About
Petya Chalakova is an art curator & facilitator
In addition #ArtMatchMakers in a Podcast created by Petya in which she tells stories from the world of art, unveils the artists’ secrets, collects the experts’ wisdom and together with the established designers find the right match between the interior and the art piece.
My name is Petya and I am from Bulgaria. I am working as a freelancer which gives me the unique opportunity to travel and explore new places all the time. One of these new places for me is Breda, in the Netherlands, where I currently live. I have been actively working in the field of art since 2008, when I started as a gallery curator in my town – Sofia, in Bulgaria. Since then I have been participating in a number of events and have been working on various social and artistic projects. All my experience in this field thought me how to connect an art work with the environment. That is why I see myself first and for most as an Art match maker – a person who can help out with the start for a lovely relationship between an art piece and a space and from there to build up a trust in remarkable art collection.
My biggest challenge so far was the successful graduation of my doctoral studies at the National Academy of Arts, Sofia in the field of New Media Art which made me officially a PhD in 2020. The social and the ecological impacts are the main focus in my academic works. My relentless academic interests are in the field of Critical Theory, Sociology of Everyday Life, Eco-Semiotics, Museology. Among the other topics that caught my attention in the past 12 years, are the questions of the modern archive, collective memory, the ethics behind the digitally born art, the ecological perspective, the value of the Digital art in the perspective of 20 century Critical theory.
In 2020 as a result of many postponed art events due to the Global Pandemic together with the artists Rada Yakova we started the endeavor www.5new.org – an online platform for presenting art in the virtual space. Take a look here.
I am passionate about any type of communication which is coming from my Semiotic and Philosophical background of Advertisement Communication, Sociology and Philosophy of Language. This all is helping me to better understand the needs of the people and their desires. My goal in my work is to make complex ideas and topics easy to understand and readable for the audience.
In 2014 I chose to give my best to the society by improving my skills as a facilitator for Self development and Essential life skills training. That desire made me an internationally certified trainer who works with people of age from 6 to 60+. Some of the topics that we often cover with my clients facilitated by me only or with a co-trainer are critical thinking and creative thinking, emotional intelligence, accessible design, self representation, personal & time management skills and many others.
But, enough about me! Let’s talk about you. Tell me what are your needs and desires. I would love to be your guide through the world of art and your happy self-manifestation.