Berlin-Sofia

“Art is asking questions without judging” – these words are part of the Urban Nation’s manifesto, the world's first museum entirely devoted to urban contemporary art and also a space that ''will never ask for your passport but always for your message." It is located in a city whose cultural identity is inextricably linked to street art - Berlin.

An exhibition in Berlin not only shows the history of the football clubs of the city, but also how it interacts with the political situation in Germany over the decades.

It was a debut for the weekly Bulgarian newspaper Capital as well as for the Berlin taz. The paper – more precisely, the arts department – housed me for one month in its offices in Sofia. In return, Capital journalist Svetoslav Todorov took my chair at the foreign desk for the same time period.

Bulgaria’s first officially registered vegan organisation advertises with sensational campaigns. Every two months, when the weather allows, dinner is served on Vitosha Boulevard in the centre of the Bulgarian capital of Sofia: On a table lies a human surrounded by vegetables. 

Bulgaria is still EU’s poorest and most corrupt Member State. When the Bulgarian political scientist Ivan Krastev recently presented his essay “Sled Evropa” (“After Europe” in English) in Sofia, he filled the auditorium. 

Politicians and oligarchs are putting the pressure on journalists in Bulgaria. The country is at the bottom of the Reporters Without Borders list for the EU.

Bulgaria will take over the EU Council Presidency in 2018, yet in smaller and larger niches, patriotism is blossoming.