3×80’: Tři dokumenty o architektuře 80. let

During the evening, three short documentaries will be presented:
Buildings by Jiří Suchomel from 1975–1990
Realizations by Petr Kovář and Daniela Fenclová from the 1980s
Buildings by Jiří Mojžíš from the 1970s and 1980s

There will be a discussion with architects, historians, and theorists of architecture following the presentations.
In 2021, the cooperative Cosa produced three new documentaries about architecture from the 1980s and 1990s. In this year's documentaries, architects Daniela Fenclová, Petr Kovář, Jiří Mojžíš, and Jiří Suchomel speak, with interviews conducted by Veronika Vicherková, Klára Benešovská, and Rostislav Švácha.

Buildings by Jiří Suchomel 1975–1990 (27 minutes)
Jiří Suchomel has been a significant figure in the domestic architectural scene since the 1960s, his work is associated with northern Bohemia, where he has been active since his arrival at SIAL in 1969. In the 1970s, he designed a cultural house in Česká Lípa, which was not realized until 1984–1990 and was opened to the public only when the operational requirements and property rights situation changed. The documentary is supplemented with profiles of other Suchomel buildings – the Czech State Insurance Company in Liberec, the tennis club in Ruprechtice, and the Czech Insurance Company in Teplice.

Realizations by Petr Kovář and Daniela Fenclová (30 minutes)
Petr Kovář and Daniela Fenclová entered the architectural scene in the early 1980s with a rather atypical endeavor – publishing a children's book titled Domeček, domek, dům. Later, they realized the interiors of the Naháč Hotel together with Kurt Gebauer and Ivan Kafka. Daniela Fenclová and Petr Kovář also worked on the renovation project of the church of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church in Benešov with a unique Trombe wall.

Buildings by Jiří Mojžíš from the 70s and 80s (24 minutes)
Jiří Mojžíš began his work with a summer cottage in Viničné Šumice in 1970. By the 1980s, he was an established author of family houses, and approximately fifteen were built according to his designs by 1990. The author meets client needs, and his range spans from modest renovations to uniquely shaped new constructions.

Focusing on the architecture of the normalization period is a strategic decision – the socialist realism of the 1950s was accepted, the “golden sixties” were nearly revered, and the offspring of the previous decade, such as the buildings completed by Machonin or SIAL, are recognized. The architecture of the 1980s disappears without notice and remains just a target for the visits of strange “fine connoisseurs.” It is not yet old enough to deserve heritage protection and is often infused with the spirit of postmodernism, an aesthetic that is not particularly popular today. Many buildings are undergoing – or have unfortunately already undergone – significant renovations, reconstructions, and extensions. Realizations from this period are not yet a common subject of heritage protection; therefore, it is important to document not only the preserved original forms but also the authors' memories of the ideological sources, inspirations, and conditions of realization during that time. The video documentaries aim to raise interest and understanding among viewers for buildings from the 1980s and early 1990s. They are still awaiting more detailed art-historical research and public attention. Compared to previous years, the scope is expanded to include overlaps into the 1990s, during which some authors were completing their projects from the 1980s or conversely, obtaining new ones under completely different conditions and circumstances.
Markéta Mráčková and Barbora Šimonová met at the Emil Přikryl School of Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. They have been working as an author duo since 2013. The cultural cooperative cosa.cz was founded in 2016 with the aim of encompassing their diverse activities – architecture, visual arts, literature, and video.
There are already sixteen documentaries available and they can be accessed freely in the on-line video archive.