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From 2–5 October, Sofia is hosting the second edition of Sofia Art Fair (SAF) — an event that is quickly transforming Bulgaria’s capital into a meeting point for contemporary art. What began only last year is already emerging as the country’s largest contemporary art event, and one with ambitions far beyond the typical format of an art fair.

For its founders, SAF is not just about buying and selling art. It is conceived as a platform where culture, education, and international cooperation converge — a place to reimagine Sofia as a hub for global cultural dialogue. With 27 galleries from 12 countries and more than 80 artists participating, the fair is steadily positioning itself as a bridge between Eastern Europe and the wider art world.

As curator, art historian and co-organiser of SAF Radoslav Mehandzhiyski puts it:

“Sofia Art Fair is more than an event — it’s a statement that our region has both the talent and the vision to be part of the global art dialogue. We are building a platform where contemporary art is not peripheral, but essential to the cultural and economic future of Eastern Europe. In a world fragmented by crises and contradictions, art remains one of the last spaces where new meanings and shared futures can be imagined with freedom and responsibility.”

If the art fair is the heart of the event, SAF Talks is its voice. Held across an entire floor of the venue, the program brings together a striking line-up of museum directors, cultural strategists, collectors, and visionaries whose work is shaping the future of contemporary art across Europe.

Highlights this year include Timothée Verecchia, who has advised Apple, Sony, and the UN on anticipating cultural shifts, and Marc-Olivier Wahler, director of Geneva’s Museum of Art and History. They are joined by figures such as Eelco van der Lingen, director of the Mondriaan Fund in the Netherlands, and Bénédicte Alliot, general director of Paris’s Cité internationale des arts — voices that bring weight and perspective to Bulgaria’s growing cultural stage. The conversations extend beyond institutional expertise. The presence of Christopher Springham, a UK-based collector and specialist in green energy, signals a broader ambition: to link contemporary art with sustainability, investment, and the creative economy. 

By drawing in such diverse expertise — from curators and gallerists to lawyers, collectors, and entrepreneurs — SAF mirrors the complexity of today’s art world, where cultural value is inseparable from social, economic, and environmental realities.

For Sofia, the fair is also about visibility. In a region often overlooked in global cultural circuits, SAF is staking a claim: that Bulgaria has both the talent and the infrastructure to take part in the international dialogue. With every edition, the fair not only opens doors for local artists and institutions but also invites the world in.

This October, as visitors move between gallery booths and discussion halls, Sofia itself becomes part of the exhibition — a city imagining its future as a place where cultures meet, ideas flow, and art acts as a common language.

More information and the full program are available at www.sofiaartfair.art