Crossroad – the
price of choice
Exhibition of the icon painter Dian Kostov and Milena Tashkova
National Basilica of the Sacred Heart,

Brussels 15.06 - 18.08.2024

Crossroad - the price of choice

Art installation
Authors: Dian Kostov and Milena Tashkova

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15.06 -18.08.24 Brussels, Belgium

Crossroad - the price of choice is a conceptual exhibition which consists of more than 70 icons, posters and murals by the icon painter Dian Kostov. Crossroad - the Price of Choice aims to recreate the search for harmony and trust in difficult times and to turn it into an awakening experience for visitors.

The Price of Choice will be presented in the National Basilica of the Sacred Heart from June 15 to August 18, 2024. The main highlights of the exhibition will remain, but it will be further developed with new works of art, taking into account the larger scale and different architecture of the Basilica, so that visitors can have a new, unique experience. For the first time, we will place large images on the facade of the Basilica, which will also be part of the exhibition and experience.

The Price of Choice will begin from the outside. On the facades of the Basilica, images that represent important moments from the life of Jesus Christ and the Holy Virgin will be mounted. On the eastern facade, there will be 11-meter images of the Holy Virgin. The first of them will present the Annunciation and the acceptance of grace by the Virgin Mary to give birth to the expected Savior of humanity. The attire of the Virgin is depicted as a rose without thorns, a symbol of her purity, humility, and innocence.

The next image presents the sorrow and suffering of the Virgin, embracing the Son of God - Pietà. Because of her trials and holiness, she becomes the guardian of the family, children, and the entire human race. This is also the last image on the eastern facade - Holy Virgin the Protectress. On the four columns surrounding the central dome, at a height of 52 meters, we will place 15-meter images related to the life of Jesus Christ. We will start with an image of the Infant, followed by Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd. Next is a symbolic image of the Holy Trinity, where Christ is represented as the Word of God. The Crucifixion is located on the central western facade and after it, on the fourth column is the Resurrection of Jesus.

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Preview of the exhibition:

History

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16.05 -29.05.23 Vien, Austria

The exhibition originally took place in the Votivkirche Cathedral, Vienna and was realised at the personal invitation of Father Dr. Joseph Farrugia, the cathedral’s Pfarrer.

The exhibition was originally supposed to take place between May 16 and May 29 2023, but it turned out to be so successful that Father Joe Farrugia offered Crossroad - the Price of Choice to stay for the Long Night of the Churches and present the cathedral.

About Dian Kostov

Dian Kostov is a Bulgarian icon painter, both popular for his icons and murals, and for his projects in the field of modern art, presented in Bulgaria and around the world. His works have been exhibited in world galleries and are owned by collectors from Europe, USA and Japan.

Kostov strives to create author's iconic images in which symbols of the time in which we live present. With his works, he poses some of the eternal questions to his contemporaries.

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Dian Kostov creates icons - modern icons. While using traditional painting techniques, he develops and enriches the traditional iconography of icon painting, which has been established and handed down over centuries, by addressing both timeless and contemporary questions about being human in his search for new images. He focuses on questions such as

“Who are you?”,
“What do you believe in?”,
“What is your goal?”,
“What are you afraid of?”,
“What are you ashamed of?”,
“What do you dream of?”.

Keeping his finger on the pulse of the times, he creates an icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the protector of the world from the coronavirus in the first pandemic year of 2020. An icon is not to be seen and understood as a superficial work of art, but as an enigmatic symbol that requires looking with the eyes of a searching soul. Dian Kostov wants to motivate us for this conscious contemplative search - he, who grew up under communism and state-imposed atheism in Bulgaria, when it was not even allowed to speak about God, but who was nevertheless seized by a fascination for the Bible and at first began to read it in secret, and who would go on studying theology and iconography after the fall of communism and advance to become one of the most innovative icon painters of the present day.

Bernhard A. Boehler,
Art Historian,
Curator,
Art Advisor - Museum Director (Retd.)

Other projects

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In 2019, Dian Kostov was selected from among hundreds of candidates to participate in the XII World Biennale of Modern Art - Florence with his installation "Who are you?”

As a kind of continuation of the installation Who are you?, Dian Kostov created the work Holly Mother of God - Protectress, which he presented to the team of Pirogov University Emergency Hospital as a gesture of gratitude to the physicians for their efforts during the pandemic.

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Just before Christmas in 2021, the installation Life is Stronger is also ready. It is located on a silo along the international road Sofia - Vidin. The installation is a several meter image of the icon Holly Mother of God - Protectress, to which photos of children born during the two complex pandemic years 2020-2021 are added.