Plamen Dejanoff

The Bronze House

June 18, 2011 – January 1, 2012

Venue: HafenCity Hamburg



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 From 18 June 2011, the Bulgarian artist Plamen Dejanoff (* 1970,  
lives in Vienna) will be realising the bronze sculpture “The Bronze  
House” in the Hafencity Hamburg between Hamburg Cruise Center and  
Unilever Building. He is showing some 150 elements that compose an  
open pavilion of 40 qm and appr. 4 m high.
“The Bronze House” will hence be a new, temporary building. The  
(still) empty envelope points to the function of architecture, but  
also to a relationship between inside and outside, to space and its  
use. It also provides a frame for the Kunstverein for targeted,  
smaller projects and events, and thus serve here, too, as a platform  
for cultural activities.

For many years, Dejanoff has been planning and developing “The Bronze  
House” for his home town in Bulgaria, Veliko Tarnovo. They are being  
arduously constructed by hand in separate elements, so that since 2006  
progress on the first of five planned building sculptures, which will  
in total cover 600 square metres, has been advancing in various stages  
of production and in cooperation with various exhibition venues. This  
“Bronze House” is composed of some 4,000 elements. Each is made of  
bronze: doors, façade elements, floor and wall elements, as well as  
stairs and the junction pieces that hold the entire structure  
together. Each element of the “Bronze House” is hence a bronze  
sculpture in its own right, contributing with a multitude of other  
parts to form a house sculpture.

Each of the five walk-in sculptures to be produced will have a  
different function. Ultimately, Dejanoff envisages an artists' colony  
like the Chinati Foundation initiated by Donald Judd in Marfa. Judd  
established his settlement on the periphery of the art world in the  
Texan province, where it has come to play a major role in the region.

In Veliko Tarnovo Dejanoff has similarly chosen a city that, although  
of great regional and historical importance as a World Heritage Site,  
has little to offer in the way of contemporary art and culture.

With the five planned “Bronze Houses,” Dejanoff will be creating a  
special domain in Veliko Tarnovo for societal, artistic, and cultural  
activities, which, given the lack of infrastructure in the past, are  
likely to be unaccustomed.

On a sort of marketing tour in Hamburg "The Bronze House” is a highly  
impressive sight that leaves open certain questions, for example about  
ideological spaces, who will occupy them, for what purpose, and to  
whose benefit. An answer can presumable be given only when complete  
project has been realised and come into its own in Veliko Tarnovo.

The initiative “Art and Culture in the HafenCity” is a cooperation  
by:  Hamburgische Kulturstiftung, HafenCity Hamburg GmbH and Körber- 
Stiftung.

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Further information and printable images under: www.kunstverein.de/presse
User name: media, Password: kvhh

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Upcoming:
Henning Bohl and Charley Harper at Kunstverein Hamburg
June 25 - September 11, 2011


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Der Kunstverein, seit 1817.
Beate Anspach
Presse und Öffentlichkeit
Klosterwall 23
20095 Hamburg
Tel. +49(0)40 32 21 58
Fax +49(0)40 32 21 59
www.kunstverein.de