First lecture from the series "Wednesdays at AVU"

March 17, 2010, 18:00, Digilab AVU (lecture hall) – 3rd floor
Academy of Fine Arts, U Akademie 4, Prague 7

Henrieta Moravčíková
The Monumentality of Late Modernism: Ideological or Architectural?

In current evaluations of late modernism architecture in Slovakia, monumentality is often mentioned as one of the characteristic manifestations of the "normalized" regime. While we do not wish to question the dependency between the political regime's desire for representation and monumental expressions in architecture, we must concede that monumentality in Slovak architecture was not exclusively a product of political demand. A closer examination of the Slovak architectural scene in the 20th century reveals that various stimuli led to monumental expressions, and their forms were diverse. The lecture will focus on manifestations of monumentality in the architecture of the second half of the 20th century in Slovakia in relation to the international discussion on monumentality. It will compare the monumentality in Slovak architecture during the 50s, 60s, and 70s, respectively the 80s. It analyzes the relationship between modern abstraction and monumentality. It will highlight the historical and social reasons or stimuli that led to the presence of monumental tendencies in Slovak architecture during the 60s and 70s. It will outline the significance attributed to monumentality by architects and clients. It will attempt to illuminate intentional and involuntary expressions of monumentality in Slovak architecture. It will touch upon the current reception of monumental architecture by both professional and lay audiences.

Doc. Dr. Ing. arch. Henrieta Moravčíková works as a research worker and head of the Department of Architecture at the Institute of Construction and Architecture of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. She focuses on the theory, history, and criticism of 20th and 21st-century architecture. She is an editor and a member of the editorial board of the scientific journal Architecture & Urbanism. From 1997 to 2009, she was the editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine Arch about architecture and other culture. Since 2000, she has served as the chairwoman of the Slovak working group of DOCOMOMO – the international organization for the research and protection of modern architecture. She has published several monographs and dozens of studies and critiques on 20th and 21st-century architecture. She has organized numerous domestic and international architectural exhibitions. She is a co-author (with M. Dull) of the extensive book publication Architecture of Slovakia in the 20th Century (Slovart 2002) and the compiler of the first comprehensive monograph on Slovak architecture Architecture in Slovakia: A Brief History (Slovart 2005). She collaborated with L. Kaboš on the first feature-length documentary about modern architecture in Slovakia, produced by Slovak Television in 2008. She lectures at the third level of higher education at the Faculty of Architecture STU. She is a recipient of the Literary Fund Award and the Martin Kusý Award for theoretical work in the field of architecture.

Dates of upcoming lectures:
April 14, 2010 Zdeněk Hölzel
April 28, 2010 Rostislav Švácha
May 12, 2010 Osamu Okamura