Architecture in Process

PRESS RELEASE: NOVEMBER 24, 2022

EXHIBITION: Architecture in Process
OPENING: 24. 11. 2022 at 6:30 PM
DURATION: until 12. 3. 2023
LOCATION: Museum of Modern Art - Salon, Cabinet
CURATORS: Klára Jeništová, Martina Mertová
GRAPHIC: Vladimír Vaca
TRANSLATION: Simon Gill
PHOTOGRAPHY: Zdeněk Sodoma, Malý Chmel studio, Eva Kvaššayová
RESTAURANT: Veronika Klimszová, Anežka Jadlovská
EXHIBITION INSTALLATION: Daniel Opletal, Vlastimil Sedláček, Filip Šindelář
GUIDING PROGRAMS: David Hrbek, Denisa Tessenyi
AUDIOVISION: Tomáš Jurníček

Photographs and Descriptions download HERE

The exhibition "Architecture in Process" is a probe into the work and complex thinking of an architect. It explores what is behind the final form of buildings, what steps lead to them and how architects embody their three-dimensional ideas. In a thematic selection until 12 March 2023, the Olomouc Museum of Art presents the best of its collection of architecture, which has grown to an impressive twenty-two thousand items since the late 1970s.

"It was the process of forming a collection full of sketches, drawings and models that inspired us to find the curatorial key to the exhibition, in which architecture itself is viewed in the process of its creation. Visitors will be introduced to all the steps in the search for the ideal solution to architectural tasks and to the maturation of architectural creation in general. They will trace with us the initial impulses of school drills, the consolidation of their own manuscript, personal commitment or practice made difficult by the conditions of the time," explains curator Klára Jeništová.

The exhibition includes drawings, models and projections of realised projects and unrealised visions, both by renowned and completely forgotten architects. The selection of exhibits from the MUO collections crosses the timeline from the 19th century to the present day. "Visitors will encounter the works of famous names such as Jan Kotěra, Lubomír and Čestmír Šlapet, Alena Šrámková, the Machonins, Václav Aulický, as well as works by younger artists, for example from the Malý Chmel architectural studio. However, the exhibition also includes a fresh diploma thesis from the Prague School of Applied Arts," says Martina Mertová, co-author of the exhibition.

The quality of the exhibits is not always the main criterion - sometimes they serve more as an illustration of the phenomenon under study. "As an example, I can cite the various stages of the search and sketching of buildings or, for example, the change of the project under the pressure of aesthetic norms with the advent of socialist realism. At the same time, some of the exhibits touch on the museum as a collecting and educational institution - they are meant to raise questions about what else is or is not worth preserving. And also how to influence the public to see other contexts and beauty where they would not look for it, and to free themselves from simplistic categories of evaluation: like - dislike," adds Klára Jeništová. 

THE ARCHITECTURAL OFFICE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MUSEUM

Part of the exhibition will be devoted to purely contemporary work. "In order to bring people closer to todays practice, the exhibition will feature a real architectural office. We hope that the audience will also be interested in the changing approaches in the work process of architects," says Martina Mertová. "On the basis of an open call, we selected the architectural studio Amulet with architects Petr Bureš, Alžbětová Žabová and Jan Skoček. They will be working on their own projects and on the architectural design of the museums sculpture exhibition, which will take place in 2023. People will therefore be able to communicate with the architects and follow their work in the process of creation," says Martina Mertová. 

The exhibition is accompanied by a seventy-page catalogue in which most of the works on display are reprinted. In addition to chapters structured in accordance with the exhibitions libretto, it introduces visitors to the history and concept of Olomoucs architecture collection, which is one of the largest collections in the care of Czech museums, alongside the National Gallery, the National Technical Museum and the Brno City Museum. "The long-term effort of the Olomouc Museum of Art is to educate in the field of urban planning, architecture and conservation. We believe that this exhibition also has the potential to appeal to the general public, including child visitors, for whom our lecturers are preparing an interesting accompanying programme," concludes Klára Jeništová.

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