COMFORT ZONE
Elitsa Baramova - Baramó
(artist and curator)
Conceptual space DOM, October 2026, Sofia

The exhibition brings together painting, objects, conceptual texts created over the last three years, and a retrospective film program comprising the short documentary ‘Sediment Process – The Visual Language of El. Baramó’ and the short art film ‘Shared Spaces’. "Comfort Zone" marks the 7th phase in the artist’s long-term project ‘Sediment Process".

Core Concept
The project examines the comfort zone through the lens of negative liberty and explores the act of leaving a familiar space of security across philosophical, existential, and psychological dimensions. It proposes an "expansion" of the comfort zone as a conscious experiment that balances the instinct for self-preservation, the courage of introspection, and the pursuit of authentic freedom. Within this spatial and mental laboratory, the chaos of existence organizes itself into layers—much like books placed on a table that is not there.
 

Before the comfort zone became a boundary, it was a horizon.
To step beyond a place, you must first have inhabited it.
 

The comfort zone (CZ) is a state of serenity in which one neither looks deeply inward nor feels the need to prove oneself. There, one may escape vanity; the laurels of the past can remain on their shelves. It is a sheltered zone, suspended between introversion and extroversion, in which stress and anxiety temporarily recede. Yet, if we fail to expand its boundaries, routine inevitably creeps into the CZ itself—a form of static sedimentation that gradually closes off the horizon. The CZ presupposes a certain accumulation of experience and self-knowledge: you cannot leave a place you have never inhabited or for which you have no "visa." An ethical compass becomes essential in this journey, helping us choose the vector of our movement. Stepping beyond the CZ stems from a desire for self-reflection and an attempt to quiet the fear of the unknown. This is contemplation in motion—an ethical exercise in being part of the chaos without becoming noise.
 

"Self-confession, introspection. The ocean within me. A wave. A storm in a teacup."
(text by the artist for the composition "Froth on the Daydream," dedicated to Boris Vian and Michel Gondry)
 

       You take a step. You leave the CZ and realize what you are capable of. But how can one leave the CZ without experiencing the "cold shower" that so often accompanies the encounter with the unknown?
In search of an answer, the idea of "expanding the CZ" emerged—an experiment with an anchor. This anchor keeps us tied to safety while we engage in exercises in dreaming and personal growth. Yet the anchor may snap, allowing turbulence to carry us into a threshold zone of self-knowledge where atavistic instincts are activated. A perceived threat to survival activates the self-preservation instinct and may trigger panic. Under these circumstances, composure, self-control, and a playful attitude become achievements in themselves: as the zone of discomfort contracts, the CZ expands in inverse proportion.
       Returning to nature is conceived as a shared comfort zone that contains the possibility of its own transgression: it is simultaneously an entrance and an exit. This also introduces an ecological dimension to the project, reflected in the object Growth Rings on a Page. Communing with the forces of nature is simultaneously a refuge and a departure from routine—an experience in which security can give way to a direct trial of survival.
       The introduction of multiple viewpoints in certain compositions places the viewer before several horizons at once. This visual and conceptual shift explores how subjective experience becomes objectified—each viewpoint becomes one facet through which the whole is perceived, breaking the monolithic frame of the self. Here, the viewer is simultaneously an observer and a deferred memory, while each artwork is at once a discovery and a trace, a question and an answer that refuses to be final.
       The loss of a freedom we normally take for granted represents another way of being forced out of the CZ—one that lies beyond personal choice. It marks an intersection between individual consciousness and a transcendent framework of security. A key aspect of the project focuses on this intersection, drawing on the classic distinction between negative and positive liberty (after Isaiah Berlin¹ and Charles Taylor²).
Within this framework, negative liberty can be understood as an opportunity concept—freedom "from" external constraints, physical barriers, prohibitions, and institutional pressure. It parallels the protective shell of the comfort zone and is illustrated by the metaphor of the "unlocked door". In terms of negative liberty, it is enough that the door before you remain unlocked. No one stops you from walking through it, regardless of whether you possess the resources, capacity, or courage to cross the threshold. Freedom here is defined by the absence of external obstruction, yet it may remain unexercised.
By contrast, positive liberty can be understood as an exercise concept—freedom "to": autonomy, self-preservation, and authentic self-realization. It is the dynamic transition itself: the moment one crosses the boundary, driven by an inner impulse for self-determination rather than by atavistic impulses, dependencies, or external authorities. In this sense, positive liberty turns personal choice into action, converting the uncertainty of the unknown into creative spatial movement.

       This concept, however, carries its own risks. Berlin warns that the idea of positive liberty can be distorted into a justification for coercion when an external authority claims to know the individual’s "true self" better than the individual does. Taylor complements this analysis by pointing out that one may face no external obstacles before the unlocked door yet remain trapped by internal obstacles—neurotic fear, false consciousness, or blind imitation. Hence, following an ethical compass and pursuing authenticity require deep self-reflection and an awareness of which pursuits are genuinely ours and which are merely conditioned by our environment.
In this critical state, when external security cracks and inner freedom becomes a matter of choice, absurdity can become a gateway to renewed contemplation. To slow down becomes an act of resistance against the velocity of the world, while empathy emerges as a radical form of social action.

       The final boundary of this journey, however, lies beyond the physical and the social. Conceptually, the project eventually reaches the most immediate boundary of the self—the flesh, the body as the primary and final "comfort zone". The body is the first refuge we inhabit in self-awareness, but also our first limitation: our most immediate form of security and, at the same time, our most fragile boundary. At this extreme, leaving the body becomes the ultimate paradox: a loss of control and a final process of dissolution. Yet this dissolution is imagined as merging into the absolute comfort of another state of being, where boundaries finally fall away. When the physical shell ceases to serve as an anchor, the need for protection vanishes. The very moment of transition turns into a suspended pulsation—a moment in which nothing is certain, yet everything is possible. Within the logic of the work, leaving the body ceases to appear as catastrophe and becomes an ontological transition—a passage from the condensed "Self" to the originless ocean of being.
Thus, stepping beyond the familiar ceases to signify loss and becomes a restoration of wholeness. Breaking the shell does not destroy its contents; it allows them to breathe. Every time we expand our boundaries—through art, through self-reflection, or by accepting impermanence and the cycle of life—we do not merely survive in the unknown, but transform existential uncertainty into a space of creation. The expanded horizon is a return home—not to the same point, but to a higher turn of the spiral.

Visual Language: "Sediment Process"
The aesthetic identity of the exhibition is grounded in Baramó’s signature approach—Sediment Process. Refined over the years, this visual concept operates as a distinct language with a specific syntax grounded in mathematical logic and linear perspective. Through painterly cross-sections, it creates a sense of kinetic movement. It aims to convey movement in space and within the body itself, even when at rest. Alongside pictorial expression, the verbal articulation of the image opens the work to multiple modes of perception without functioning as explanation. This interplay has become a recurring practice within the long-term project.
The sculptural, bas-relief quality of the imagery created through the Sediment Process approach is intentional. Monolithic stone serves as the central image for the "beginning" of every human life, evoking human existence as a "slow stone sculpture in progress, shaped by choice and by the interplay of human and divine will." Its conceptual foundation lies in the artist’s notion of the "aesthetics of slow motion"—a space for tolerance, understanding, and contemplation beyond the ego.
Across a series of thematic exhibitions over the years, the project has explored different aspects of existence, developed philosophical reflections on the freedom of human will and its limits, considered the place of enduring values in the contemporary world, and examined the selective nature of memory, the subjectivity of perception, and the surrounding "landscape."
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¹ Sir Isaiah Berlin (1909–1997) — British philosopher and historian of ideas. In his landmark essay Two Concepts of Liberty (1958), he articulated the classic distinction between negative liberty (the absence of external obstacles, interference, or coercion) and positive liberty (the ability to be one's own master, to self-determine, and to realize one's potential).
² Charles Taylor (b. 1931) — Canadian philosopher whose work critically engages with liberal theories of freedom. In response to Berlin, he argued that freedom is not merely an open door (opportunity), but an "exercise concept"—to be truly free, one must actively realize authentic goals through self-knowledge and overcoming internal obstacles.
* Phases of the long-term project Sediment Process ( the artist plans the direction and long-term development of her experiments in advance. The thematic exhibitions within the "Sediment Process" project and the art film are sub-projects listed chronologically below):
•    2018: "The Architect" – exploring the freedom of human will and its limits in relation to the plans of the Great Architect – the Creator ( [a] cube contemporary gallery, Sofia).
•    2020: "Shared Spaces" – art film translating the sense of movement created through painting into actual motion and the cadence of cinematic language.
•    2021: "Remaining and Passing Landscapes" – the theme of the subjectivity of perception and the surrounding "landscape" ([a] cube contemporary gallery, Sofia, and the Bulgarian Cultural Institute, Budapest); catalog Baramó painting (2021) reflects part of these projects (graphic design and compilation by the artist).
•    2022: "Guardian Angels" – the expansion of consciousness as formlessness and fear recede ([a] cube contemporary gallery, Sofia).
•    2023: "Vertex" – the theme of striving toward the fullest realization of the Self, transcendent thinking, the intersection between the earthly and the divine, innovation and continuity (Rakursi Gallery, Sofia).
•    2024: "Sediment Process – The Visual Language of El. Baramó" – short documentary.
•    2026: "Almost a Landscape, Time in Action" – develops the theme of transforming the moment into infinity, transforming the transience of sunrise and sunset into an enduring experience of light in motion. It immerses the viewer directly into the movement of nature, where the boundaries between observer, object, and space dissolve ([a] cube contemporary gallery, Sofia).
 

curatorial statement