PLAMEN DEJANOFF

28 April - 2 June 2007

Plamen Dejanoff's work focuses on the role of the artist in today's market-driven, consumerist society.

With "Planets of Comparison," he is presently developing an ambitious project to create an artistic microcosm by gathering together various protagonists (young artists, young curators, art collectors, publishers and the museum itself) in Veliko Tarnovo, a Bulgarian town somewhat remote from the international arts scene. To this end, he intends to make a house or other venue available to each of the seven partners in this project so that they may transfer some of their activity to this new location. In the framework of this project, Dejanoff will take on the role of artist, architect, designer, manager, curator, and art collector in turn.

The centerpiece of the exhibition by Jan Winkelmann / Berlin is a space-filling, walk-through sculpture. It was developed by Plamen Dejanoff in cooperation with the Viennese architects Hubmann/Vass and represents the façade of a projected exhibition center in the form of a modular lattice structure made from bronze.

The design of the bronze elements incorporates local traditions from wooden boarding, shelves, and lattice works from the artist's hometown and converts these into an urban standard. The lattice structure diversifies the classical architectural theme of decorum and renders it in the context of contemporary art and architecture. At the same time the bronze modules expose their character as a cover for the building: a property which can be understood as the question of the façade as a veil for the building that was discussed as early as the 1800s by Gottfried Semper among others. Modernism rejected the idea of envelopment as a concealment.

Apart from this undertaking, which represents prelude to the aforementioned project in Veliko Tarnovo, other sculptures will be on display that the artist understands to be material and form studies for the interior arrangement of the exhibition center.

Opening hours: Tue-Sat, 11 am - 6 pm

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