Love Speech Campaign
We engaged 35 of the leading Bulgarian artists in a vast campaign against hate speech, featuring a series of urban art interventions, a participatory installation, a viral online video, and a large free-to-use collection of illustrations.
In Bulgaria, hate speech has been on the rise, especially towards Roma, LGBTI+ people, and refugees. The campaign reached more than one million people, raising awareness of the far-reaching implications of hate speech for society.
LOVE SPEECH – VIDEO
A popular research shows that looking into a stranger’s eyes for four minutes can bring you closer. Dozens of social experiments over the years have proven this claim. We decided to test it too - but with a twist.
As of 1 May, more than 500 000 people have watched our Love Speech video on social media.
Concept & production - Fine Acts
Director - Ivan Botev
Director of photography - Alexander Kartsov
Executive producer - Krasimira Krasteva, handplayed
URBAN ART INTERVENTIONS
Celebrate Diversity
The streets of Sofia just got a little bit brighter. Celebrate Diversity, our colorful and inspiring new mural, was created by Nikolay Petrov (GLOW), a well-known graffiti artist, as the first of our series of urban interventions part of our Love Speech campaign against hate speech. GLOW sees society as a multi-colored composition made up of the different unique colors, shades and tones of each individual.
“We must approach problems with love, not hatred. I believe that our society especially lacks tolerance for the ‘other’, and I believe that a change in this direction would be a small step towards a more peaceful coexistence,” says GLOW.
Visit the mural at 38 Bacho Kiro Street in Sofia, anytime of the day.
Light
On the International Roma Day, we launched Light, a new video installation which provokes people to think about Roma visibility, discrimination and the lack of inclusion. The artwork is by the artist Venelin Shurelov and is the second of our series of urban interventions, part of our Love Speech campaign against hate speech.
Shurelov uses street lighting as a way to "illuminate" the faces of a community whose dreams and plights remain invisible, and reminds us that the future is brighter together. “My task is to "shed light" on a marginalized community. The projected faces are both a collection of individuals, but also a practical reminder to see our path, watch our steps, and who we step on,” shares the artist.
The location of the artwork was next to the Serdika Gallery at the Women's Market (Zhenski Pazar) in Sofia.
The Others
The Others is the third in our series of creative interventions, part of our Love Speech campaign against hate speech, and focuses on refugee rights. “We’re all in the same boat, under the same sky,” says the artist Stanislav Belovski regarding his work.
The work combines elements from the artwork by the famous Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (The Great Wave off Kanagawa, 1830) and photography by Getty Images / Paula Bronstein, to create parallels between the past and future. Belovski also uses mirror foil, which reflects onlookers and places them in the center of the events.
"I think that if militantly intolerant people have more opportunities to come in direct contact with “the others”/foreigners/objects of hatred, they will gradually realize that despite all the differences, these are people with the same emotions, worries, and dreams, as themselves", says Belovski.
The work can be viewed in the yard of Goethe-Institut Sofia (1 Budapest Street).
INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION
Saying is Doing
At the end of April, we launched our exhibition SAYING IS DOING, dedicated to hate speech, at the KO-OP Gallery in Sofia. It explores the connection between words and actions in the new series of works by the artist Vitto Valentinov. The exhibition consists of various objects, which visitors can interact with to learn more about the effects of hate speech.
"Words are actions. And actions always have consequences. These consequences are often physical. Language is a verbal tool, but the consequences can go beyond the verbal,” says the artist Vitto Valentinov.
LOVE SPEECH – SPRINT
SPRINTS is an original format developed by us at Fine Acts. Visual artists – graphic designers, typographers, illustrators – are invited to a creative bootcamp to work on a specific topic. Participants are briefed by experts and then have 48 hours to develop and produce a visual artwork that communicates a respective message. Each SPRINTS ends with a pop-up exhibition, open to the public.
But there’s more! All produced works are featured at our free image vault, under a Creative Commons Licence, so that non-profit organisations and activists from all over the world can use them for their campaigns and communications, be it on social media, or offline, printing them out as posters for marches/protests.
For this campaign, we launched an edition of SPRINTS on hate speech, followed by a pop-up exhibition. 30 artists created nearly 90 original open-licence artworks within 48 hours. Using the created artworks, in March 2021 we also launched a vast outdoor campaign in Bulgaria’s largest cities that was viewed by more than 500 000 people. See all developed works here.
All photos on this page are by Mihail Novakov
The project "Creative Campaigns: Innovation in Support of Human Rights" is implemented with the financial support of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway within the EEA Financial Mechanism. The main goal of the project "Creative Campaigns: Innovation in Support of Human Rights" is to strengthen the public support for human rights in Bulgaria, as well as to increase the capacity of the civil sector to conduct campaigns.
This video was created with the financial support of Active Citizens Bulgaria Fund within the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area. The entire responsibility for its content rests with the Fine Acts Foundation and under no circumstances can it be assumed that this video reflects the official opinion of the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area and the Operator of Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria. More about Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria: https://www.activecitizensfund.bg/
