Uneven Balance – Maria Kefirova

Toplocentrala / 30.04.2026 – 31.05.2026

"I work with dance, sound, movement, video, text, and objects. ... My projects create contexts for the reversibility of what we perceive as far, close and limit; center or periphery; a context for the unfolding of a ‘living’ space that composes with asymmetries of presence and attention. ... I am interested in redirecting, reordering, turning around, turning inside out, dislocating and juxtaposing in order to expose the gaps where change of perception, presence, and knowing are produced and new awareness can open." Maria Kefirova Maria Kefirova has developed her practice as a choreographer and performer across Europe and North America. She has created her own artistic system within contemporary dance and performance, combining movement, image, sound, signs, and objects. Her approach includes free association, poetic language, a subtle sense of humor, and (self-)irony. The exhibition presents her artistic system in an expanded context outside the stage, yet in direct relation to it. It brings attention to those layers of her work that usually unfold in process rather than in performance, shaping her artistic language visually, sensorially, and conceptually. The exhibition includes video works, visual studies and reflections, series of drawings and objects, as well as recordings of selected performances. It does not follow a linear structure, but unfolds as an open system. Kefirova’s creative process is presented as an uneven balance between presence and absence, between different modes of perception, between sound, image, and bodily gesture. The viewer moves through fragments of time and movement, perspectives, and states of attention. The exhibition is part of the program of Cube Gallery, which presents leading contemporary artists and places particular emphasis on practitioners from the fields of dance and theatre—choreographers, scenographers, and others whose work develops interdisciplinary aesthetics. This curatorial focus highlights complex artistic languages formed at the intersection of different genres and expressive means, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of contemporary art. About the artist Maria Kefirova (1975–2025) is a choreographer and performer, born in Sofia and based in Montreal, Canada. Since the early 1990s, she has developed her practice between Europe and North America. She began her career as a performer, collaborating with a number of international choreographers and companies, before focusing on her own projects. Her work spans stage productions, video, text, and installation formats, understood as part of an expanded field of choreography. Kefirova is a graduate of DasArts (Amsterdam School of the Arts), where she developed her research-based approach to movement and composition. Her work has been presented at international festivals and platforms across Europe, Canada, and Mexico.