SOFT POWER (2025)
Series: Trade Beads
Materials: Coca-Cola bottles (Bulgarian socialist era), projectile fins, ammunition crate
These unusual Coca-Cola bottles, bearing Cyrillic inscriptions, evoke memories of the Cold War era—a time when the "hard power" of the West collided with the Iron Curtain, yet "soft power" found ways to slip through. A curious example of this is the entry of Coca-Cola into socialist Bulgaria in 1965. A brief thaw in geopolitical relations between the East and West created new opportunities - driven by a hunger for cooperation and exchange, Bulgaria became the first country in the Eastern Bloc to begin producing this most iconic American beverage.
© 2025 Constantine Zlatev
