Georges Luks was awarded the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the National Academy of Art
2026.10.21
On 20 October 2026, a formal ceremony was held at the Academia Gallery to confer the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the National Academy of Art upon the Swiss curator, art critic, and visual arts researcher Georges Luks. The event brought together members of the Academic Council and the Chair of the Board of Trustees, Mr Krassimir Dachev, of the National Academy of Art, the Ambassador of the Swiss Confederation to Bulgaria, H.E. Pierre Hagmann, the Mayor of the Oborishte Region (Municipality of Sofia), Mr Georgi Kuzmov, faculty, students, and guests. During the official proceedings, the Rector of the National Academy of Art, Prof. Georgi Iankov, presented Georges Luks with the academic regalia–a collar and a certificate.
The conferment of this honorary title serves as recognition of Georges Luks’s contribution to the promotion of Bulgarian artinternationally, his long-standing engagement with our cultural community, and his support for academic exchange between Bulgaria and Switzerland. Georges Luks’s professional career has been enduringly linked to Bulgaria, where he lived and worked for nearly a decade, engaging directly with artists in their studios. Among his key projects in the country are his roles as commissioner and curator of the Bulgarian Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011, featuring the exhibition Connection of Generations, as well as the traveling photographic exhibition Stars in Venice. This year, the partnership with the Academy continues actively: the National Academy of Art is being showcased at the PhotoSchweiz exhibition in Zurich, including a panel dedicated to the institution’s 130th anniversary and an accompanying exhibition by Photography MA graduates–while Georges Luks is participating in the jubilee academic conference in Burgas with a presentation titled "From Artist to Mediator: Art Academies Between Tradition and Contemporary Communication."
Georges Luks shared that he accepts the title with a sense of deep gratitude and a clear sense of responsibility. He recalled his encounters with Bulgarian artists:
"I remember the artists who showed me not only their works but also their way of viewing the world–earnest, generous, often full of humour, and never superficial. Much of what I understand about art today, I have learned precisely in those studios."
Turning his attention to the Academy and its 130-year history, he noted:
"When I think of this Academy, I do not first imagine the building or the history recorded in books. I think of the faculty who, day after day, preserve this legacy, reinterpret it, and pass it on; and of the generations of students who do not merely receive it, but actively build upon it, carrying the Academy’s name far beyond the borders of Bulgaria. An academy is never a finished project; each generation defines it anew."
In closing, Georges Luks remarked that, for him, this honour is not a finish line or the final signature on a completed work, but rather a fresh starting point–a blank page–from which he can further deepen his ties and dialogue with Bulgarian art and the Academy.