Heritage Project – Plamen Dejanoff

Credo Bonum Gallery / 10.02.2026 – 29.03.2026

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.