Unframed Collection partners with NUMIX Lab, an itinerant European event that brings together immersive creation professionals in dialogue with cultural institutions across the continent. The 6th edition in 2025 brought together 459 participants from around the world across 16 venues in Budapest, Veszprém, Vienna, and Linz, fostering exchanges between Europe and North America around immersive cultural practices.
On this occasion, we met Gergana Mihova, curator at the National Gallery Sofia in Bulgaria. With the opening of a new immersive venue and the commissioning of several original works, the institution is embracing a clear ambition: to use immersive technologies not as an end in themselves, but as a tool for cultural transmission.
In this interview, Gergana Mihova discusses both the challenges and opportunities of this approach. She advocates for a vision in which immersion can make collections more accessible, bring Bulgarian artistic heritage to the forefront, and support the development of a local creative ecosystem.
“We are proud to invest in projects imagined, developed and produced by Bulgarian teams, offering audiences new ways to discover and engage with our artistic heritage.”
– Gergana Mihova
Several immersive projects are currently being developed for the National Gallery. Could you tell us more about them and what motivates the museum to invest in immersive formats?
Gergana Mihova – Our primary goal is to respond to the expectations of our audiences. Since the turn of the century, new technologies have been an integral part of our lives. We decided to open an immersive venue, to engage with younger visitors and make our content attractive to the mass public.
On November 10th, we inaugurated our first immersive exhibition dedicated to Zahari Zograf, one of Bulgaria’s most celebrated nineteenth-century artists. His portrait appears on the Bulgarian 100 lev banknote, and while many people recognize his name, they are often unfamiliar with his work. The exhibition was designed as a new gateway into his artistic legacy and, more broadly, into Bulgarian art history. Through this new immersive space, we hope to make our collections more accessible and spark the curiosity of visitors who might not otherwise step into a traditional museum setting.
Have your previous experiences in photography, contemporary art, and public art projects influenced your approach to immersive and digital initiatives?
G. M. – Absolutely. I have always been drawn to emerging artistic forms and new media. My background in contemporary art taught me the importance of experimenting with new languages and formats in order to engage audiences in meaningful ways.
I studied contemporary photography and I am currently pursuing a PhD in Art History. This combination of academic research and contemporary artistic practice now informs my interest in immersive technologies and their potential as tools for cultural mediation.
In your view, what opportunities do immersive and XR technologies offer to a fine arts institution such as the National Gallery, both in terms of artistic expression and audience engagement?
G. M. –I believe these technologies will play an increasingly important role in the museums of the future.
The National Gallery encompasses seven sites, employs around 150 people and holds a collection of nearly 50,000 works. As in many museums, only a fraction of this collection can be displayed at any given time.
Immersive technologies provide an opportunity to bring visibility to artworks that would otherwise remain in storage. They also allow us to develop more engaging forms of mediation and respond to the evolving expectations of contemporary audiences.
What technical, curatorial or organizational challenges have you encountered while integrating immersive formats into such a traditional institution?
G. M. – La Galerie Nationale avait déjà accueilli des expériences immersives par le passé, mais nous n’avions jamais disposé d’un espace spécifiquement conçu pour ce type de projet.
La situation est différente aujourd’hui puisque nous sommes à l’initiative des productions présentées. Cela implique de définir les sujets, de choisir les artistes et de construire une véritable vision curatoriale.
Pour cette première commande immersive, nous avons porté une attention particulière à la narration. Nous souhaitons proposer des expériences capables d’impliquer davantage les visiteurs, notamment les plus jeunes, en leur offrant des récits accessibles et engageants.
How do you envision the development of immersive practices within the National Gallery in the coming years? Are there specific directions or collaborations you would like to pursue?
G. M. –This new space represents an important milestone for our institution. For the first time, we have full control over the development and presentation of immersive projects.
Our priority is to showcase Bulgarian artists and collections. We plan to create films and immersive experiences of around twenty minutes that offer audiences new ways to encounter and understand our cultural heritage.
We are particularly proud to be developing these projects with Bulgarian teams. It is important to us that these works are imagined, designed and produced locally, contributing to the growth of the country’s creative ecosystem while offering new perspectives on Bulgarian art.
Discover more interviews with curators and programmers on our blog.