PRIOR - a nine-day audiovisual workshop in Brno

4AM Forum for Architecture and Media in collaboration with the Faculty of Architecture invites you to a 9-day audiovisual workshop led by the studio Locument (Romea Muryń/PL, Francisco Lobo/PT).

The collaborative audiovisual project, situated between documentary and video essay, aims to conceptually address several layers – with the demolition of the department store, a certain era of modernist urban planning comes to an end, the unique materiality of brutalism and the architecture of the 1970s and 80s irreversibly fades away, and the way of selling transforms along with the related demands on commercial spaces. While the sales areas of the shopping center strive to keep up with the times, warehouses and administrative parts are cleared out and prepared for their inevitable end. Given the unfavorable circumstances, we understand this as a unique and also final opportunity to capture this transitional phase in the life of the building. In addition to the main actor – the department store building – it is also essential to observe all the driving forces behind the demolition process and the transformation of the city center. 


Former OD PRIOR, today's OC Dornych, represents one of the last brutalist buildings standing in close proximity to the historical center of Brno. However, its fate follows the "trend" of architecture from the second half of the last century – its demolition has been planned and approved. The squandered opportunity for the city to purchase the department store and the chance to thoroughly consider the future of this strategic plot means another generic development project for a multipurpose building with offices. The qualities of nearly intact architecture from the 1980s are disappearing before our eyes.

Schedule of events:

October 9–17
Audiovisual workshop with studio Locument 
/ Audiovisual workshop led by studio Locument 
(for registered participants)


October 9, 18:00
Presentation of studio Locument in the warehouse spaces of OC Dornych
/ On-site presentation of studio Locument: Examples and inspiration
(public event)


October 17, 18:00
Screening and presentation of workshop results at OC Dornych
/ On-site final presentation of the workshop outcomes
(public event)
 
Participation in the workshop and admission to accompanying events is free! The workshop and lectures will be conducted in English.

Locument is a research studio that connects filmmaking with architecture and urban research. In their projects, they use architecture and film as analytical, critical, and subversive tools to highlight and analyze current issues. They see the importance of observing rapidly changing social conditions through influential factors such as technology, economy, politics, and urban environments. Locument's films have been presented internationally at exhibitions and film festivals, such as the 15th International Architecture Exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia, the 18th International Architecture Exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia in Italy, the 25th Design Biennale in Ljubljana, Slovenia, the Arquiteturas Film Festival in Portugal, and more... They have collaborated with institutions such as the Department of Architecture at MIT, the Faculty of Architecture at Chulalongkorn University in INDA, Nikola-Lenivets Classroom, and the Polish Union of Student Architects (OSSA).

The event is held with financial support from the Faculty of Architecture of the Brno University of Technology and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.

More information >