SIAL - exhibition about exceptional architects

On Thursday, January 20, 2011, the Liberec Regional Gallery will host the opening of the exhibition Sial. The exhibition will run until March 27, 2011 (open daily except Mondays from 10 AM to 6 PM, on Thursdays until 7 PM, and free entry on the first Wednesday of each month). The exhibition was prepared in collaboration with the Museum of Art in Olomouc. Compared to the Olomouc exhibition (which took place in 2010 at the Museum of Art), it is, however, slightly altered and features three new models.

The Regional Gallery presents the works of Karel Hubáček and Sial

On Thursday, January 20, 2011, a new exhibition titled Sial will open at the Liberec Regional Gallery. The exhibition surveys the work of engineers and architects associated with Karel Hubáček, the creator of the famous television transmitter and hotel at Ještěd, Miroslav Masák, and others. Nearly twenty architectural models, dozens of plans, accompanying texts, and archival photographs will provide visitors with a comprehensive overview of the most interesting projects from the period between 1958 and 1996. The architects and engineers of Sial gained recognition for their architectural realizations and designs all over the world; their work will be presented in Liberec for the very first time.
The first realization offered by the exhibition is the Máj cinema in Doksy. It was designed by Karel Hubáček with Otakar Binar and other colleagues as early as 1958, and this building – influenced by the so-called Brussels style – marked a turning point in Hubáček's previous work and in the organization of work. Hubáček brought together young and talented architects and engineers – Otakar Binar, Miroslav Masák, Václav Voda, Zdeněk Patrmana, Zdeněk Zachar, Pavel Švancer, and others, who became the core of the future Sial.
Sial actually originated in 1968 as a municipal project organization," explains Jan Randáček, director of the Regional Gallery, and continues, "Until then, everyone worked at Stavoprojekt." The late 1960s represent one of the most famous periods for Liberec architects – the construction of the television transmitter and hotel at Ještěd is underway, projects focused on the so-called lower center of Liberec are being developed, Miroslav Masák is designing Pavilion F for LVT, and together with Karel Hubáček and structural engineer Václav Voda, they are working on the Liberec department store Ještěd.
Successes continue despite the adverse political climate in the following decade, when the so-called Sial School is fully operational. The school served as a sort of postgraduate study program that young and promising architects and engineers completed. The school became a driving force where bold plans and innovative approaches to design were developed. "Several architects who made significant contributions to both Czech and world architecture passed through the school. Let us recall professors Jiří Suchomel or Emil Přikryl, Mirko Baum, Jiří Špikla, Helena Jiskrová, John Eisler, or Zdeněk Zavřel," mentions Jan Randáček, naming the most prominent "students" of the School. "Interestingly, almost everyone who has achieved something in Czech architecture has gone through the Sial School. Thus, Sial has significantly influenced the shape of a substantial part of today’s Czech architecture,” Randáček added. Many architects and engineers who worked at Sial also teach future architects at universities, prolonging the tradition of Sial and the School.
Sial is also characterized by the fact that projects were developed based on interdisciplinary discussions. The needs articulated by sociologists, psychologists, or philosophers were reflected in the final form of the project.
Among the works exhibited at the Regional Gallery in Liberec, the famous Ještěd stands out, as well as department stores Máj and Ještěd, as well as the Disk theater, Husa na provázku, or the Liberec Naivní theater. An extraordinarily interesting project is the design for the construction of a Czech hut with a cable car terminal at Snezka. For many, it will be a surprise that Sial also designed sports facilities at Ještěd, in Harrachov, or Špindlerův Mlýn. But the surprises do not end there; the exhibited architectural models and plans offer a captivating journey through the history of Czech architecture.
The works of Karel Hubáček and all the engineers and architects associated with him belong to the best that Czechoslovak architecture had to offer at the time. The work of Liberec Sial has also stood up to foreign competition, as evidenced by projects in Berlin, regular invitations to architectural competitions in Europe, and numerous articles about Sial in professional journals. "Sial is truly a phenomenon, something exceptional, and I am glad that we can show at least a small part of their work in Liberec," concluded Jan Randáček.
The exhibition is open at the Regional Gallery in Liberec from January 20 to March 27, 2011, daily except Mondays from 10 AM to 6 PM, Thursdays until 7 PM.

Exhibition authors: Miroslav Masák, Jakub Potůček, Rostislav Švácha
Exhibition curator: Jan Randáček
Animation: Adéla Pomothy
Graphic design: Jan Stolín
Installation: Přemysl Machálek, Jaroslav Trojan, Jan Pražák
Exhibits kindly loaned by: Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Ondřejov Naivní Theatre Liberec National Gallery Prague National Technical Museum in Prague Prague Waterworks and Sewerage, Inc. North Bohemian Museum in Liberec SIAL Architects and Engineers Ltd. Liberec
Acknowledgments: Gallery N (Technical University of Liberec, Faculty of Textiles, Department of Design) North Bohemian Museum in Liberec

The exhibition is held in cooperation with the Museum of Art in Olomouc.

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Lectures and guided tours related to the exhibition

February 17, 2011, 5:30 PM - guided tour "Pre-Sial (An Attempt to Humanize Architecture)" with Ludmila Hůrková
February 23, 2011, 5:00 PM - guided tour "Sial and the Sial School" with prof. Rostislav Švácha, co-author of the exhibition
March 3, 2011, 5:30 PM - lecture by Iva Karásková and Jiří Bláha "Project for the Reconstruction of the Naivní Theater in Liberec"
March 10, 2011, 5:30 PM - guided tour "Between Environmentalism, Postmodernism, and New Modernism" with Jakub Potůček, co-author of the exhibition
March 17, 2011, 5:30 PM - guided tour of the exhibition with Jan Randáček
March 24, 2011, 5:30 PM - lecture by Jiří Křížek "Heritage Protection of Sial Buildings"