In the Architect's Head / Kraus - Sládeček

We cordially invite you to the opening of three exhibitions on Tuesday, March 8, 2016, at 6:00 PM at the House of Arts of the City of Brno at Malinovského náměstí. The exhibitions will be introduced by Terezie Petišková, director of the House of Arts of the City of Brno, and Vlado Beskid, Rostislav Koryčánek, and Jana Vránová, the exhibition curators. The exhibitions will be open to the public starting at 5:00 PM.

Program:
6:30 PM - meeting with Robert V. Novák and curator Jana Vránová in the exhibition area at J. Král Gallery.
6:45 PM - meeting with architects David Kraus and Svatopluk Sládeček and curator Rostislav Koryčánek in the exhibition area at Procházka Hall.
7:15 PM - meeting with Milan Houser and curator Vlado Beskid in the exhibition area on the first floor.



MILAN HOUSER – COLORIMETRY
For his first solo presentation at the House of Arts, Milan Houser has decided to create a grand site-specific installation consisting of a massive block of red vertical "threads" leading from the skylight of the main hall to its floor. A regular grid of thin colored stalactites has emerged thanks to the natural dripping of dye and varnish with an unusual use of the moment of gravity. The installation will also be complemented by several works that will provide a current probe into Houser's contemporary thinking in the field of painting. Curator Vladimír Beskid.

IN THE HEAD OF THE ARCHITECT / KRAUS–SLÁDEČEK
The ideological closeness of architects David Kraus and Svatopluk Sládeček serves as a theme for their meeting in the exhibition space, where each of them realizes an object that serves as a basis for interpreting the other. The objects are a two-sided probe into the architect's head, revealing the motives and sources of inspiration that each of them relies on. Visitors can also engage in their own interpretation and play with the objects. Curator Rostislav Koryčánek.

ROBERT V. NOVÁK – ALBVM
The author is primarily known for his production in the field of graphic design, but he also photographs – his works have appeared in exhibition halls since the 1990s. The black-and-white photographs lean towards simplicity, with light playing an important role, often obscuring the specificity of the subject while accentuating its poetic and multi-meaningfulness. Curator Jana Vránová.

The exhibitions will last until May 1, 2016.



In the Head of the Architect / Kraus - Sládeček
House of Arts March 9 - May 1, 2016
Vernissage March 8, 2016, at 6:00 PM
Curator: Rostislav Koryčánek

The meeting of two architects David Kraus and Svatopluk Sládeček at the exhibition In the Head of the Architect becomes a specific gallery event. It culminates in a personal level of a joint story that began relatively recently. The primary motivation for their closeness was mutual professional respect for each other's positions and achievements. In addition to the experienced professional proximity, Kraus and Sládeček share an experience that is unique and generationally intransferable. It is the euphoria of discovering possibilities that expanded in our country in the first half of the 1990s. What was only to be suspected or observed through the torn seams of the Iron Curtain in socialist Czechoslovakia suddenly became real and present after 1989. The intensity and abundance of stimuli that could be experienced in all spheres of social, cultural, and political life can be likened to transitioning from a garden swing to a theme park roller coaster. This period significantly shaped the understanding of architecture for Kraus and Sládeček and actually set their uniqueness, built on the conviction that order is meant to be continuously tested for its validity. The euphoria of the early 90s can help us understand how it is possible for two very differently situated and constituted personalities, who did not even meet personally during their studies, to find so many ideological and creative affinities.
Uniqueness, serendipity, noncompliance, or programmed opposition are some of the possible characteristics that could be attributed to both Kraus and Sládeček if we wanted to include these architects in contemporary architectural discourse. Others, less visible, include a focus on the periphery, which they equally perceive as a space of expressive freedom and immediacy. The organicness of the organization of city margins and the dissonance that prevails at the edges of places creates a specific poetry that serves as a source of inspiration for each of them.
Their susceptibility to situations and events at the margins is also related to their stylistic indeterminacy or openness to the materials used and their combinations. The choice of materials is more dependent on the economics of construction than on the aesthetic qualities of the materials. It cannot be claimed that the aesthetics of a building or its expression play an insignificant role for Kraus and Sládeček; however, the most dominant quality is the architectural space. Architectural space evokes the relationship of the human body to its immediate surroundings, and in the work of both architects, it does not matter whether it is formed with drywall or an onyx wall. As one walks through the realized works of Kraus and Sládeček, this is actually the first thing that comes to mind for the observer, as they realize that each of them attempts to answer the question of what architecture can do without if its main content is architectural space.
The tenacity for architectural space and the search for opportunities to fill it also requires a special strategy in finding commissions. The domain of both architects is small builders who have decided to build or alter their own house. Kraus, like Sládeček, utilizes such intentions to embed architectural space into the proposed building, much like a cuckoo lays its eggs in another's nest. This does not mean that they systematically avoid larger commissions; family buildings are simply the most suitable and accessible format to channel their architectural passion.
The similarity in the hierarchy of architectural values, with architectural space, artistic composition, conceptual approaches to solving the assigned tasks, and formal and material independence among the top, is a reason for the meeting of Kraus and Sládeček in the exhibition space. Referring to DIY and tinkering, which is typical for the landscape of urban periphery, each architect designed an object intended to interpret and characterize the architectural creations of the other. The basis of the mutual interpretation is a selection of four buildings that Kraus admires in Sládeček's work and vice versa. What has emerged in the exhibition space is a kind of spatial collage that simultaneously acts as a probe into the minds of both architects, emphasizing the main principles, motives, and sources of inspiration they believe support the other. The assembled objects and the dialogue created between them also show that architecture is not a destructive fate for either architect, but rather an open story that can be told in multiple ways without losing its persuasive power and appeal. On the contrary, playfulness is a way to show another horizon.

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