PLAMEN DEJANOFF – HERITAGE PROJECT | CREDO BONUM FOUNDATION, SOFIA, 02.11.26 – 03.29.26

Seven years after unveiling The Bronze House in the center of Sofia, Bulgarian-Austrian artist Plamen Dejanoff returns to Bulgaria with the exhibition Heritage Project.

Heritage Project was first presented in 2024 at Kunsthaus Graz, Austria, and now arrives in a new version at Credo Bonum Gallery, inviting reflection on the need to learn from the past by tracing paths through the layers of collective cultural experience. As its title suggests, Heritage Project is dedicated to cultural heritage as a supreme value and a shared good—one that calls for responsibility and care.

For the artist, his hometown of Veliko Tarnovo and the nearby village of Arbanasi, from which his family originates, become a field for in-depth research. Dejanoff employs the means of classical sculpture, knowledge of craft traditions, and restoration processes, while also researching, collecting, exhibiting, and promoting cultural artifacts around which he builds a sustainable cultural context.

At the center of Heritage Project stands a specific object: a large wrought-iron entrance gate produced by an Austro-Hungarian company in 1830, installed at the entrance of the Tarnovo Synod in the mid-19th century, and damaged during the earthquake of 1913. The gate becomes an image of the cultural movements and influences that inevitably accompany human development.

Richly decorated and restored step by step to its original appearance, the gate is the subject of Dejanoff’s extensive research, involving various specialists. The artist himself acquires traditional craft skills, confronting firsthand the challenges posed by different materials. In close collaboration with specialized master craftsmen from the workshops of the Austrian Federal Monuments Authority, a process unfolds between functionality, restoration, and artistic freedom. The final result is both an object of cultural heritage and an autonomous work of art.

Plamen Dejanoff was born in Veliko Tarnovo and has lived and worked in Vienna for more than 30 years. He studied at art academies in Sofia, New York, Vienna, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Stockholm. He is known for his research into craft and industrial objects, as well as various forms of consumption, commodities, and design.
In 2010, Plamen Dejanoff and Bernhard Heinz (lawyer and collector) founded a foundation whose mission is the cultural revitalization of Veliko Tarnovo, the affirmation of contemporary art within public perception in Bulgaria, and the realization of specific projects such as Heritage Project. The foundation operates within artistic contexts and is supported by numerous institutions and private individuals.

Project BG-RRP-11-016-0045 “Cultural Heritage” is funded under Component 11 “Social Inclusion”, Investment 6 “Development of the Cultural and Creative Sectors”, through the procedure of the Information System for the Recovery and Resilience Facility BG-RRP-11.016 “Grant Scheme for the Presentation of Contemporary European Productions from the Cultural and Creative Industries Sector to Bulgarian Audiences”, as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Text © Credo Bonum Foundation

On occasion of the exhibition and in collaboration with the show’s curator Stephan Stoyanov, Pinksummer organizes a private view with works from the Heritage Project series presented by Pinksummer in 2024 and on view by appointment at Art Agency Ltd, Sofia, from February 10th, 2026 and throughout the entire exhibition.

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PLAMEN DEJANOFF – HERITAGE PROJECT | PRIVATE VIEW, ART AGENCY LTD, SOFIA, 02.10.26 – 04.26.26

On occasion of Plamen Dejanoff’s solo show at Credo Bonum Foundation and in collaboration with the exhibitions’s curator Stephan Stoyanov, Pinksummer organizes a private view with works from the Heritage Project series presented by Pinksummer in 2024 and on view by appointment at Art Agency Ltd, Sofia, from February 10th, 2026 and throughout the entire exhibition.

Press release

«The communist party in Bulgaria began building highly specialized high schools in the 1970s in order to better promote the talents of the youth.

There were high schools with a focus on mathematics… with a focus on languages… those with a focus on music… fine arts… and sports.

When I was 12 years old I was chosen (without being asked) for the sports high school in Tarnovo.
My dream was actually to become an artist but someone decided that I definitely belong in the sports high school. In the sports high school in Tarnovo we had at least six-seven hours of sport every day (six days a week), plus a bit of a few other subjects.

After a lot of effort on the part of my parents, I was able to leave the sports high school a year later and went to an art boarding school where I received six or seven hours of lessons in art architecture & design every day (six days a week for five years).

However, my friends from the sports high school in Tarnovo (including my “idol” Trifon Ivanov) developed well and in the 1990s, 7 out of 11 Bulgarian national football players were from this high school. 6 of the players who won bronze medals for Bulgaria at this world championship 1994 in USA were from my high school in Tarnovo!»

This episode marks the beginning of the Trifon Ivanov collection by Plamen Dejanoff, through which the artist gradually constructed an extensive body of works—almost a museum in itself—comprising photographs, stickers, and publications. The porcelain artworks, produced by the artist in collaboration with Augarten Wien, founded in 1718, are hybrid sculptures positioned halfway between soup tureens and football trophies.

«At the end of the 1990s, the education system in Bulgaria totally collapsed and one specialized high school after another was closed.The legendary sports high school in Tarnovo was also closed and brutally converted into a tourism school 5 years ago. As part of the Heritage Project, I was able to save part of the building (which was not needed) from destruction. With a lot of effort I dismantled part of the sports high school in Tarnovo with the idea of including this part of the building to Heritage Project».

Plamen Dejanoff began an in-depth research into craftsmanship to investigate European cultural heritage, focusing on both a sense of responsibility and national identity. Drawing on architectural, artistic, and craft knowledge, his artworks function as sculptural and architectural quotations that tell stories about their origins and the aesthetic qualities of traditional craftsmanship.

In collaboration with the BDA (Bundesdenkmalamt) Vienna, a conservation authority in which artisans and restorers supported the artist, Dejanoff produced a series of small sculptures referring to historical architectural elements. These works are made in iron and finished using medieval techniques, including oil painting with malachite and azurite pigments crushed and mixed with linseed oil.

The glass paintings are handmade and were produced in collaboration with Lamberts, the only company in Europe that still manufactures hand-blown glass, in operation since 1934. The chandelier is a reproduction composed of approximately 150 pieces and is based on an original chandelier from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Plamen Dejanoff’s private view in collaboration with Stephan Stoyanov will be on view on appointment from February 10th, 2026 and throughout the entire exhibition at Art Agency Ltd (Blvd. Bulgaria 58, Entrance C, Suite 16, 1680, Sofia, Bulgaria).

Visit the artist’s page

Visit the exhibition’s page