport
Metro: Serdica Metro Station, walking to 16 Maria Luisa blvd.; trams № 20, 22 or 23 to station Central Bath

Artist:

Antonio Keserdzhiev (Bulgaria) – Translations; graphic video installation

Aurore Dal Mas (Belgium) – Fire; sound installation

Blanca Alonso (Spain) – The Periplus of a Line; installation performance

Shahar Marcus (Israel) – Freeze, Leap of Faith, Still Burning; 3 video films

Ivaylo Hristov (Bulgaria) – Objects of the absence; installation

Maria Krawczynska, Libor Novotný, Josef Daněk, Jana Zhořová – Studio of drawing, Ostrava, (Czech Republic) – GPS Studio; installation

Mary Adam (Bulgaria) – PROVIDES24HPROTECTION; video performance

Mimmo Roselli (Italy) – Un Km di linee di più / A km of lines maybe more; video

Paul Wiersbinski (Germany) – Robo Cats in Titan City; video installation

Nevena Germanova, Veronika Dimitrova, Tsvetelina Slavcheva and Tsvetelina Panova (Bulgaria) – Fading Sofia; tales on a tape

Witek Ziemiszewszki and Maciej Ożóg (Poland) – Antarctic Treaty; interactive audio-visual installation

Performances:

YanaHa (Bulgaria) – reading passages of a book; performance

21 June (Friday), 21:00
Lavele Hostel
Adress:
Lavele str. 14

Slavoslav Zemenski (Bulgaria) – The Shadow of a New Man; installation at the yard of Lavele hostel

22 June from 10:00 to 18:00 – Seminar at the SAMCA (final day)
Tea brake: 12:00 – 13:00
Address: map
2 Cherni Vrah Blvd.
Transport:
By foot: from Hostel Lavele
By metro: Take the underground from Serdica metrostation and get off at European Union station. The venue is a walking distance away.
By bus: bus Nr. 94 (get off at Hemus hotel)

Foundation In Search Of – Do-It-Yourself. Cultural Activism; educational-creative workshop (more about the seminar at the end of the program)

22 June (Saturday) – Workshops at the garden of the water tower

11:00 – 17:00
Anguelina Ranguelova (Bulgaria) – What do you need?

15:00 – 17:00
Lilly Angelova (Bulgaria) – Upgrading Shakespeare

22 June
Hambara
Adress:
22 6-ti Septemvri Str.

Performance:

19:00
Biliana Voutchkova, violin (Bulgaria); Louise Wagner, choreographer/dancer, Dorothea Nold, visual artist (Germany)

Presentational program:

21:00 – 22:30
Jos Bregman (The Netherlands) – Pop Art House Osenovlag;
“This neigbour event is a tribute to Bulgaria by the Dutch artist Jos Bregman.”
With his project Bregman does research how he can be a European neighbour, even when he is – as a resident of the Netherlands – away more often than not. Bregman invites you to be a part-time neighbour, even if it is only for half an hour, upon visiting PAHO. After the performance at WTAF you could end up reserving an Entry Ticket.
Bregman commutes during the festival to and from POHA, you can accompany him.
“Bulgaria offers Bregman what the Netherlands lack: Mountains and Nature. Bregman enjoys this at an Osenovlag House, 30 km north of Sofia, as the bird flies. The house belonged to a Priest, and the Bulgarian word for Priest is ‘Pop’. For a Europe of Neighbours, not of Brussels. GPS for your navigation or copy and paste in maps.google.com: 42.38199, 26.14516.”

Neno Belchev (Bulgaria) – author
Neno Belchev was born in 1971 in Varna, Bulgaria. Lives and works in Varna. He graduated in Mural Painting from the National Academy of Art in Sofia, Bulgaria. Works in the fields of video art, performance, installation, sculpture, new media as well as independent curator. He is one of the founders of the Videoholica International Video Art Festival in Varna, Bulgaria.
He has participated in a wide range of solo and group, national and international exhibitions. He has been awarded artist in residence grants (AIR) in Russia, China, Japan and Portugal and awards from international video and film festivals in Russia, the Netherland and Austria.

23 June (Sunday) from 13:00 to 20:00
One day action at the Royal train station in Kazichene
Address: map
Kazichene, Sofia
Transport:
By bus: Nr. 8, 14 (schedules)
Route taxi Nr. 35 (stops at the tunnel of the National Palace of Culture)
By taxi: approximately 20 BGN from the city centre
By car: Directions to Cenral Train Station, Sofia

23 June, 11:00
Kaloyan Ivanov (Bulgaria) – performance at train station Sofia, before leaving to Kazichene

Artists:

Jan Doms © & Olga Doreva – LEF (The Netherlands, Bulgaria) –  Royal Train Station Kazichene; site-specific glass installation and sound collage

Johannah Herr (USA) – Patterns on Wall

Rumen Dimitrov (Bulgaria) – The Wall; installation

Radomir Dankov (Bulgaria) – Without Rails; installation with locomotive

Music concert – TBC
BBQ

End!

 
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Seminar:

20 – 22 June, from 10:00 to 18:00
Tea brake: 12:00 – 13:00

Foundation In Search Of – Do-It-Yourself. Cultural Activism; educational-creative workshop

Do-It-Yourself. Cultural Activism; educational-creative workshop
Organized by NGO IME, lead by a Polish organization Foundation In Search Of… with the participation of The Bulgarian Center for Non-For-Profit Law (BCNL).
The workshop is aimed to everyone interested in any form of cultural activism as well as people already working in an organization and willing to increase their knowledge and capacities.
Throughout the workshop we’ll present different ways of operating as a cultural activist, introduce the basic tools of cultural management and excercise the aspects of organizing a cultural project.
Through cultural activism you can make changes in the public space, views and spread the positive outlook on life, politics and social reality. We’re going to show good practices on that matter in Bulgaria and Poland.

* The workshop is supported by Program Evropa, Polish Cultural Institute, National Fund of Culture
* The workshop will be in English
Registration at watertowerartfest@gmail.com

Guests from Poland:
Adam Klimczhak
Ewelina Chmielevska
Iza Robakowska
Józef Robakowski

Seminar program:

20 June (Thursday) from 10:00 to 18:00 – Seminar at the Amercian Center
Tea brake: 12:00 – 13:00
Address: map
4A Slaveykov Sq.
Transport:
Trams Nr. 10, 12, 18 (schedule) to Slaveykov Sq. station

21 – 22 June from 10:00 to 18:00 – Seminar at the SAMCA
Tea brake: 12:00 – 13:00
Address: map
4A Slaveykov Sq.
Transport:
Trams Nr. 10, 12, 18 (schedule) to Slaveykov Sq. station

PARTNERS AND SPONSORS:

Water Tower Art Fest endorses the candidacy of Sofia and Southwest Region for European Capital of Culture 2019

Sofia Municipality
SOFIA CANDIDATE FOR EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE – 2019

Organizer:

NGO IME

Institutional Partners:

National Culture Fund
Polish Cultiral Institute
The Gaudenz B. Ruf Award
American Embassy
Old Sofia Municipal Enterprise with Historical Museum of Sofia
Program Europe

Partners:

Lavele Hostel
Fundacja In Search Of
Photopavilion
Coca Cola
Prisma lighting
Pro cinema
„Юролайтърз Плам България АД”
Застрахователен брокер „Балкан”
Квантсервиз
Olive’s
Кристиян-Нейко
Cellnet
Дакс – строителни и интериорни стъкла
НБУ

Media Partners:

programata.bg
Radio Bulgaria
Classic FM
Jazz FM
Zar.bg
Darik radio

*ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2013

Water Tower Art Fest endorses the candidacy of Sofia and Southwest Region for European Capital of Culture 2019

Organizer

Institutional Partners

Partners

Media Partners

Nia Pushkarova – Artist, Festival Organizer
Born 1970, 09.03 in Sofia, Bulgaria
1991-1995 BA Honors in Fine Arts, Reading University, UK
QUALIFICATIONS:
ICCM, Salzburg, Austria – art management diploma
Founder and Director of NGO IME since 2004
Member of the board of Directors of Bulgarian Festival Association

Since 2006 I have initiated a grass roots event around an abandoned water tower in Sofia. Gradually through the years and a lot of effort form coworkers and volunteers I managed to turn this event into an internationally recognized festival in Bulgaria with participation for 2011 more than 150 artists worldwide. The importance of making this festival is in synergy with the global cultural and environmental needs and our adequacy in Bulgaria. I have been initiating usage of abandoned and neglected buildings into their transformation into ecological and art centers promoting connection between industry and business, and art and artistic organizations, nurtured generations of young artists and advanced projects for the community and their integration with art as well as the overcoming the generational gap and promoting tolerance and understanding. I have studied in UK and graduated Fine art in 1995 when I consciously returned to Bulgaria to experience life and art at its full. By participating in collaboration projects and exchange of ideas I believe that art can overcome the stagnation of nowadays politics cultural and social life so have started to make art scene in Sofia Bulgaria on the basis of open source communication through Water tower art fest. By doing all this I believe we can help change the local mentality for the better via overcoming prejudices, bringing tolerance towards gender and other issues including social interaction through the arts.

***

Polina Pankova – Coordinator
Born in 1988 in Vidin, Bulgaria.
Graduated from “Tsar Simeon Veliki” General High School, Vidin in 2007, trying to finish a bachelor’s degree in English Philology from the Sofia University.
I got involved with the Water Tower Art Fest in 2010 as a volunteer. In 2011 I was the volunteer coordinator and have been working and having fun with the festival team since.

***

Neda Yonkova – Project Assistant
Graduated in cultural studies at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski.

Responsible for the overall strategic management and coordination of the festival. Assistance with contacting potential sponsors and partners, drafting and editing of needed documentation. Work closely with the members of the team, festival partners and volunteers.

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Denitsa Toneva – Designer
Born 1987 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Graduated from the Mathematical Gymnasium Plovdiv (2001–2006), she holds a BA degree from the Technical University of Sofia (2006–2010) in Design Engineering, and currently studying Product Design MA in TU Sofia. During these studies she have been working in graphic design field alternating between personal projects and orders. You can find her personal website here. She is part of the team since 2011, being responsible for the visual appearance of the festival.

***

Georgi Kambourov – Technical Assistant
Born 1981. He has worked as a stagehand at National Theatre “Ivan Vazov” and “Global Films”, technical assistant at Centre for culture and debate “Red House – Andrey Nikolov”, light desk operator at Theatre 199 “Valentin Stoichev”, technical consultant and assistant at “Antistatic” festival for contemporary dance and performance.

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Radomir Dankov – Technical Manager
А full-licensed architect. Since 2009 is a freelancer and part of NAGLEDNA studio. Their works combine Graphic Design, Art Direction, Identity Design & Branding, Illustration, Advertising, Retail & Exhibition, Moving Image, Animation, Web Design, Video & Sound Editing. At present he is accomplishing a PhD thesis at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and attending a specialization at Ecole de Chailyot, Paris in the field of architectural restoration.

Last year at Water Tower Art Fest I entertained myself by helping the artists to realize their works in the best possible way. In 2013, beside using my skills with instruments, machines, electricity and architecture I hope to experiment some of my ideas.

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Radoslava Kuneva (Adi) – Personal Assistant
Born 1992 in Sofia, graduated from french high school “Alfons de Lamartin”. Currently studying cultural studies at the Sofia University.

My purpose in the organization is to help with all I can for the realization of the festival.

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Kalina Petkova – Assistant
Kalina is a cultural enthusiast with an interest and passion for social media. Kalina has a degree in Cultural Studies from Germany and one in Management in the Creative Economy ftrom the U.K. She enjoys connecting people and ideas and has worked for various organizations and NGO’s in Germany, Ecuador, the U.K. and her native Bulgaria. Kalina is keen about trying out new things and her most recent interest is in skateboarding and the culture related to it.

To me Water Tower Art Fest is a platform, a place to exchange ideas and to meet interesting people. My job at this year’s festival would be to make the stay of our foreign guests in Sofia, as enjoyable as possible.

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Marta Sabeva – Assistant designer
I am an architecture alumna of the U.A.S.E.G – Sofia, graduating at the dawn of the new millennium. I have worked in a number of leading (in terms of quality, not quantity) architectural practices. The economic downturn of the last couple of years has given me the time and opportunity to experiment with alternative venues for expression – such as festivals and other artistic activities. My latest labour of love is the Sofia Seen project and facebook page, aiming to encourage people to (re)embrace our beloved city of Sofia, and a number of workshops entitled “Painting the city with love”.

My first collaboration with the festival was in 2009, attempting to decode the essence of what the word “curator” stands for. Together with Mia Momchilova and some friends, we organized an ersatz-shopping-mall event, as part of the festival program. Two years later, in 2011, I was a part of the organizing team of Water Tower Festival.

I am constantly fascinated by all the talented artists that I come across, working on the festival, and determined to make Water Tower Festival as popular in Bulgaria, as it is around the world (a bizarre paradox, this)

email: info@watertowerartfest.com