NATIONAL - INTERNATIONAL
Arts and politics in houses and interiors of the 20th century

Brno/Czech Republic, 21-24 April 2010
The Moravian Gallery in Brno - Conference Hall of the Museum of Applied Arts

International Conference organised by the Moravska galerie in Brno (Czech Republic) in cooperation with ICOM International Committees for Decorative Arts (ICDAD) and for Historic House Museums (DEMHIST). The generous support of the Czech Committee of ICOM is also gratefully acknowledged.


The Moravian Gallery in Brno, the second largest art museum in the Czech Republic, is exceptional for the wide range of artistic disciplines it covers. It is the only institution in the country collecting visual art that is concerned with painting, drawing, graphic art and sculptore - from the past and the present - as well as photography, applied art, graphic design and architecture.

We invite you to join us at an international conference dealing with the national and international significance of houses and interiors. It will be held in Brno, a historical city priding on examples of international and national culture, the city where Adolf Loos was born, where Josef Hoffmann studied and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe built one of his most famous buildings.

Is modernism an "international" phenomenon? Are there national monuments in an international style? Are there "national" styles in the 20th century, at all? Ten years after, facing globalisation, it is time to ask questions about two of the most important currents in the past century: nationalism and modernism. By tracing types of houses and rooms, the conference will address the villa as form and means of social and political representation.

A main focus will be on the relationships of central European architecture to Vienna, Berlin, Paris, London and Glasgow. For the Villa Tugendhat and the Jurkovic House in Brno as well as Josef Hoffmann's birthplace in Brtnice set prominent examples for an opposition of "national" and "international" styles created and chosen by architects or owners. Do these styles of architecture and interior design mix at random in this region or is the choice significant for the client and the architect or designer?

The conference will investigate the historical and theoretical implications as well as the outcome of these choices. By contrast, examples for housing and gardening from western, northern and central Europe, e. g., Switzerland, Finland, Slovakia and Hungary, as well as from outside Europe, e. g., from the United States, Brazil, Israel or India, shall complement the Moravian experience.

Preliminary programme:
-       Two working days of lectures and contributions by invited speakers and other leading professionals - museum curators, historians and art historians, architects, designers, and theoreticians from European countries, America and Asia, supplemented by slide and video projections, will be presented in Czech and English languages. Interpretation to and from Czech and English will be provided.
-       Visits to memorial houses in Brno (the Reissig House - arch. Leopold Bauer, architect Dusan Jurkovic's own house, Villa Stiassny -arch. Ernest Wiesner, Tugendhat Villa -arch. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe)
-       Post-conference tours:
1.      Luhacovice Spa, Dusan Jurkovic, 1901-1903, "New Slavonic metropolis"; Zlin - "Bata town"(worker's housing - arch. Frantisek Lydie Gahura, Bata Headquarters - arch. Vladimir Karfik)
2.      Brtnice - Josef Hoffmann Birthplace; Libodrice - Adolf Bauer House (arch. Josef Gocar); Prague - Villa Müller (arch. Adolf Loos)


The conference is intended for museum professionals, academic teachers and students, free-lance curators, historians, designers, art managers, art and design theoreticians and publicists, journalists, etc.


Contact:
Katerina Tlachova
Moravian Gallery in Brno
Husova 18
CZ-662 26 Brno
Czech Republic
Tel.: +420 532 169 128
Fax: +420 532 169 181
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
www.moravska-galerie.cz/en

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