Exhibition Shumná and Defenseless in Kostelec nad Orlicí

Photography Exhibition includes 65 large-format panoramic black-and-white photographs from the Sumna and Defenseless calendars from the last few years. The exhibition aims to highlight endangered monuments and architectural objects from the 19th and 20th centuries in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia.
Part of the exhibition includes discussions with the authors and screenings of new episodes of the television series Sumna Cities, which the exhibition loosely follows. A Czech-English-German catalog has been published for the exhibition.

During 2007 and 2008, the exhibition traveled through Czech and foreign cities and metropolises. It started its journey in March 2007 at the Czech Center in Vienna, then it was presented in Brno, Budapest, Ostrava, Stockholm, Rome, Tokyo, Uštěk, Bratislava, Prague at Museum Kampa, and at the Horse Stable of the Sovovy mlýny. In 2009, due to high interest, the exhibition continues in Písek, Dresden, Dublin, Kostelec nad Orlicí, Most, and in September 2009 at the Czech Center in New York.

Authorial and Production Team of the Exhibition
Sumna and Defenseless 2003-2009

Project Author: Civic Association Sumna Cities
Exhibition Organizer: Happy Materials, s.r.o.
Photographs: Michael Míček
Authors of Accompanying Texts and Poems: Radovan Lipus and David Vávra
Exhibition Architect: David Vávra
Graphic Design: Pavel Šťastný
Production: Tomáš Hendrych

The exhibition is held under the auspices of the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel Schwarzenberg

General Partner of the Exhibition: Hochtief CZ, a.s.
Main Partner of the Exhibition: Winkhaus CZ, s.r.o.
Exhibition Partners: Axom Kladno, s.r.o. and Happy Materials, s.r.o.
Media Partners: Archiweb.cz, ERA21, Stavba, Architekt
Support for the Exhibition: Czech Centers

Zdeněk Lukeš, architect and architecture historian, said about the exhibition:

In the Czech Republic, there are many beautiful monuments, far more than in many other countries. We are also suitably proud of them. But only of some - those that are well-kept, adorned. We are not very proud of the others, those that are slowly falling apart (if they haven't completely collapsed) or those that have been brutally rebuilt; we are sometimes a bit ashamed of them. However, we are probably ashamed very little, because otherwise, there wouldn't be so many sad monuments of our indifference around us. Yet, these are often works of outstanding artists. The worst area is the Sudetenland, where you can find, for instance, a swimming pool in the middle of a valuable cemetery with neoclassical tombstones made of Carrara marble, and that's just a few hundred meters from the recently completed Building of Reconciliation - a library and synagogue. You can see this scene in the center of Liberec.
This exhibition was created on the basis of the extraordinarily successful television cycle Sumna Cities. In this series, director Radovan Lipus and architect David Vávra gradually presented the architectural heritage of various places. However, the authors decided to ignore "classical" monuments - castles, chateaus, strongholds, palaces, Gothic and Baroque churches and chapels, or distinctive folk buildings. They focused on a theme that until recently did not interest anyone much: the architecture and urbanism of the 19th and 20th centuries, including a look at issues of peripheries or devastation.

Interview with Radovan Lipus and David Vávra

Few have missed the title of the television cycle Sumna Cities. However, can you explain how the entire cycle came about?
D.V. The idea to film a documentary intended to rehabilitate Ostrava's architecture of the late 19th and 20th centuries and primarily industrial architecture was born in Radovan Lipus's mind in 1995 in the form of a "street movie" called Sumna Ostrava. And thus, entirely by chance, the shape of the entire cycle emerged. Thanks to positive viewer responses, two more episodes were filmed at the Ostrava television studio, and then, already in Prague's production, another 15. Due to the unflagging interest of the audience and the generosity of Czech Television, another 14 final episodes were created in 2007-2008 so that essentially the whole territory of the Czech Republic (except for Prague and Brno) was covered, and the total number reached the symbolic number of 66 - thus "Sixty-six Sumna Cities".

How did the now-famous epithet "sumna" come about?
R.L.: From 1994 to spring 2004, my performance "scenic hiccups" Continuous O(s)trava of Blood ran continuously at the Komorní Scéna Aréna; it ended with a couplet from the 1930s called Sumna Ostrava. When I was writing a document about Ostrava, the title was obvious, but I never imagined it would take off like that!

How is the selection of cities and the creation of the script carried out?
D.V. First and foremost, there must be interesting architecture from the 19th and 20th centuries in that city. We have all these cities embedded in our subconscious since we were young. Both of us are involved in theater, which also involves a lot of traveling. I also really enjoy cycling, and Radek is an active tourist. So we have experienced these cities for
15-20, some even 30 years. When we decide on some, we look for a local expert advisor - an art historian, historian, or architect who guides us to several buildings we had no idea about. The expert advisor also corrects the script texts and adds art-historical information or historical and contextual connections. Each of the creators visits the chosen city once or twice and writes an outline of the script. Then everyone goes there for inspections, with the production team, props master, sometimes even with the cameraman. Based on these insights, the script is then developed.

R.L. We pride ourselves on ensuring that all provided information is verified and serious, even though it may be presented in a somewhat unserious light-hearted manner. We carefully prepare and study for the filming of each episode; the factual accuracy is always assured by expert advisors. So, we arrive for filming with a relatively solid script that allows for little room for improvisation. Still, it occasionally happens that we change the prepared script. For example, while filming in Děčín, two local art historians approached us and pointed out an unknown, wonderfully preserved Art Deco villa with original furnishings, including plans. So, we changed our relatively firm filming schedule, cut something, and shot the villa on the go. So such - albeit exceptional - cases do happen.

So who is the author of the scripts?
R.L. I wrote the first ten scripts myself, with David tweaking, adding, or adjusting parts. Then it became quite overwhelming for me - alongside my intensive work at the theater - and we started to alternate. So one writes the given episode and the other serves as an opponent, a provocateur, a doubter, or a skeptic, or conversely, adds poems and rhymes. This seems to be the completely optimal model.

What is the project Sumna and Defenseless?
R.L.: So that we don't shoot solitary arrows only during filming, we established the Civic Association Sumna Cities, which again draws attention to endangered buildings. We have already published 4 calendars Sumna and Defenseless with photographs of fifty buildings that we believe deserve more care. Michael Míček's photographs from the calendars then formed the basis for the traveling exhibition of the same name. Its intention is the same as that of Sumna Cities - to familiarize visitors with the beauty of disappearing architecture in the Czech Republic. When we prepared the exhibition, we found out that half of those photographs are no longer valid today. Mostly because something is being done with the objects we highlighted.

The exhibition Sumna and Defenseless is traveling. Where has it traveled?
D.V.: The partners of the exhibition are Czech Centers and it has been under the auspices of the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Karel Schwarzenberg. The exhibition premiered at the Czech Center in Vienna last March. It was then presented at the Czech Center in Budapest, Stockholm, Rome, and most recently this March in Tokyo.

So now we will finally see the exhibition in the Czech Republic?
D.V.: It had its Czech premiere during the construction fair in Brno in the spring of last year, where a very successful installation was achieved in the circular pavilion Y. In the fall, it was also presented in Ostrava in the attractive environment of the national cultural monument Důl Michal. The exhibition included a two-hour guided tour during the vernissage with Radovan Lipus and during the finale with me. This fall, the exhibition will be presented in the representative spaces of the horse stable at Sovovy Mlýny on Prague's Kampa, where the Jane and Meda Mládková Foundation is located.

Such a non-commercial project is certainly very costly, and it cannot do without the support of sponsors.
D.V. The general partner of this year's edition of the exhibition is the joint-stock company HOCHTIEF CZ. It is pleasing that a construction company that makes fundamental, often concrete imprints on the Czech landscape is starting to concern itself with the protection of small, often disappearing historical details through collaboration with the Sumna and Defenseless association. If the mutual cooperation on the Sumna and Defenseless exhibition proves successful, it would make sense to continue it.
The exhibition is also partnered with Winkhaus CR s.r.o., a leading German manufacturer of door and window fittings, which has systematically supported the Sumna and Defenseless project for the third year running. Winkhaus has also implemented the replacement of the system of general and main keys for the Dobeška Cultural House, the home stage of Theater Sklep.

During the vernissage, the calendar Sumna and Defenseless for 2009 will be launched. Where can the calendar be purchased?
R.L. The calendar will be available in several selected bookstores in Prague, or it can be ordered on delivery from the Civic Association Sumna Cities. By buying the calendar, you support the operation of this civic association, whose main goal is to draw attention to neglected modern architecture, which we are raising awareness of in this way. We already have practical experience that by publishing some objects in the calendar, we have managed - I wouldn't say to save them, but to initiate or launch activities aimed at their rescue.

The TV series Sumna Cities has had phenomenal success, which has demanded further and further continuations. Do you feel that your journey is coming to an end? Are you planning another project to popularize architecture?
D.V. With the current number of 66 episodes, we had to stop somewhat forcibly. Sumna Cities has been created over 13 years, and the main protagonist has aged and turned gray. We feel that after all these years, we should come up with some other form. Until now, we haven't mapped Prague and Brno; we have focused on individual cities, and now perhaps we will focus on significant Czech architects. We definitely would not like to dissolve the Sumna team, which has created a unique connected group that has experienced and endured a lot. So we will see what will emerge.