mar _26

▲ highlights: Sofia Human Rights Forum tomorrow // what's happening in Cyprus // research day with Brian Eno & Bette A. // new art on my shop

Mar 13, 2026

_hello there `»`

I’m happy to share that I made a new type of product for my art shop: a cute iPhone wallpaper series (that I hope will work on other smartphones as well) to refresh your lock or home screen. It is a cheap and small thingy you can get for yourself or as a gift, and can support my art on the way <3 It costs less than a beer at the bar! :D

These are the first three wallpapers. More and more to come! What do you think about this idea?

shop wallpapers

_things to share `»`

🖤 <tomorrow: Sofia Human Rights Forum> Suuuuper excited for tomorrow’s forum and my talk together with Michaela Markova - a psychologist, mentor, and a Woman Survivor. We will share how art helps Emprove tell the stories of the Women Survivors and the important role it has to open doors and reach out to people’s souls.

▶▶ Hop on here for more info.

↳ <on life in Cyprus these days/> I have friends asking me if we’re okay and what is actually happening in Cyprus; and also what news sources to follow, so they can avoid the dramatic titles which only bring more panic and little useful information.

Here’s a map of Cyprus with the key spots’ locations, such as the airports and the British bases.

_context: Cyprus was involved in the US–Iran war when, on 1 March, a Hezbollah-launched Shahed drone struck RAF Akrotiri, the British sovereign air base on the island’s southern coast, hitting a hangar and prompting a partial evacuation (no casualties were reported).

The attack was linked to the UK’s decision to allow American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft and, conditionally, US forces to use its Cyprus bases, making Akrotiri a target for Iran and its proxies.

Two further drones were intercepted by British defences on 1 March, and on 4 March, Greek F-16s already deployed to Cyprus intercepted two more drones over Lebanese airspace before they could reach the island.

Cyprus’s President Nikos Christodoulides consistently stressed that Cyprus is not a participant in the conflict and will not take part in offensive operations, even as the Cypriot public grew increasingly angry about the island’s exposure through the UK bases.

As a result, the travelling was disrupted (tourism fears of how their season will go this Summer), and the European Presidency hosted by Cyprus is hindered (for which they worked really hard because there were some key milestones for the country to be addressed, but many of the meetings were either cancelled or conducted online). People who live near Akrotiri are also on constant alert, having been evacuated or asked to shelter when the alarms were activated.

_newsfeed: To follow the US-Iran war developments, I recommend you follow De Re Militari (Bulgarian) and Ruslan Trad. For news about Cyprus, the best source these days turned out to be PhilenNews.

💭 <on What Art Does: an Unfinished Theory by Brian Eno & Bette A./> I found this cute little-big book in the Netherlands last Summer, but it has been leaning on the shelf since then. Finally managed to have a “research day” (meaning a day without client/project work) and dedicated it to me researching something and writing about it. The book is a bit over 100 pages, but with its small format, it was easy to read in a little time (Eno said he wanted to make it so that people can read it for an hour and a half; and then, probably, to read it again). And what an inspiring hour and a half it was!

The question of why art is so important keeps popping up more and more in front of me over the last few years. Maybe it’s because I get to question my choice of career path regularly, or maybe it’s because, as a society, we are wondering how to justify its importance to funds and structures that keep marginalising it.

*Quotes from the book I wanted to keep with me.*

The primary drive behind writing this book for Brian Eno was his need to be able to explain why an artist wants (or has) to be an artist, the importance of this job, and that it is not a waste of their bright mind. The situation in which a teacher or a scientist asks an artist Why would you waste your potential on art? keeps happening over and over again.

My answer would be something like I would like to be involved in something that makes a difference, that brings things up, and it’s the work I do and what I make (not how I look or what I wear). Thanks to this little book, I asked myself this big question.

In the book, Brian and Bette talk about many reasons why art is out there and has been forever. Even though its use is not immediately utilitarian, it’s still quite essential for our everyday being. Eno argues that since art “can have a tremendous effect on the world”, it is considered as one of the means to navigate people in a particular direction by many notorious world dictators (speaking propaganda, or locking artists away).

What I specifically love about Eno’s understanding of how art is being done is the importance of the community, the support system of the artist. Like me, he resents the notion of the “genius artist” because, frankly speaking, that doesn’t really exist. Art makes community indeed, but it also comes from a community: the idea doesn’t just pop into your head; it is a result of your experience and interaction with others.

Art is a lot about shared experiences. That is why we react more to some artworks than others - and each one of us sees a different thing in them. That is why, to some scholars, art is not the object itself, but what happens between you and that object. This is why Brian and Bette stress the fact that “as artists we don’t finish it: we start it”. We send an idea out in the open and then the people, the community, nurture it (or kill it :). What is precious about that idea is that it gives us a sneak peek into an alternative reality, or a potential reality. For bell hooks, “art exists to consider what is possible - how else things could be - not just what is”. This really triggered me, because it was one of the main motivations for me to create “Our Future Is Somewhere Here”, and I am dying to create a space where people can imagine the future, talk about it, and consider the importance of their choices along the way.

My question (and Brian Eno & Bette A.’s) to you today is: