Selected papers 2016/2017

As many other things, identity has become a merchandise to be produced, sold and consumed. Conditioned by media, art, history and the tourist industry, we long for otherness. Sometimes the identities that we put on are taken from the national patriotic repertoire, as in the case of the Protobulgarian fantasy; sometimes they come directly from sci-fi as in the case of the exotic Jedy religion. But the feeling of being entitled to consume identities that suit us fires back, and modifies the experience of our own heritage that we start to modify at will, according to the political context. Monuments are the easiest part of the operation as they are product of artistic will and thus by definition shape the past from a present point of view. Thus, we constantly reinterpret ourselves not only because we want to “sell” prestigious images to foreigners; we sincerely long to experience those noble feelings that history has reserved for other nations.

Ivaylo Ditchev