ZeitZuflucht
Solo exhibition with Ink Paintings, Drawings and Paper Objects.
Inspired by the novel Time Selter, written by Georgi Gospodinov
Ana Pireva is a paper artist. For her, paper is not just a surface for painting, drawing, or printing—it is the very material from which her images (or are they rather forms?) emerge. Through the processes of papermaking, dyeing, and layering, the material takes on diverse characteristics: sometimes translucent, sometimes thick, sometimes monochrome, sometimes expressive.
Many of the works exhibited here were created during Pireva’s three-month residency at the Röderhof Art Association in the Harz region. In this almost timeless environment, as she describes it, she allowed herself to be fully immersed in the unique atmosphere. Pireva refers to Röderhof as “a realm of timelessness” and, at the same time, a place that became a refuge in time for her.
The title of the exhibition is taken from the 2020 Bulgarian novel by Georgi Gospodinov. The novel explores humanity’s retreat into memories when the future appears hopeless. In her works, Pireva creates such a refuge in time—both for herself and perhaps for us as viewers—by weaving traditional symbols and forms of the past into her art while allowing the timelessness of paper as a material to emerge naturally.
Text: Nora Grunwald, co-corator
