The international jury of the 2026 Balkan Contemporary Art Prize has selected seven works for the finalist exhibition and award at the BUNA Forum for Contemporary Art in Varna, Bulgaria, 2–5 October 2026.
Following a nomination process spanning ten countries and involving a network of regional nominators, the jury reviewed 27 submitted works and reached the following shortlist:
Armando Lulaj — Albania
UNTITLED (Exhibition Display / Radio Desertion)
Installation, mixed media · 2023–2030
Krasimira Butseva — Bulgaria / United Kingdom
Cartography of Absence
Photography, video, sound, photobook · 2025
Robert Jasnkuloski & Monika Moteska — North Macedonia
Sharpening of Pain
Two-screen video installation · 2024
Biljana Djurdjevic — Serbia
PRESENT STATE project, three polyptychs
Oil on canvas · 2023–2026
Ivana Ivković — Serbia
THE BASE OF TRUST (MONUMENT OF TRUST)
Performance / Installation / Video · 2024
Mladen Miljanović (Bosnia and Herzegovina) – THE FINAL BATTLE
Film (as delegated performance)· 2025
Nika Autor — Slovenia
Ecologies of Solidarity — Newsreels of Tomorrow
Video installation · 2024–2025
The jury — Bénédicte Alliot, René Block, Milena Edvig, Snejana Krasteva, and Sanja Kojić Mladenov — noted the breadth and urgency of the submitted works: practices that engage with memory, political oppression, ecological crisis, migration, and the textures of everyday life under conditions of structural instability.
The shortlisted works will be exhibited at BUNA 4.0. The Prize — €3,000 — will be awarded at a public ceremony during the forum. The jury may additionally award honourable mentions.
