Desislava Pancheva is passionate about and committed to zines (fanzines), art books and the artists who publish and produce them.
In the message salon embassy studio in the Hunzikerareal, Desislava Pancheva will open the ‘Hip Hip Library’ installation on Saturday 26 May, with zines and publications by artist friends and small publishers from her own archive. The public is invited to visit Hip Hip Library, browse through the books and publications and discuss books, Bulgaria, the Balkans, zines and Zurich with Desislava Pancheva or make their own exclusive zine in the workshop. Paper, pencils, spray cans, scissors, picture material, glue, foils, photocopier, etc. are available in the studio.
Desislava Pancheva (1986) studied photography in Milan and founded the artist-run space Hip Hip Atelier in Sofia in 2010, from which Hip Hip Library emerged in 2011, Sofia’s first platform for self-publishing. The off-space with workshop, library and shop becomes a meeting point for the local scene. Desislava Pancheva initiated the Sofia Art Book Fair, the first book fair for self-publishing in Bulgaria, in 2017. The scene is internationally networked and forms its own community, which has grown outside the institutions and has its roots in the do-it-yourself attitude of punk and skater culture. In the slipstream of digitalisation, a niche for analogue graphics, handmade books, limited editions and zines has established itself in the art book sector.