The world-famous artist collective Guerrilla Girls has opened its first exhibition in Bulgaria, organized by Bulgarian Fund for Women in partnership with the National Gallery/Square 500.
On 6 March, the Bulgarian public was introduced for the first time to some of the most significant works by the Guerrilla Girls, displayed at the National Gallery/Square 500. The opening night of The Art of Behaving Badly was well attended, and the first reviews of the exhibition have been overwhelmingly positive. The two founding members of the collective, who traveled to Bulgaria especially for the event, were greeted with enthusiastic applause.
The Director of the National Gallery, Yaroslava Bubnova, expressed her gratitude to the Bulgarian Fund for Women for their dedication to the exhibition, with special acknowledgment to curator Rosena Ivanova. She stated:
“There is nothing retrospective about what the Guerrilla Girls advocate for—the fight for the rights of marginalized communities, including women in Bulgaria, is not a thing of the past but an ongoing struggle.”
Gergana Kutseva, co-director of the Bulgarian Fund for Women, recalled that when the idea for this exhibition was first conceived, no one could have predicted the challenges the world would be facing today:
“In a time when rights are being threatened and the voices of women and minorities are under unprecedented pressure—from abortion bans to aggressive attacks on artists and cultural institutions—it is becoming increasingly clear that art does not simply reflect reality. It challenges it, exposes injustices, and has the power to rewrite the future.”
Kutseva also highlighted that, thanks to the Guerrilla Girls’ decades-long artistic activism, museums and galleries worldwide are now reassessing their collections, striving for gender balance in solo exhibitions, and acknowledging their role in addressing historical injustices.
The special guests of the event, the founders of Guerrilla Girls—known by the pseudonyms Frida Kahlo and Käthe Kollwitz—expressed their excitement at seeing such strong interest in socially engaged art.
“When we started in the 1980s in New York, we never imagined that our work would still have such significance and impact—even here in Bulgaria, in 2025. We are touched and grateful.”
Visitors to the exhibition were encouraged to get angry, “be naughty,” and challenge the norms imposed by the art world. They were also invited to support the exhibition and the upcoming initiatives of the Fund for Art Projects by Women Artists.
The Art of Behaving Badly runs through June 8, 2025, at the National Gallery/Square 500. The exhibition is part of the Fund for Art Projects by Women Artists.
The exhibition and lecture by the Guerrilla Girls were made possible through the support of STROYRENT, MultiVision, and Freixenet. The media partner for the events is the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA).
Photo: Rosina Pencheva
