von einem Raum zum anderen (from one space to another), 2023, Kunstraum B, Kiel

“von einem Raum zum anderen” marks another step in the transformation of Kostova’s painting into space. We observe an installation where painterly fragments and objects now determine the space, leading it associatively and hinting at a reformulation. The starting point for the installation in Kunstraum B was the memory of a carpet from the artist’s Bulgarian homeland. We find quotations from it as blue stripes on the floor or as decorative appliqué in the form of rhombuses on the wall. The artist has noted that the carpet represents a typical element of interior design and that its decor often features simple geometric shapes, a phenomenon observable across cultures and time. The installation suggests further archetypal elements of domestic cultures, such as a shelf or a door, with possible associations with art history. With her deliberate and precise placement of individual works and minimalist painterly interventions in the space, Ana Kostova creates a space of tension and association between classic interior design and emancipated painterly objects. Through the reduced language of geometric basic forms and clearly defined monochromatic areas, the installation remains remarkably open, exploring communicative potentials with the most elemental means of painting. In this way, the artist examines to what extent a basic, geometric sign language can be transformed into a universal principle of communication in physical space.