Jan Šépka: Inspiration - Invitation to the Publication Presentation
On Tuesday, October 29, 2019, at 6:00 PM, the Café Jedna in the Veletržní Palace National Gallery in Prague, Dukelských Hrdinů 47, will host the launch of the publication by Vendula Hnídková.
Jan Šépka Inspiration
In the times of parametric architecture, digital media, or artificial intelligence, it seems that Jan Šépka's projects uncompromisingly reside on the very edge of authorial free creation, which architecture becomes only in very rare cases. The strong expression of Šépka's shape, material, and primarily conceptually inventive ideas, however, cannot be measured in any way against superficially effective compositions of so-called iconic buildings of speculative capitalism, as defined by Charles Jencks in his 2005 book, The Iconic Building: The Power of Enigma.
For Jan Šépka, architecture remains only one of the media through which he expresses his artistic visions. In addition to his unceasing activity in architecture, urbanism, furniture design, or outdoor furniture, as well as extensive pedagogical activity at ČVUT and UMPRUM, organizational agendas at the Institute of Planning and Development of Prague, or architectural criticism, this book presents, for the first time in a more cohesive form, other visual works, particularly in the form of original drawings and paintings. The visual arts are an important undercurrent of Šépka's activity, which peaks during certain periods with unprecedented intensity, but still remain overshadowed by his architectural designs.
The strong expression of Jan Šépka's architecture evokes a wide range of emotions, often positive, but equally intensely stirs those that are distinctly negative. As in the case of the installation Perception in České Budějovice in 2016, his bold projects dramatically polarize society. Šépka stated that “dogmas cannot create architecture, and therefore it is necessary to liberate it from the captivity of rationality and bring it back to something where feeling or subjective mood plays a role.”
Jan Šépka persistently applies artistic creativity as the primary variable for his architectural visions in times of corporate pragmatism. In a time of economically conditioned relationships, such an attitude can be perceived as heretical; certainly not very common, and thus expands the territory of architecture in a significant direction that can preserve free creative space under specific professional conditions.
Jan Šépka continually pushes the innovative work with the potential of architecture in each successive project. In this process, he creates a very flexible field for architectural and user imagination. The specific requirements of the construction program Šépka often abstracts to such an extent that he brings an entirely individual response to each specific theme. Jan Šépka's own practice is a significant testament to the problematization of modernist heritage in Czech architecture. His sovereignly artistic approach breaks the dogma of utilitarianism and the associated aesthetics.
At the same time, it indicates that architecture, as a historically anchored discipline and the profession of architect as a supremely complex activity, has radically liberated itself from the original professional boundaries during the 20th century. In the 21st century, the set of architectural activities elastically stretches in many directions according to purely individual as well as collective needs. In such a situation, there should be sufficient mental capacity in society for the full acceptance of even such architectural expressions that effortlessly infiltrate the realm of art.
Jan Šépka. Inspiration is the first publication that monographically focuses on the work of architect Jan Šépka, built on a detailed presentation of his selected projects and realizations. The title Inspiration is derived from the author's process of the genesis of specific themes that were materialized in the concept of individual architectural assignments. In the selected projects, Šépka presents his creative process in a unified and cohesive manner, spanning from his artistic inspiration to the fulfillment of the original vision. Vendula Hnídková’s theoretical study interprets Šépka's work in terms of architecture as an artistic discipline firmly anchored in real time and space. Graphics by Milan Nedvěd.
Jan Šépka, professor and head of the Architecture Studio I at UMPRUM, is a significant architect who has participated in numerous projects recognized both domestically and internationally. Among the most well-known are the alterations to Horní náměstí in Olomouc, modifications to Jiřské náměstí at Prague Castle, the Archdiocesan Museum in Olomouc, a villa in Beroun, Villa Hermína, alterations to the castle hill in Litomyšl, the design of the National Library in Prague, Room in the Landscape in Modrava, House in the Orchard, or the installation Perception in České Budějovice.
Vendula Hnídková is a historian of architecture. Since 2005, she has been affiliated with the Institute of Art History at the Czech Academy of Sciences; from 2017 to 2018, she was an assistant professor at UMPRUM, and since 2018, she has been conducting research on garden cities at the University of Birmingham as part of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship. From 2009 to 2016, she was a correspondent for the magazine A10. New European Architecture and has been the Czech editor of RIHA Journal since 2017. In 2012, she initiated the establishment of Window Gallery UDU, which she curated until 2018. She has written several studies and books, including: Pavel Janák. Outline of the Era (UMPRUM/Arbor vitae 2009), National Style. Culture and Politics (UMPRUM 2013), or Moscow 1937. Architecture and Propaganda (2018).
More information >
Jan Šépka Inspiration
In the times of parametric architecture, digital media, or artificial intelligence, it seems that Jan Šépka's projects uncompromisingly reside on the very edge of authorial free creation, which architecture becomes only in very rare cases. The strong expression of Šépka's shape, material, and primarily conceptually inventive ideas, however, cannot be measured in any way against superficially effective compositions of so-called iconic buildings of speculative capitalism, as defined by Charles Jencks in his 2005 book, The Iconic Building: The Power of Enigma.
For Jan Šépka, architecture remains only one of the media through which he expresses his artistic visions. In addition to his unceasing activity in architecture, urbanism, furniture design, or outdoor furniture, as well as extensive pedagogical activity at ČVUT and UMPRUM, organizational agendas at the Institute of Planning and Development of Prague, or architectural criticism, this book presents, for the first time in a more cohesive form, other visual works, particularly in the form of original drawings and paintings. The visual arts are an important undercurrent of Šépka's activity, which peaks during certain periods with unprecedented intensity, but still remain overshadowed by his architectural designs.
The strong expression of Jan Šépka's architecture evokes a wide range of emotions, often positive, but equally intensely stirs those that are distinctly negative. As in the case of the installation Perception in České Budějovice in 2016, his bold projects dramatically polarize society. Šépka stated that “dogmas cannot create architecture, and therefore it is necessary to liberate it from the captivity of rationality and bring it back to something where feeling or subjective mood plays a role.”
Jan Šépka persistently applies artistic creativity as the primary variable for his architectural visions in times of corporate pragmatism. In a time of economically conditioned relationships, such an attitude can be perceived as heretical; certainly not very common, and thus expands the territory of architecture in a significant direction that can preserve free creative space under specific professional conditions.
Jan Šépka continually pushes the innovative work with the potential of architecture in each successive project. In this process, he creates a very flexible field for architectural and user imagination. The specific requirements of the construction program Šépka often abstracts to such an extent that he brings an entirely individual response to each specific theme. Jan Šépka's own practice is a significant testament to the problematization of modernist heritage in Czech architecture. His sovereignly artistic approach breaks the dogma of utilitarianism and the associated aesthetics.
At the same time, it indicates that architecture, as a historically anchored discipline and the profession of architect as a supremely complex activity, has radically liberated itself from the original professional boundaries during the 20th century. In the 21st century, the set of architectural activities elastically stretches in many directions according to purely individual as well as collective needs. In such a situation, there should be sufficient mental capacity in society for the full acceptance of even such architectural expressions that effortlessly infiltrate the realm of art.
Jan Šépka. Inspiration is the first publication that monographically focuses on the work of architect Jan Šépka, built on a detailed presentation of his selected projects and realizations. The title Inspiration is derived from the author's process of the genesis of specific themes that were materialized in the concept of individual architectural assignments. In the selected projects, Šépka presents his creative process in a unified and cohesive manner, spanning from his artistic inspiration to the fulfillment of the original vision. Vendula Hnídková’s theoretical study interprets Šépka's work in terms of architecture as an artistic discipline firmly anchored in real time and space. Graphics by Milan Nedvěd.
Jan Šépka, professor and head of the Architecture Studio I at UMPRUM, is a significant architect who has participated in numerous projects recognized both domestically and internationally. Among the most well-known are the alterations to Horní náměstí in Olomouc, modifications to Jiřské náměstí at Prague Castle, the Archdiocesan Museum in Olomouc, a villa in Beroun, Villa Hermína, alterations to the castle hill in Litomyšl, the design of the National Library in Prague, Room in the Landscape in Modrava, House in the Orchard, or the installation Perception in České Budějovice.
Vendula Hnídková is a historian of architecture. Since 2005, she has been affiliated with the Institute of Art History at the Czech Academy of Sciences; from 2017 to 2018, she was an assistant professor at UMPRUM, and since 2018, she has been conducting research on garden cities at the University of Birmingham as part of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship. From 2009 to 2016, she was a correspondent for the magazine A10. New European Architecture and has been the Czech editor of RIHA Journal since 2017. In 2012, she initiated the establishment of Window Gallery UDU, which she curated until 2018. She has written several studies and books, including: Pavel Janák. Outline of the Era (UMPRUM/Arbor vitae 2009), National Style. Culture and Politics (UMPRUM 2013), or Moscow 1937. Architecture and Propaganda (2018).
More information >
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