Glagolitic Research Brings Ancient Script into Media Literacy Education

Mira Svilenova connects the ninth-century Glagolitic script to cross-cultural education and media literacy through a series of performative events.

TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, August 26, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Mira Svilenova presents a research-creation project connecting the ninth-century Glagolitic script with cross-cultural education and media literacy ahead of a September 9 exhibition at Bulgarian National Radio.

Bulgarian-Canadian artist and communication researcher Mira Svilenova presented her Glagolitic research-creation practice at the 9th Leadership Camp for International Education, held in August at the University of Toronto.

Hosted by the Colombian-Bulgarian organisation Alliance Bulgaria, founded by Dr Doris Dukova, whose membership spans 86 institutions across 16 countries, the camp brought together academics from ten universities to exchange cross-cultural pedagogical practices and curricula.

Svilenova’s presentation drew from her master’s research-creation project in the joint Communication and Culture program at York University and Toronto Metropolitan University. The project examines the ninth-century Glagolitic script as a communication technology and explores its application in cross-cultural education, media literacy and the critical evaluation of emerging technologies.

At the Leadership Camp, Svilenova presented creative and pedagogical components of the research, including a 3D-printed book, educational posters and a mirrored acrylic, laser-cut “Cube of Light” created in the Making and Media Creation Labs at York University. The works draw from digitised inscriptions in the Codex Zographensis, introducing Glagolitic forms into new material environments through experiential pedagogical tools.

Her next exhibition and presentation are scheduled to open in Sofia, Bulgaria, on September 9 at Bulgarian National Radio, in collaboration with the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad. The Radio’s children’s choir will perform live during the opening, adding an intergenerational, performative component to the exhibition’s focus on language, cultural memory, and media.

The “Cube of Light” was first exhibited during “with Glagolitsa Around the Earth” at Kaneff Tower, York University, in May 2026. During this phase of the research, Svilenova received artwork from 200 mixed-media artists through an open call for Glagolitic art, with contributions from Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, England, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Türkiye and the United States. These works will be presented in the upcoming exhibition.

“Through interpretations of the script and the Vita of its creator St. Cyril-Constantine, I believe Glagolitsa raises individual and collective awareness of the power of literacy and communication at a time when access to knowledge carried profound cultural and spiritual significance,” said Svilenova. “More than a thousand years later, we are again confronting technologies that are changing how knowledge is transmitted and how cultures and meaning are carried into the future. The difference is that the speed and reach of today’s media and communication technologies are unprecedented. I am interested in what emerges when we put those two moments into conversation.”

The research-creation project examines how historical and considered sacred communication practices and symbols can contribute to educational discussions in communication and media, visual arts, cultural studies and digital humanities, not as relics, but as forms that can acquire new meanings through contemporary media and artistic practice.

Svilenova’s research is now entering a new international phase. She is travelling to Bulgaria, Croatia and Hungary to present the work, meet with researchers and engage with institutions and cultural environments through which Glagolitic knowledge has been preserved and transmitted.

About Mira Svilenova

Mira Svilenova is a Bulgarian-Canadian artist, storyteller and communication researcher. Her mixed-reality exhibitions have been presented in Canada, Europe, the United States and the Middle East. Her master’s research-creation is conducted through the joint Communication and Culture program at York University and Toronto Metropolitan University and examines Glagolitsa through critical communication and media theory and artistic practice.

Mira Svilenova
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