To the exhibition of Hermann Czech at fjk3 in Vienna

Few people had a greater influence on the shape of the Viennese gastronomic scene in the second half of the last century than Hermann Czech. He participated in the establishment of the restaurant in the Schwarzenberg Palace, completed a villa by Theophil Hansen, and designed the glazing for the loggia of the Vienna State Opera. For the German curator Kasper König, Czech is an "architect of architects" (Architects' Architect). He was invited to collaborate on interiors with a distinctive atmosphere by figures such as Adolf Krischanitz or the Zurich studio Meili Peter. Czech has long enjoyed the favor of students not only in Vienna, where he taught at the technical university, the arts and crafts school, and the academy, but also abroad, where he guest lectured at Harvard University or at ETH Zurich. Over the past four decades, dozens of architects have passed through his studio. His work, dating from the early 1960s, cannot be unequivocally classified as a continuation of Viennese modernity or placed in a postmodern box. Likewise, his interiors convey the festive spirit of the old monarchy, but at the same time, he intentionally works with “pre-soiling” (Wiener Normschmutz) or combines ornaments in a Mannerist way (of J. Hoffmann or J. Frank).
Even at an advanced age, Czech remains interested in current events. Last year, together with the AKT collective, he prepared an exhibition titled Partecipazione (Participation) for the Austrian national pavilion at the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale. In a contrasting move, media attention to his work was lukewarm. Journalists began to pay closer attention to his work only when he celebrated his eightieth birthday. The Viennese weekly Falter described him as a "secret star architect whom nobody knows." In 2016, a Japanese magazine a+u dedicated an entire November issue to him, compiled by Professor Christian Kühn from the Vienna University of Technology, and two years later, a monograph with the succinct title “Architect in Vienna” was published by the Zurich publisher Park Books (a second expanded edition was released in 2023). The author of the publication is Eva Kuß from the University of Technology in Graz, who worked on a scientific project focused on Hermann Czech and the architectural scene in post-war Vienna under the guidance of Liliane Lefaivre from 2011 to 2014. For this purpose, Eva Kuß held countless meetings with Hermann Czech, who generously granted her access to his entire archive. In addition to the extensive nearly five-hundred-page publication, together with her colleagues Claudia Cavallar, Gabriele Kaiser, and Fiona Liewehr, she also prepared for this spring the largest exhibition of Czech's work at the fjk3 gallery in Vienna, mapping the work of "the most Viennese of all living architects" across two floors with a total area of 430 m². According to Fiona Liewehr, the artistic director of the fjk3 gallery, "Hermann Czech is the last living architect who saved the now non-existent conception of modernism and brought it into the present."
Alongside years of refining bars and cafés, Czech's lifelong passion also includes asymmetrical staircases that link a well-thought-out raumplan, which he applied in the exhibition space of fjk3, where he designed a temporary 50 cm wide wooden staircase connecting the ground floor with the basement. In addition to traditional exhibits (furniture, photographs, models, drawings), fragments of original realizations such as lighting fixtures from the closed café in MAK or a logo from the closed CINCIN establishment also made their way into the gallery.
Nothing in the exhibition is placed by chance. The curators, together with the architect, carefully arranged about a hundred projects (realized, unrealized, demolished, and lost) to reflect mutual relationships. For the first time, sketches and handwritten notes are also publicly displayed.
The exhibition program is complemented by guided tours, in which the architect actively participates alongside the curators, as well as walks through Czech's previously inaccessible realizations. The exhibition “Approximate Main Direction” (Ungefähre Hauptrichtung) in the space for contemporary art fjk3 can be viewed until June 9, 2024.
Although the portfolio of this Viennese native ranges from transport constructions to temporary installations, Czech has undoubtedly left the strongest mark on the local bar and café scene. A visit to Vienna should therefore include not only the exhibition at fjk3 but also refreshments at one of the cafés, bars, or restaurants that bear Czech's signature. There are a number of options (Kleines Café, Wunder-Bar, Café Freud, CinCin Buffet, Restaurant Pöschl, Saltzamt Restaurant), giving you a reason to return to Vienna.

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