Nikola Mihov

Nikola Mihov (b. 1982) is a Bulgarian artist, photographer and curator based in Sofia. Since 2019 he is part of the curatorial team of Synthesis gallery, Sofia. He is co-founder of the photobook platform PUK! and was a guest-curator of Sofia Art Book Fair (2017).

PHOTOBOOKS

2021  He Breaks, He cuts, He spills,, Janet 45 Publishing, Bulgaria

2017  Processing … Innocences, France

2016  Hello and Welcome to Paris, self-published, co-produced with Janet 45 Publishing, Bulgaria

2015  Forget Your Past, second expanded edition, Janet 45 Publishing, Bulgaria

2012  Forget Your Past, Janet 45 Publishing, Bulgaria

SELECTED PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS

2023  31.12, Photo Saint Germain Festival, Room Service 2, Hôtel la Louisiane, Paris, France

2023  31.12, International Meetings of Photography festival, Hindliyan`s House, Plovdiv, Bulgaria

2021  He Breaks, He cuts, He spills, pop-up exhibition, delpire & co, Paris, France

2019  Processing… Athens Photo Festival, Benaki museum, Athens, Greece

2019  ReForget Your Past, Contemporary space, Varna, Bulgaria

2018  Processing… Thessaloniki PhotoBiennale, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece

2018  Processing… Synthesis Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria

2017  ReForget Your Past, Sofia Art Book Fair, Synthesis Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria

2016  Hello and Welcome to Paris, The Red House, Centre for Culture and Debate, Sofia, Bulgaria

2016  Hello and Welcome to Paris, Goat milk festival, Gorna Bela Rechka, Bulgaria

2015  Forget Your Past, Fotoquartier im Schlössl-Kino, Vienna, Austria

2015  The Sea Inside, Contemporary Space Gallery, Varna, Bulgaria

2014  Forget Your Past, Month of Photography, Bulgarian Cultural Institute, Bratislava, Slovakia

2014  The Sea Inside, Synthesis Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria

2013  Under Destruction, The Red House – Centre for Culture and Debate, Sofia, Bulgaria

2012  Victoria Palace, Synthesis Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria

2011  Forget Your Past, Sofia Architecture Week, Sofia, Bulgaria

2010  Forget Your Past, Bulgarian Cultural Institute, Berlin, Germany

2010  Forget Your Past, Goat milk festival, Gorna Bela Rechka, Bulgaria

2009  Forget Your Past, London Photomonth, This Is Not A Gateway Festival, Hanbury Hall, London, UK

2009  Forget Your Past, The Red House – Centre for Culture and Debate, Sofia, Bulgaria

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023 Death Valley, BUNA: Forum for contemporary visual arts, ReBonkers gallery, Varna, Bulgaria

2022  Self-splaining (a Triumph of Empathy). The European Nomadic Biennial. Manifesta 14, Gallery of the Faculty of Arts Rruga Agim Ramadani, Prishtina, Kosovo

2022  Athens Photo Festival, Photobook exhibition, Benaki museum, Athens, Greece

2021  100 best photographic book in Central and Eastern Europe 2000–2020

2021  Parallel 42 – A Circle of Humanity,exhibition from the Imago Mundi Foundation collection, The Center for Openness and Dialogue, Tirana, Albania

2018  Photobookfest, Lumiere brothers Center for Photography, Moscow, Russia

2018  Memory Place, Tabya Gallery, Thessaloniki, Greece

2018  Cosmodrum, One Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria

2017  Les Rencontres d’Arles, Night of the Year, Arles, France

2017  Here I live, The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

2016  Nuit de la Photo, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland

2015  Circulation(s) – Festival of Young European Photography, Le Cent Quatre, Paris, France

2015  Save the Dreams – contemporary Artists from Bulgaria – Imago Mundi, Luciano Benetton Collection, Fodazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, Italy

2015  Europe. Southeast – Recorded Memories, Athens Photo Festival, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece

2015  Art for Change 1985-2015, Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria

2015  Le Voyage a Nantes Festival, Nantes, France 

2015  Hide and Seek, Hladilnica Pekarna Gallery, Maribor, Slovenia

2014  Europe. Southeast – Recorded Memories, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, Romania

2014  Holidays After the Fall, The Red House Center for Culture and Debate, Sofia, Bulgaria

2014  The Collection. New Acquisitions 2012-2013, Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria

2014  Bulgarian Photography Now, Contemporary Space, Varna, Bulgaria

2013  Europe. Southeast – Recorded Memories, Museum for Photography, Braunschweig, Germany.

2013  Bulgarian Documentary Photography, Photo Synthesis Art Center, Sofia, Bulgaria

2013  BG Press Photo, Vivacom Art Hall, Sofia, Bulgaria

2013  Modern Architecture Works. Industrialna Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria

2012  East of Best – Young Bulgarian Contemporary Art, Roodkapje Gallery, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2012  Menotrentuno III, Young European Photography Festival, Sardinia, Italy

2012  Socialism’s Material Residue, WM Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2012  A Possible History, The Bulgarian Art Through the Sofia City Art Gallery Collection, Sofia

2012  Raw Art Fiar, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2012  International Festival of Young Photography, Cheboksary, Russia

2012  The Collection, New Acquisitions 2010 – 2011, Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria

2011  Essl Art Award CEE, Academia Gallery, National Academy of Art, Sofia, Bulgaria 2011

2011  The Other Eye, Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria

2009  Phodar – International Biennial of Photography, Pleven, Bulgaria

2009  From Yesterday till Tomorrow. Monuments of Sofia, Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria

2008  Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and Mediterranean, Bari, Italy

2008  Fair of Culture, Student Centre, Zagreb, Croatia

2008  Gaudenz B.Ruf Award for New Bulgarian Art – Shortlist 2008, Sofia Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria

AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS

2016  Nominee for Kassel Dummy Award

2014  Nominee for The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize

2012  Nominee for Zooms Award of Salon de la Photo in Paris

2012  Prize for Photojournalism of the Union of Bulgarian Journalists

2011  Nominee for Essl Art Award CEE 2011

2009  Photoschool Prize, Phodar – International Biennial of Photography

2008  Nominee for Gaudenz B. Ruf Award for New Bulgarian Art

SELECTED BOOKS, CATALOGUES AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS

2024 Concrete Architecture: The Ultimate Collection, Phaidon, England (Upcoming)

2019  Future Cities: A Visual History, Bloomsbury Publishing, England

2018  Atlas of Brutalist Architecture, Phaidon, England

2018  Pocket Artchive N2, Kontentive Studio, Bulgaria

2018  SOS Brutalism, Park Books, Switzerland

2016  Nuit de la Photo, Switzerland

2015  Bulgaria: Save the Dreams : Contemporary Artists from Bulgaria, Luciano Benetton Collection, Fabrica, Italy

2015  Circulation(s) – Festival of Young European Photography, Le Bec en l’air editions, France

2015  Art for Change 1985-2015, Sofia City Art Gallery, Bulgaria

2013  Holidays After the Fall – Seaside Architecture and Urbanism in Bulgaria and Croatia, Jovis verlag, Germany

2013  Europe. South-East – Recorded Memories, Spector Books, Germany

2012  The Bulgarian Nouvelle Vague, Edno, Sofia

2012  A Possible History, The Bulgarian Art Through the Sofia City Art Gallery Collection, Sofia City Art Gallery, Bulgaria

2011  Menotrentuno III, Young European Photography in Sardinia, Soter editrice, Italy

2011  East of Best – Young Bulgarian Contemporary Art, Kolektif, The Netherlands

2010  Critical Cities Vol 2: Ideas, Knowledge and Agitation from Emerging Urbanists, Myrdle Court Press, England

2009  From Yesterday till Tomorrow. Monuments of Sofia, Sofia City Art Gallery, Bulgaria

MAGAZINES

Fisheye Magazine, (France), M magazine – Le Monde supplement (France) Modern Matter Magazine (England), Geo (France), A10 (The Netherlands) Foam (The Netherlands), British Journal of Photography (Great Britain), Le Monde (France), Reponses Photo (France), IL Fotografo Magazine (Italy), Abitare (Bulgaria) One magazine (Bulgaria)