Biography
Ivan Moudov (born 1975, Sofia, Bulgaria) is an artist who lives and works in Sofia. He holds an MA from the National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia, completed in 2002, following his studies at the city’s High School of Applied Arts.
Moudov’s practice moves between conceptual gestures, institutional critique, sculpture, installation, performance and the subtle reconfiguration of public space. Often working with systems of value, authorship, visibility and exchange, he uses irony, displacement and carefully staged situations to question how artworks—and the institutions around them—acquire meaning. His projects frequently blur the boundary between artistic action and everyday reality, inviting viewers to reconsider the social, economic and symbolic frameworks that shape contemporary art.
His work has been presented widely in Bulgaria and internationally, including at Manifesta 14 in Pristina; the 52nd Venice Biennale; the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova in Ljubljana; MAXXI in Rome; Moderna Museet in Stockholm; MUMOK in Vienna; the Irish Museum of Modern Art; and the Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb. Recent solo exhibitions include Border Flowers at ALL-U-RE, Sofia (2025); Studies on Hysteria at Punta Gallery and Posta Gallery, Sofia (2024); and Kitesurfing Injuries: Recasting Misfortune at ONE Gallery, Sofia (2023).
His work has appeared in exhibitions throughout Europe, Asia and North America, including projects at ICA–Sofia, Sariev Contemporary, Galerie Alberta Pane, prometeogallery, Kunstverein München, Kunsthalle Wien, the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow, and the National Art Gallery in Sofia.
Archive records · BUNA vol. 4 / 2026
1. The Desire Lead to Constructive Flaws, 2024. Installation
2. Already Made 7, 2014. Metal, handmade, invested by Anastas Moudov. A series of 10 objects.
Artists
1. Visible through a gallery window, is a column in the middle of a white space. Upon closer examination, the column appears to be inflatable, and the audible noise is from the compressor keeping it erect. Suddenly, silence falls, and the column collapses. . After a few minutes, air starts to erect it again. The cycle repeats.
2. Already Made 7, 2014 is a collaborative work between the artist and his father - Anastas Moudov, who is a skilled craftsman. It consists of daily object bought by Ivan Moudov – pots and pans, buckets and basins, trash bins or toasters. They are then covered with engravings by his father, inspired by various mostly medieval motifs – Byzantine engravings or miniatures, patterns from the First and Second Bulgarian Kingdom, but also decorations reminiscent of Thracian or Ancient Greek ornaments.