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Kaloyan Kolev



Name Form Year
eink.cam
machine
2024

eink.cam is a lo-fi digital camera with an eInk display, kind of like a digital polaroid. I started eink.cam as my Computer Science thesis at Yale, and now continue to develop it from time to time.

β†’ eink.cam

eink.cam
Yugoslavia's Digital Twin
writing
2023

What happens when a country’s internet domain outlives the nation? An article on the history of .yu, the domain name for Yugoslavia, which outlived the country by two decades. The domain's fascinating afterlife and tragic death stir up questions about the historical significance and preservation of the internet that feel especially relevant today.

β†’ Read in Issue 9 of the The Dial

A stylized computer window giving an error message
Experimental Karaoke Balkanton
music
2023

A 2-hour desktop performance exploring experimental music from the back catalog of the former state-owned label of Bulgaria, Balkanton, from 1973-1992. Through screen recordings of Google searches, conversations with AI chatbots and music database crawls, I try to understand the place of these obscure records in the collective consciousness of the internet.

Made for the group exhibit OBRAZCOV DOM / EXEMPLARY HOME in Sofia, BG.

β†’ Video

A desktop screenshot showing the words Experimental Karaoke Balkanton written in Bulgarian
Hand-me-down Memories
machine
2023

A generative art installation consisting of a CRT TV and a video player that randomly scrubs through a compilation of Nu Pogodi episodes. Underneath the video are comments from friends, recounting their memories of watching the show when they were little.

In the early 2000s, across many ex-Eastern Bloc countries, Soviet cartoons had been completely replaced by Disney in mainstream media. However, shows like Nu Pogodi somehow remained a part of our childhood, passed down on bootleg DVDs from our parents.

Collaboration with Aylin.

β†’ Video

Nu Pogodi on a CRT TV
DAY Artists' Book
writing
2023

A collection of art, visual, and experimental works from Yale undergraduate designers and artists, featuring 74 works from 22 artists.

Made with friends from Design at Yale β™₯

DAY Artists Book
Nasam-natam
machine
2023

Nasam-natam (From Bulgarian - β€œTo and fro”) is a simulated family ecosystem, a smartphone surrounded by wildflowers. The phone runs a modded version of Viber, the de facto family group chat app in many Eastern European countries. On the app, β€œMama” sends a landscape photo from Bulgaria every 4 seconds.

installation - smartphone, modded Viber, family photos, wildflowers, nature field recordings

part of ART START 2023

Nasam-natam
100% πŸ‡§πŸ‡¬ BG ✨ NIGHTCORE ✨ DJ MIX
music
2023

Semi-ironic love letter to the Bulgarian pop music & internet dance subgenres I grew up with.

β†’ Video

Kaloyan pointing at the camera with a green screen background of Kaufland from the lost GTA San Andreas mod GTA Sofia
12 Things to Do with Your Essay After You Turn It In
writing
2023

A meditation on publishing and purpose in educational institutions. 20 page single-color risograph zine.

Words by me, design by Kevin.

Spread of 12 Things to do With Your Essay After You Turn It In
Let the Water Play
music
2023

Conceptual music album & site-specific installation for the bathroom of KO-OP gallery in Sofia.

β†’ More info
β†’ On Bandcamp
β†’ On YouTube

A photo of a toilet covered in pink light
Fish Talking About Music Distribution
visual
2023

Postcard set for Let The Water Play. Featuring quotes that inspired the installation and my views on music as a whole.

Designed & printed by Yana.
On sale at The Kopy Shop.

β†’ On Are.na

GIF slideshow of postcards from the set 'Fish Talking About Music Distribution'
System Symphony
music
2022

A series of four laptop performances using a custom SuperCollider synth controlled by the active processes on your computer.

Collaboration with Darwin.

β†’ On YouTube

Every Technical Problem Has a Technical Solution Video
Every Technical Problem Has a Technical Solution
visual
2022

Music video for Every Technical Problem Has a Technical Solution, the soundtrack I created for the experimental dance performance SHIFT.

Created by analyzing a recording of the dancers using the pose estimation model YOLOv7.

β†’ On YouTube

Every Technical Problem Has a Technical Solution Video
SHIFT
music
2022

Every Technical Problem Has a Technical Solution is the soundtrack for the experimental dance performance SHIFT - a story about the evolution of humanity and the search for eternal life. Inspired by cybernetics, Arca and 90s Bulgarian chalga.

β†’ Bandcamp
β†’ Spotify

Every Technical Problem Has a Technical Solution Cover
Gotin Link
writing
2022

An email newsletter about Bulgarian internet culture.

β†’ On Substack (in Bulgarian)
β†’ On Substack (in English)

Gotin Link
Drum/Drama Machine
machine
2021

The Drum/Drama Machine is a hybrid drum machine and drone generator.

β†’ Video demos

Drum/Drama Machine
Ramonia
music
2020

Ramonia is a 12-track plunderphonics concept album about Bulgaria, internet culture, nostalgia and the remnants of socialism. Recorded, produced, mixed & mastered by me in my bedroom throughout 2020. Featured in The Yale Herald, Capital and the albums of the year of the Bulgarian Music Association.

β†’ Bandcamp
β†’ Spotify

Ramonia
Missed Out on Oblivion
visual
2021

Music video from my album Ramonia. Created using 400 photographs from the Bulgarian Visual Archive. A blink-of-an-eye journey through the twentieth century.

β†’ On YouTube

Missed Out on Oblivion
Sample Pack Workshop
music
2021

Workshop for the Yale Open Music Initiative (OMI). Taught students the basics of recording and editing audio, and we created a collaborative royalty free sample pack.

β†’ Download the pack

Sample Pack Workshop Poster by chia.design
Kosmos?
visual
2021

Kosmos? is a generative art project exploring the legacy of the legendary Bulgarian popular science magazine.

Exhibited at KO-OP Sofia as a part of NO ARTIST CAN PREDICT THE FUTURE?

Kosmos
Kalo's Stem Player
machine
2021

Kalo’s Stem Player is a performable music player. It plays 4 parts of a song simultaneously, which you can turn on and off while they're looping.

Project for CPSC334 at Yale - Creative Embedded Systems. Inspired by the Yeezy/Kano/Teenage Engineering stem player (but with cute insect stickers!)

β†’ Video demo

Kalo's Stem Player
Reimagining the Bulgarian State Maturity Exam
writing
2019

Research published in the Bulgarian Journal of Science & Education Policy. Discusses the issues with the Bulgarian high school exit exam and proposes ways to make it better.

β†’ On Google Scholar

Reimagining the Bulgarian State Maturity Exam
Π’he 5 o'Clock
machine
2021

An electro-acoustic alarm clock that rings at the end of the work day.

β†’ Video demo

The 5 O'Clock
Bulgarian Disco Highlights
music
2019

A Spotify playlist and ongoing research project exploring forgotten Bulgarian disco songs from the extensive back catalog of the state label Balkanton.

β†’ On Spotify

Bulgarian Disco Highlights
Art Mirror
machine
2021

An interactive installation that offers a novel way to discover art by matching a user's pose to a portrait from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

β†’ Video demo

Art Mirror
Gospojata
machine
2018

A soapbox car I built with Tani, Georgi & Stoil.

Won first place at Red Bull Soapbox Sofia 2018. We were the youngest competitors and still in school, so we themed our car after a classroom desk :')

Soapbox
Bird and Box
visual
2014

I learned Cinema 4D when I was 13 because I really wanted to make Minecraft animations. This was my masterpiece.

β†’ On YouTube

Bird and Box
Lego Star Wars Christmas
visual
2011

I made this stop-motion animation when I was 11 and won a massive Star Wars ship from an official Lego contest.

β†’ On YouTube

Lego Star Wars



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