Vacations On Bulgarian Wabi-Sabi 🇧🇬

The subtle beauty of partially reconstructed residential buildings of Sofia.

When walking the streets of Sofia, you may often notice there is something odd quietly happening around. It’s more of a feeling at first, you can’t pinpoint what’s wrong.

As the eye adapts to the new surroundings you slowly begin to notice the state of the regular residential buildings in the city center. Some are obviously well-kept, while others might be abandoned. But the more peculiar ones lie in between. 

It’s not uncommon to encounter an unsightly grey house with a few walls built-up for insulation and repainted brightly. Or maybe it’s the whole building being refurbished except for one flat. Or, conversely, just one apartment in the whole house. 

I’m sure many people would find it bizarre. Like where is the government to watch out for facades? Why don’t the neighbors chip in on the reconstruction of the whole house? The thing is, there might be a dozen different reasons why. We simply don’t know. 

What I do know, there is a hidden beauty in all these irregularly patched houses. It somehow reminds me of the Japanese aesthetics of wabi-sabi, or to put it shortly, the acceptance and appreciation of imperfection. Yes, a partly refurbished building probably suggests that there are economical issues that need to be solved. Yet, the austerity, roughness, and randomness have created something completely different. Something that didn’t exist before. And this fact alone deserves recognition and gratitude.

There is another form of art first coined in Japan, which I find akin to the refurbishment technics of Sofia, and that is called Thomasson. The term came after the baseball player Gary Thomasson who set the record for pure performance after being transferred to the Japanese Nippon League. Japanese artist Akasegawa Genpei compared Thomasson to a work of art because of how he is simultaneously useless for his team but still kept with great care and even put on display. 

Akasegawa used the term to denote city objects that are no longer in use but still kept in perfect shape. Like a staircase that leads nowhere, or a shadow on the wall left by another building that’s no longer there. Unlike the partly patched houses of Sofia, taking care of useless objects is more of a privilege. Still, I find the visual effects created by the two man-made, yet completely random phenomenons quite congenial. Like a distant cousin from another part of the world who's just as special as you are. 

PS You can read more about Thomasson via this wonderful article by Sam Waller on Sabukaru Online.