Viktor Petrov

Viktor Petrov (b. 1991, Pleven, Bulgaria) is a Berlin-based visual artist working with sculpture and installation. He studied at Burg Giebichenstein Halle and the University of the Arts Berlin under Prof. Monica Bonvicini.

His work has been shown internationally, including exhibitions at the Institute for Contemporary Art, Sofia, and gallery PUNTA (Sofia, BG), gallery Tempesta (Milano, IT), gallery NADAN and gallery Burster (Berlin, DE), DOCK20 (Lustenau, AT), and Governors Island (New York, USA). He is a recipient of the YVAA Award, the UdK Art Prize, and the Ursula Hanke-Förster Prize, and has received grants from Deutsche Bank, the Karl Hofer Gesellschaft, and the Stiftung Kunstfonds. He is a co-author of a permanent art installation for the UNESCO World Heritage Site Naumburger Dom and a member of frontviews collective.

Petrov's work brings together the social, architectural, and political body in a dialogue around systems of structural violence. By combining mass-produced objects and handcrafted pieces, he seeks to simultaneously mimic and rearrange the visual syntax of patriarchal and economic power structures. Informed by his experience of growing up in post-communist Bulgaria, he explores themes such as labor, democracy, and patriarchal authorities. Architecture plays a key role in his practice -not only as a discipline concerned with constructing physical and virtual spaces, but also as a tool for reinforcing ideologies.

Viktor Petrov

Walled-Up, 2023.

Installation

Details

  • Photographer: Viktor Petrov
  • Material: rebar steel & steel wire (powder coated), porcelain plates, penis ring, sink plugs, steel, steel chain
  • Sizes: variable dimensions
  • Property of: Viktor Petrov
  • Description: „Walled-Up“ refers to one of the most famous ballads from the Bulgarian folklore („Вградена невеста“). It tells of the ritual sacrifice of the wife of a master builder, who hopes that this will save his construction project from collapsing. Under the pretext of having lost his wedding ring in its foundation, he lures his wife down there, only to wall her up alive. This motif is classified in folklore as a construction sacrifice and to this day occupies an important place in Balkan cultural mythology.
    The main pieces of the series resemble two of the most common building types from the ballad - the church and the bridge. They are constructed from 600 meters of rebar steel, bent and tied together in the shape of oversized dish racks. Handmade plumb bobs fitted into sink plugs hang aside loosely from the ceiling.
    „Walled-Up“ combines and aestheticizes objects and materials from housework and architecture. The work takes a critical look at the original legend and re-narrates it in the context of sexuality, gender, and division of labor in contemporary patriarchal societies.
  • Copyright: Viktor Petrov
  • References: https://tinyurl.com/4k4nbye7

Viktor Petrov

Two One-Man-Ram, 2025.

Sculpture

Details

Viktor Petrov

Lunchbox, 2025.

Sculpture

Details

  • Photographer: Viktor Petrov
  • Material: stainless steel, rubber cord, glass-ceramics
  • Width: 50.00 cm    Height: 80.00 cm    Depth: 200.00 cm   
  • Property of: Viktor Petrov
  • Description: Installation View:
    "Don´t feed the fetish"
    NADAN gallery, Berlin (DE)
  • Copyright: Viktor Petrov
  • References: https://nadan.org/don't-feed-the-fetish

Viktor Petrov

Gazing at the Glazing, 2021.

Sculpture

Details

  • Photographer: Billie Clarken
  • Material: riot shields (polycarbonate), stainless steel fittings, stainless steel ropes
  • Sizes: variable dimensions
  • Property of: Viktor Petrov
  • Description: The installation „Gazing at the Glazing“ consists of 54 riot shields, as used worldwide for crowd control by police authorities. Cross-shaped stainless steel fittings, bound together by stainless steel cables, connect the individual shields to form a monumental facade fragment. Due to its own weight, the plane construction seems to unfold and yet is about to collapse.
    „Gazing at the Glazing“ plays with different interpretations of transparency. On the one hand, the installation refers to the material transparency of riot shields which underlies their tactical use. On the other hand, it thus also addresses transparency as anorganizational form of political governance. The point-fitted construction is inspired by the first curtain wall that was part of the architectural projects Grande Nation in Paris. The construction of glass façades has since become an integral part of the vocabulary of democratic representation, a symbol of liberal values such as visibility, participation, and openness.
    In Petrov‘s installation, however, these representational clichés are suspended, lacking stability and protection. The boundary between inside and outside, inherent to architecture, seems to dissolve and transform into a hybrid structure that oscillates between sculpture and architecture.
  • Copyright: Viktor Petrov
  • References: https://www.udk-berlin.de/en/university/marketing-university-events/university-events/udk-berlin-the-presidents-fine-arts-award/translate-to-english-die-nominierten-des-preis-des-praesidenten-der-udk-berlin-2022/translate-to-english-viktor-petrov/

Viktor Petrov

The Floor is Lava, 2025.

Installation

Details

  • Photographer: Viktor Petrov
  • Material: military woolen blankets, galvanized steel, moisture-proof lights
  • Sizes: variable dimensions
  • Property of: Viktor Petrov
  • Description: In the game “The Floor is Lava”, both danger and safety are turned into a topography of the imagination. Viktor Petrov’s installation is built upon the inherent principles of this game, which apply only within the drawn boundary of the four walls: naïve and violent impulses unfold, reality and reason are torn from their bounds, and dimensions become unstable. Beyond it, the floor is lava. The installation is built on a modular principle, based on the metal construction set by the Märklin company, which,
    like many other German companies, switched between civil and military production during both World Wars.
    The exhibition evokes childhood memories and, with them, our existential longing for protection and shelter. This shelter, however, is not a physical place – it is rooted beyond the world of the tangible and remains reserved only for oneself, similar to the soft architecture of a blanket that serves as a fort, a tent, or a shield pulled over the head. Like in a dream, the work moves from concrete to abstract, from playful and friendly to austere and
    threatening.

    The visitor navigates through this shifting terrain with one question in mind: safety or threat?

    Text: Marina Slavova
  • Copyright: Viktor Petrov
  • References: https://new.bnr.bg/post/102210482
    https://bnt.bg/news/instalaciyata%C2%A0-viktor-petrov-podat-e-lava-v-instituta-za-savremenno-izkustvo-v399157-342508news.html
    https://ica-sofia.org/bg/ica-gallery/exhibitions/item/574:pod-t-e-lava
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