PUNK IN CZECH ARCHITECTURE
Even four decades after the moment when the word "punk" became a part of the cultural and social scene, it continues to provoke. It has been diffused a hundred times within advertising, snobbish events, design, fashion, cosmetics, and even the automotive industry. Nevertheless, it still manages to draw attention as a "brand." Perhaps also because, despite the amount of ostentatious ballast from punk waters, a strong, distinctive current can still burst forth. And this applies to architecture as well: a selection of realizations, whose authors may be – often unknowingly, from the outside – called "punks," is presented at the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery in Prague from Friday, October 17, until December 7.
Over thirty projects by both domestic and foreign architects are on display. Figures such as Henri Labrouste, Josef Gočár, or Hans Hollein through postmodernists Coop Himmelb(l)au or Vlada Milunić to Martin Rajniš, Petr Suský, Svatopluk Sládeček, Ivan Kroupa, or the studios HŠH and H3T. The individual realizations connect excerpts from the texts of prominent philosophers and art historians - Aaron Betsky, Hans Ibelings, or Petr Rezek. The punk charge in the exhibition was also given by the architectural concept of Jakub Fišer from the studio Aulík Fišer architects.
"Essentially, we have softened the term 'punk' and created a kind of glasses through which we look at contemporary architecture as well as historical buildings," explains one of the curators, Filip Šenk. "Thanks to this punk perspective, architects and buildings from different periods emerged before us, which are connected by their 'otherness' in relation to what could be labeled as 'mainstream.' They may have ironic, anti-normative, or utopian stances – but always distinct." More information can be found at www.gjf.cz.
The curators Dan Merta, Jakub Fišer, and Filip Šenk faced the challenging task of retrospectively defining the group of "punks in architecture." This spans the last century, with uncertainty regarding what characteristics punk in architecture actually bears. Moreover, they had to avoid the pitfalls of self-serving rebellions, escapades, sheer fun, or punk mimickers lacking skill.
The guiding principle became the visions, both unfulfilled and materialized in the form of realizations that diverge – from the context of the time of their origin, a cohesive handwriting of their author, or the personality of the creator themselves. Among the selected creators, we would find several architects who created programmatically on the periphery, outside the establishment. And many of them, due to their conviction, endurance, and refusal to retreat, pushed the boundaries of what is possible in architecture a bit further. This also applies to many often underestimated or overlooked local environments: whether it is wooden creations with innovative structural elements by Martin Rajniš, ecological buildings with numerous sustainable "tricks" by Petr Suský, or intelligent facades and other hi-tech constructions by Mirko Bauma.
As another curator, Dan Merta adds, among the authors of the presented projects, it is possible to find those who grew up during the golden punk era of the 70s and 80s or were caught in their already creative period. "Punk is perceived as a certain generational phenomenon. And we were interested in how much it influenced the attitudes of architects and whether it somehow manifested in their work," Merta adds.
Considering the exploitation of punk and punk (sub)culture in many, and by no means only creative fields, the exhibition Punk in Architecture offers numerous overlaps. That is why the exhibition part is accompanied by quotes and further examples from the works of David Bowie, Alfred Jarry, Iggy Pop, or Vivienne Westwood. To the visit itself, visitors to Bethlehem Square are invited to site-specific installations by Jiří Přihoda, H3T, Pes/Ves, Františka Kowolowského, or Jan and Petr Stolín.
In the Lapidarium of the Bethlehem Chapel, an exhibition titled NAHRAJ! is also taking place concurrently. It was prepared by the studio Archwerk and consists of small experimental realizations by selected Czech studios.
Over thirty projects by both domestic and foreign architects are on display. Figures such as Henri Labrouste, Josef Gočár, or Hans Hollein through postmodernists Coop Himmelb(l)au or Vlada Milunić to Martin Rajniš, Petr Suský, Svatopluk Sládeček, Ivan Kroupa, or the studios HŠH and H3T. The individual realizations connect excerpts from the texts of prominent philosophers and art historians - Aaron Betsky, Hans Ibelings, or Petr Rezek. The punk charge in the exhibition was also given by the architectural concept of Jakub Fišer from the studio Aulík Fišer architects.
"Essentially, we have softened the term 'punk' and created a kind of glasses through which we look at contemporary architecture as well as historical buildings," explains one of the curators, Filip Šenk. "Thanks to this punk perspective, architects and buildings from different periods emerged before us, which are connected by their 'otherness' in relation to what could be labeled as 'mainstream.' They may have ironic, anti-normative, or utopian stances – but always distinct." More information can be found at www.gjf.cz.
The curators Dan Merta, Jakub Fišer, and Filip Šenk faced the challenging task of retrospectively defining the group of "punks in architecture." This spans the last century, with uncertainty regarding what characteristics punk in architecture actually bears. Moreover, they had to avoid the pitfalls of self-serving rebellions, escapades, sheer fun, or punk mimickers lacking skill.
The guiding principle became the visions, both unfulfilled and materialized in the form of realizations that diverge – from the context of the time of their origin, a cohesive handwriting of their author, or the personality of the creator themselves. Among the selected creators, we would find several architects who created programmatically on the periphery, outside the establishment. And many of them, due to their conviction, endurance, and refusal to retreat, pushed the boundaries of what is possible in architecture a bit further. This also applies to many often underestimated or overlooked local environments: whether it is wooden creations with innovative structural elements by Martin Rajniš, ecological buildings with numerous sustainable "tricks" by Petr Suský, or intelligent facades and other hi-tech constructions by Mirko Bauma.
As another curator, Dan Merta adds, among the authors of the presented projects, it is possible to find those who grew up during the golden punk era of the 70s and 80s or were caught in their already creative period. "Punk is perceived as a certain generational phenomenon. And we were interested in how much it influenced the attitudes of architects and whether it somehow manifested in their work," Merta adds.
Considering the exploitation of punk and punk (sub)culture in many, and by no means only creative fields, the exhibition Punk in Architecture offers numerous overlaps. That is why the exhibition part is accompanied by quotes and further examples from the works of David Bowie, Alfred Jarry, Iggy Pop, or Vivienne Westwood. To the visit itself, visitors to Bethlehem Square are invited to site-specific installations by Jiří Přihoda, H3T, Pes/Ves, Františka Kowolowského, or Jan and Petr Stolín.
In the Lapidarium of the Bethlehem Chapel, an exhibition titled NAHRAJ! is also taking place concurrently. It was prepared by the studio Archwerk and consists of small experimental realizations by selected Czech studios.
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