This salon features artists Heather Hart, Kiril Kuzmanov, and AustinThomas in dialogue about their recent projects, which overlap on thesubject of art in the context of public marketplaces in Sofia,Bulgaria, East Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York, and elsewhere. Thesalon is organized and moderated by Sara Reisman.

Heather Hart questions how the memory of an experience is generated,giving the “viewer” some responsibility in the art “viewing” processand creating something that lasts longer than the interaction itself,starting a conversation that may continue outside of the art piece.Based in Brooklyn, NY, Heather Hart was an artist in residence atSkowhegan, RBPW, Santa Fe Art Institute, Fine Arts Work Center and atthe Whitney Independent Study Program. She has received grants fromJoan Mitchell Foundation, Harvestworks, Jerome Foundation and afellowship from NYFA. Her work has been featured in exhibitions atSocrates Sculpture Park, Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park,Studio Museum in Harlem, Art in General, Rush Arts Gallery, No LongerEmpty, Museum of Arts and Craft in Itami, Portland Art Center and theBrooklyn Museum. She studied at Cornish College of the Arts inSeattle, Princeton University in New Jersey and received her MFA fromMason Gross School of the arts at Rutgers University. Hart iscurrently a recipient of an LMCC Workspace.

Kiril Kuzmanov is interested in how ideas become objects and are expressed in a certain language, scale and media. Kiril Kuzmanov (born 1981) graduated with an MA in sculpture from the National Academy of Art, Sofia. Among his projects and works related to specific places are: Project 0, The Trap Quoter, Plovdiv; Who Controls the Controllers, Tiananmen Square, Beijing and Wild is the Wind, related to 11 countries in Asia. His solo exhibitions include: Exhale, Rayko Alexiev Gallery, Sofia and Feeder Head, Vaska Emanouilova Gallery, Sofia. He has participated in group exhibitions including: BAZA award, Sofia Art Gallery; Sofia Contemporary 2012; 5th International Biennale of Young Artists, Bucharest, 2012; Fragile, Atelier Tarwewijk Mijnsherenlaan, Rotterdam, 2012 and Art of Urban Intervention 2011, Institute of Contemporary Art, Sofia. Kuzmanov received various awards and grants, including KK Austria 2012 and the Young Visual Artists Award (BAZA) award of 2013.

Austin Thomas creates works that explore, alternatively, personal narratives and public actions: sketchbook diaries that explore the artist’s everyday experiences and hybrid sculptural/architectural objects created to facilitate thought and discussion. She also creates “perches”, site-specific sculptures that exist “somewhere between theoretical architecture, social psychology experiments, and an eccentric suburban backyard deck” that invite the viewer to play, climb, explore, or sit. Thomas is currently working on a permanent artwork called Plaza Perch for Humboldt Plaza, a new plaza that the Department of Transportation is building adjacent to the Moore Street Market in East Williamsburg. Recent solo shows include: Heiner Contemporary, Washington, DC, 2012, and Robert Lehman Art Center, North Andover, MA, 2013. Thomas is also the director and curator of Pocket Utopia on the Lower East Side.

Sara Reisman is the director of New York City’s Percent for Art program and an independent curator and sometimes writer.