Fragments is a long-term project that Ivan Moudov started right after graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia. The work consists of five boxes (suitcases) filled with fragments stolen from different artworks by contemporary artists, whom Ivan Moudov likes and admires. All these works were on display in important international museums and exhibitions. Moudov has made a point of stealing preferably easily replaceable elements of the works, insisting on the ready-made aspect of contemporary art as well as in an act of artist’s solidarity. Inside the boxes, the fragments are arranged as in a portable museum, in homage to Duchamp’s “boîte en valise”. Each suitcase contains between 30 and 40 fragments, which are numbered and listed in a separate sheet of paper (“map”) with the name of the original artist, the title of the work and a short description. Similar to the way holy relics were taken away and displayed in fragments, the act of stealing here elevates the fragment to the aura of the artwork itself. Fragments were also intended as a replacement for the lacking Museum of contemporary art in Bulgaria at the time. Fragments were the first and most controversial manifestation of Ivan Moudov’s interest in institutions and collecting. Some of the questions raised in this work could be traced in many other projects of the artist.
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