Starting on October 24, the Museum of Humor and Satire presents the Cartoon Salon 2024, a traditional autumn event focusing on cartoons. It includes 3 exhibitions, including the 49th National Cartoon Exhibition and awarded and nominated cartoonists from International Cartoon Contests “Water, River, People” and “Olive”.
Hall 3 – Stefan Furtunov, Museum of Humor and Satire
Opening: October 24, 17:30
Duration: October 24, 2024 – March 1, 2025
49th National Cartoon Exhibition
Нo matter how well one lives in media space, at some point one encounters CARTOONS.
In recent years, in counting its sequence, the National Cartoon Exhibition has been in constant competition with the National Assembly – at its opening on April 4 at the UBA at Shipka 6, Sofia, they were in parity – 49 to 49. Now the result is 49 at nearly 51. This is probably a reflection of the greater degree of thoroughness and responsibility with which cartoonists approach their work. That is why politics is strongly present both on the walls of the halls of the Union of Bulgarian Artists and in the Museum of Humor and Satire.
Of course, the National Exhibition is not an overview of all Bulgarian cartoons, the participants work independently and successfully in various media and attend general exhibitions at their own will.
This year’s salon features works by 27 authors with nearly 90 cartoons. In addition to the living legends Lubomir Mihailov, Ivaylo Tsvetkov, Valentin Georgiev, Maya Tcholakova, Prof. Anri Kulev, Alla and Chavdar Georgievi, Margarita Yancheva, Dilyana Nikolova, Tsocho Peev, Irien Trendafilov, etc., you will also meet new faces, such as : Alexander Simov, Evgeni Nachev, Luiza Hamel, Mario Ivanov, Silvia Gancheva and others.
In our selection of the 49th National cartoon exhibition you will see the things in life between the funny and the unfunny, the provocative and the entertaining, between war and peace, but also philosophical insights, graphic permutations and funny illustrations.
In Cartoon Salon 2024, you will also meet the works of the award-winning authors of the 49th National Cartoon Exhibition:
Dimitar Atanasov – award of the Union of Bulgarian Artists
Konstantin Anastasov and Tsvetan Pavlov – award of the Cartoon section of UBA
Maya Tcholakova – award of the Metropolitan Municipality in the name of Donyo Donev
Lubomir Mihailov – award of the Bulgarian Red Cross; Veselin Zidarov – honorable mention by BRC
Prof. Anri Kulev – prize of the Museum of Humor and Satire, Gabrovo
Anatoly Stankulov – Gill and Hoof Award, established by Eng. Borislav Konstantinov and Lyubo Nikolov for a cartoon on the theme Nature, Hunting and Fishing
Silvia Gancheva – prize of the Zharava club, Kubrat Municipality and the National Competition for Humor and Satire in Kubrat
Valentin Georgiev – Raiko Aleksiev award
First International Contest “Water, River, People“
In 2024, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Convention on Cooperation in the Protection and Sustainable Use of the Danube River and 20 years of celebrating the Day of the Danube River, the Municipality of Ruse, OP Ruse Art and UBA – Cartoon Section organized the contest Water, River, People.
More than 150 artists from 49 countries participated in the competition.
An international jury determined the winners of the first, second and third prizes, as well as the three incentive prizes:
First Prize – Jacek Frankiewicz, Poland
Second Prize – Rucke Souza, Brazil
Third Prize – Tsocho Peev, Bulgaria
First Prize Nomination – Asier Sanz, Spain
Second Prize Nomination – Kessusanto Liusvia, Indonesia
Third Prize Nomination – Konstantin Kazanchev, Ukraine
On June 29, an exhibition with the award-winning cartoons was opened in Dohodno Zdanie, Ruse.
Cartoon Salon 2024 is the first exhibition with guest appearances of the award-winning and other selected works from the competition.
“Olive” International Cartoon Contest
The Museum of Humor and Satire presents a selection from the 13th edition of the International Olive Cartoon Contest, held in Cyprus in 2024. The selection includes all award-winning cartoons as well as selected works from the competition.
The Olive Cartoon Contest was conceived in 2007 by the Cyprus Turkish Cartoonists Association. 23 years ago, Kyrenia Municipality in Cyprus started an Olive Festival, aiming to preserve the olive tree and its products, produced locally for thousands of years.
The unplanned urbanization and reinforced concrete construction that started in the Turkish Cypriot community in the 1980s caused the olive tree, an important local product, to decline. As a result of faulty zoning plans, houses were built in areas where olives were formerly produced. The Turkish Cypriot community, which used to export olive oil, is now importing olives and olive oil from abroad due to faulty policies. In order to draw attention to these problems, the Olive Cartoons Contest was born, aiming to criticize the contradictions and wrong policies regarding olive production in a relatable way.
Starting as a national event, the contest evolved to an international level. In 2020 the name was changed to International Olive Humor Festival – International Cartoon Contest, in order to also include free-themed cartoons.
In 2024 it was announced that only cartoons in black and white would be accepted to the contest, due to several reasons. According to the organizers, in recent decades cartoon art has been facing major problems. Originally drawn in plain or exaggerated lines and printed only in black and white, cartoons have gradually deviated from their essence. Art products such as illustrations, photographs and paintings are converted into drawings with computer programs and presented as cartoons. Intense colors are used in such productions, making lines and quips less understandable. Furthermore, non-cartoonists who steal other people’s ideas with the help of computers and AI, have taken over the world of cartoon art.
As a result of this bold decision, after many years we once again can experience the magnificence and impactful simplicity of black-and-white cartoons in the 13th edition of the International Olive Cartoon Contest.
Photographer: Blagovesta Tsvetkova