1931 born in Tübingen; parents Johannes and Erna Brom.

1942-1947 business school

1948 leaves Tübingen

1948-1952 frequent changes of location: Oct.1948-March 1949 Milan; April-Nov. 1949 Rome; Nov. 1949-Mai 1950 Paris; May 1950-Feb. 1952 New York; June-July 1952 Vienna. Brom works as warehouseman, shop assistant, helper in a garage. In Rome he becomes acquainted to the painter EdX. Brom starts to draw and buys his first camera in New York. In the years 1949-1952 he produces pencil-sketches and black and white prints.

1952 Brom returns to Germany, training as a photographer in Berlin.

1954 Brom takes the job of photographic assistant at the Free University of Berlin.

1954 Brom is authorized by his friend Prof. Merkel, a bio medic, to construct a puppet which can be controlled via electric signals. In the same year he develops the first folios of his "Anatomical Studies", which consist of anatomical sketches overworked with coal. During this year he also produces first sketches for installations.

1954/55: "Anatomical Studies" and installations. The sketches for the installation "Cesare" contain for the first time tonal elements, which he produces with piezo-pic-ups. 1955 Brom finishes his work on ADAM.

1962 Death of his parents, which leads him into an existential crisis. Brom cancels his job at the photo laboratory of the university and stops painting.

1962: He moves to Paris.

1963 Brom takes a job at a little photo laboratory in the north of Paris.

1963-1969: Brom shoots some Super8-shortfilms. In this years he develops a scenic-dramaturgic element which becomes significant for Broms work.

1969 Brom starts again to draw. In October he meets the physicist V. Krylov for the first time. He participates in the discussions which Krylov organises in his flat. Brom paints his first folios of the serie "Schnitte/Cuts", in which he deals with particle-physics. From 1969 to 1974 he produces 143 such folios.

1969-1973 besides his work on the "cuts", Brom overworks geographic maps with coal, named "topographies".

1973 Brom returns to Berlin, where he works again in a photographical laboratory.

1974 Brom is involved in a car crash and badly injured. He is set to deep-sleep, and awakes only some months later.

1974/75 Brom spends the end of 1974 and the year 1975 in a rehabilitation centre near Heidelberg. In this time a lot of Brom's artwork disappeared. Because of gaps in Brom's memory a lot of his works are untraceable until now.

1976 After his stay near Heidelberg, Brom returns to Berlin where he resumes his artistic work. He produces the first sketches for the series "on the fundamentals of physics". In the same year he also develops the objects "ADAM" and "EVA", as well as the showcases "Pelzwerkzeuge" (fury-tools).

1977 an atelier in Vienna is offered to him. He moves to Vienna where he gets to know some Viennese artists. During this year Brom works on pictures for the series "on the fundamentals of physics ", the cycle "vrt" and for the first time also some performances; the performance "vrt", and his first "Höhlenaktionen" were realised in Vienna. In autumn Brom starts the project "Brockhausüberarbeitung", which he keeps him occupied until 1981.

1978 Brom returns to Berlin. He is offered a job as a photographer at the institute for ethnology at the Free University which he accepts. In 1978 he makes first studies for the paintings "modularer Mensch" and produces besides the clay-objects "Anthropomorphe" as well the "Stammbaumfragmente".

1979 Brom established the first "Theorieraum";

1979 From april to november 1979 Brom stays in Milan. Here he does some installations, from which "H.M." und "cogito ergo sum" are well known. In Milan he also prepares also his performance H.M., which deals with the two faces of the human being, according to the philosopher Edgar Morin identified as sapiens and demens. In the november 1979 Brom then goes back to Berlin, where beginns to work on the installations "Krylovs Schreibtisch" and "Transformator".

1979/80 Brom arranges more "Theorieräume". He also works on the paintings "T1-T17", and the "wissenschaftlichen Tafeln 1-12". In all these objects and paintings Brom deals with the concept of scientific theory creation and the role of the human being involved in it.

1981 Brom participates in a field excursion of the ethnological institute. Later on he works on his paintings of the "wissenschaftlichen Tafeln". In this year, as well as in the following he develops the cycle "Fig. 1-Fig. 25" and the installation "Formicula contorta".

1983 Brom travels to Italy together with the physicist Prof. V. Krylov. (Milan, Rome, Bologna, Padova)

1983 Brom holds his first exhibition in the Galerie Haberl (Vienna) for which he builds "Theorieraum X".

1985-1990 Brom works on small black and white prints 1990 Brom declared his retirement after a cholelithotomy. 1991 he moves to Heimburg.

1997 he dies in his little house in Heimburg.

 

 

Works (selection)

 

Early Period

1949-1954 Drawings and black and white prints. (Frühphase 1949-1954)

1953-1954 "geometrischen Studien"

Anatomic Period (1954-1962)

1954/55 photo-mechanical puppet ADAM.

1954 "anatomische Studien",

1954 sketches and concepts for installations.

1955: installation "Cesare" 1954-1962: "anatomische Studien" and installations

 

Black Period (1962-1969)

1963-1969: Super8-shortfilms ("ungefilmte Szenen", "der unendliche Film", "30") and b&w prints (Schattenportraits)

1969 Installation "cineastische kulturen"

 

Physical Period (1969-1974)

1969 -1974 "Schnitte/Cuts" (143 drawings; SeriA (theoretical)/SeriB (experimental)

1969-1973 "Topografien" (drawings)

 

Anthropological Period (1976-1985)

1976 "ADAM" and "EVA", "Pelzwerkzeuge". (Objects)

1976/77 "zu den Grundlagen der Physik" (Objects; Prints)

1977 "vrt" (performance and cycle of drawings); "Höhlenaktionen"

1977-1981 "Brockkausüberarbeitung" (drawings/object)

1978 "Anthropomorphe"; "Lehrgepäckstücke" ("Ursprungskoffer"), "Stammbaum-fragmente". (Objects)

1979 "Theorieraum I"; "AUS KRYLOVS LABOR"; "Krylovs Schreibtisch" ; "Transformator" (Installations) "Tafelfragmenten" (drawings) .

1979/80 "Theorieräume II - VIII" (Installation); "T1-T17" (Objects), "wissenschaftlichen Tafeln 1-12", "modularer Mensch". (drawings) 1981 "wissenschaftliche Tafeln"; (drawings)

1981: Formicula Contorta (installation)

1981-1983 "Fig. 1-Fig. 25" (drawing)

1984/85 "wissenschaftliche Modelle" (Installation/Objects)

 

Late Period (1985-1990)

1985-1990 b&w prints

 

Exhibitions

 

1983 Galerie XX (Vienna): "Theorieraum XI"

2006 Kunsthalle Exnergasse (Vienna): "Theorieraum VI"

2007 PMK (Innsbruck): "Transformator"

2007 Stellwerk (Innsbruck) "Cesare"

2007 Tonspur (Vienna): "Transformator"

 

 

 

index