In Brno, a conference on National and International will take place

Brno, April 21–24, 2010

Museum of Applied Arts in Brno – Lecture Hall of the Moravian Gallery

The international conference will focus on the evaluation of the national and international significance of historic buildings and interiors. The venue is Brno, a historical city with national and international culture, the city where Adolf Loos was born, Josef Hoffman studied, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe worked.

Can modernism be considered an “international” phenomenon? Are there national monuments in the international style? Is it possible to even speak of “national” styles in the twentieth century? Today, in an age of globalization, ten years into the new century, we can reflect on two of the most prominent directions of the last century: national style and modernism. Among the range of buildings and interiors, we will pay special attention to the villa as a typical representative of the social and political status of its time.

The main theme of the conference will be the exploration of Central European architecture and its relationship to Vienna, Paris, London, Glasgow, and other architectures.
Villa Tugendhat, Jurkovič Villa in Brno, as well as the birthplace of Josef Hoffmann in Brtnice are exemplary cases that allow us to compare the influence of the “national” and “international” style, as prioritized or created by builders and owners. Are similar approaches to architectural and interior design in the Central European region employed randomly, or are they instead a typical approach intentionally chosen by clients, architects, and designers?

At the conference, we will delve into the historical and theoretical contexts and the consequences of their choice. For comparison, we will touch upon examples of living spaces and gardens typical for Western, Northern, and Central Europe, such as in Switzerland, Finland, Slovakia, and Hungary, as well as outside Europe, in places like the USA, Brazil, Israel, or India, which will complement the view of Moravian buildings.

Preliminary Program:

Two-day panels of lectures and contributions from invited speakers and other prominent experts – curators of museums, historians, art historians, architects, designers, and theorists from European countries, America, and Asia, supplemented by presentations and video projections. Lectures and contributions will be in Czech and English and will be interpreted simultaneously.

Visit to significant architectural monuments in Brno
“Model Housing of the Modern Slavs.” On August 26, 1906, an exhibition of modern housing was opened in Brno. The venue was the newly completed private villa of architect Dušan Jurkovič, which was also the main exhibit of the exhibition. Jurkovič sought to elevate the culture of housing, promoting a modern type of villa construction with a stair hall as he knew from examples of British architecture used in Central Europe, primarily among German-speaking clients. Therefore, he impressed Slavic ornamentation into the details of the house, which brought it closer to the Czech element. The family villa is currently undergoing restoration and transformation into a museum.
www.moravska-galerie.cz

“One of the highest expressions of contemporary intellectual and technical development” was how Wilhelm Bisome described the villa of the Tugendhat family built according to the design of architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in Brno in 1929-1930. It was one of the few Czech reviews of the building, which the world has shown immense interest in after its completion and later. The reinforced concrete structure clad in glass and the unique flowing main living space constitute a building that is among the foremost examples of the international style. In 2001, the villa was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Currently, restoration work has begun on the villa, which will be closed for the next four years.
www.tugendhat.eu

The memorial of Leoš Janáček. Surprisingly conservative, the interior of the house where Leoš Janáček lived from 1910 until his death in 1928 features old furnishings. In the courtyard of the neoclassical villa, which was converted into an organ school in 1908, he had a house built in 1910. The building in Art Nouveau forms housed furnishings from Janáček's previous apartment, which he only occasionally complemented with modern pieces. Today, the house is the Janáček Museum, which includes an exhibition that incorporates a partial reconstruction of the original interior.
www.mzm.cz

Upcoming Excursions:

“New Slavic Metropolis” Spa Luhačovice
The strengthening of the Slavic national spirit at the end of the 19th century in Austria-Hungary led to an increase in nationally oriented activities. One expression of this was the desire for integration with other Slavs outside the Monarchy. The Spa Luhačovice was intended to be a meeting place and a development center for Slavic cultural life. Architect Dušan Jurkovič imbued it with a specific spirit between 1901 and 1903. Inspired mainly by Central European Slavic artistic motifs, he created a specific architecture that is one of the manifestations of national movements observable in Hungary, Finland, and elsewhere in Europe.
www.lazneluhacovice.cz

“The City of Tomáš Baťa” Zlín
The city with a factory built in a loose relationship to the original city almost from scratch is one of the examples of international architecture, which bears characteristics common to similar projects in Europe (such as Krupp in Essen) and brings new solutions that, through the company's activities, were spread around the world. The skyline is dominated by the skyscraper - the administrative building of the Baťa company, built in the years 1937-1938 according to the design of Vladimír Karfík. The sixteen-story building, constructed on the typical Baťa grid of 6.15 x 6.15 m, was the tallest structure in Czechoslovakia before the war.
www.kr-zlin.cz

Modern Villa Behind the Iron Curtain
The situation in post-war Czechoslovakia did not allow for the development of such construction activities as in the previous period. In the 1950s, the doctrine of socialist realism took hold. Very few projects managed to keep pace with Western architectural trends. A unique example is the villa of traveler Miroslav Zikmund, built in 1953 according to the design of Zdeněk Plesník. Alongside the architect's other realizations, it is among the few that have survived in almost original condition.

Birthplace of Josef Hoffmann in Brtnice
The Baroque building hides a modernist interior that architect Josef Hoffmann created here in 1907 when he remodeled the house after the death of his parents for summer stays of his family. The wall paintings serve as a pattern book of his favorite motifs, which we know from the period documentation of the model rooms of the Wiener Werkstätte shop. He supplemented the inherited furniture with modern pieces and gradually also brought his collections of embroidery, folk furniture, toys, and paintings to Brtnice. The house gradually became a treasury of his ideas and inspirations.

Cubism in Czech Architecture
The villa of Adolf Bauer, designed by architect Josef Gočár in Libodřice, a village near Prague, is a remarkable example of cubist architecture from the years 1912–1914. The existence of cubist architecture is specific to the Czech environment. Outside of it, cubism was only manifested in painting and sculpture. The house has undergone a transformation from a residential building to an office and is now a museum presenting original furniture and ceramic items created in the cubist style.

The Most Beautiful House
Müller Villa, designed by the architect in Prague and built between 1928-1930, is one of the peak works of architect Adolf Loos, whom the architect himself greatly esteemed. Here, he was able to best realize his unique idea of Raumplan, that is, constructing a house as a single continuous space. The quality of the architectural concept and the interior, with a significant proportion of its original furnishings, is unique.

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The conference is intended for professionals from museums, curators, teachers, and university students, historians, designers, art managers, art theorists, journalists, and other interested parties.

Organized by the Moravian Gallery in Brno in collaboration with ICOM-ICDAD (International Council of Museums – Commission on Arts and Design) and ICOM-DEMHIST (International Council of Museums – Commission on Museums in Historic Houses)

More detailed information along with registration will be available at www.moravska-galerie.cz and www.icom-icdad.com.

The organization of the conference was made possible by financial support from the EU Culture 2007–2013 grant program within the project Architecture and Interior Design in Central Europe at the Beginning of the 20th Century. Josef Hoffmann and Dušan Jurkovič. This is a joint project of the Moravian Gallery in Brno, MAK–Austrian Museum of Applied and Contemporary Art in Vienna, the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava, and ICOM–ICDAD (International Council of Museums – Commission on Arts and Design).

Contact address:
International Symposium
Kateřina Tlachová
Moravian Gallery in Brno
Husova 18
662 26 Brno

Tel.: 532 169 128
Fax: 532 169 181
E-mail: [email protected]
www.moravska-galerie.cz