AUTOMATIC GALLERY
AUTOMATIC MYSTERY BOX
A vending machine for things you didn't know you needed.
Automatic Mystery Box transforms the logic of the vending machine into an artistic system of distribution. For €5 in coins, the machine gives you a small object — an artwork, a fragment, an idea, or a surprise.
The first project is SOMETIMES YOU NEED SOMETHING by SubHuman Theatre: a series of 30 wooden “boxes” designed to resemble cigarette packs and their warning labels. Instead of warnings about the harmful effects of smoking, they carry fragments of thoughts, questions, criticism, and absurdity.
But this is only the beginning.
Mystery Box is conceived as an open platform for small works by different artists. New series, new objects, new messages — a machine that will gradually fill with different forms of artistic curiosity.
You don't choose the artwork.
The machine chooses for you.€5 — coins only.
INSERT CURIOSITY.
Venelin Shurelov (b. 1977, Bulgaria) is a visual artist, scenographer, researcher, and Professor at the National Academy of Art, Sofia.
He holds a PhD in Scenography (2009) from the National Academy of Art. He is co-founder and Professor of the MA programme Digital Arts (2008–), co-founder, curator and technical director of DA Fest – International Digital Art Festival (2009–), and co-founder of DA LAB Foundation (2018–). Founder of Automatic Gallery (2025–). He founded SubHuman Theatre (2004–) and was a member of the international art collective Via Pontica (2002–2005).
His artistic practice spans interactive installation, performance, kinetic sculpture, digital media, and scenography. Selected works include Drawing Machine (2005), Fantomat (2008), Orthoman (2009), Tabula Rasa (2010), Man Ex Machina (2011), Shooting Gallery (2012), Rotor (2016), presented at Ars Electronica Center, Linz, Post-Everything (Towson University, USA, 2016), and One Person – Urban Electronic Corpus (2020).
His work investigates the relationships between human and technological systems, automation, performativity, and contemporary mythologies. Combining physical objects, algorithmic processes, interactive environments, and speculative narratives, his projects explore the shifting boundaries between the human, the technological, and the institutional.
Shurelov has presented numerous solo exhibitions, performances, stage designs, and collaborative projects across Europe and the United States. His work has received multiple awards in both contemporary art and theatre.
He lives and works in Sofia, Bulgaria.