The book ARCHITECTURE 58–89 will be complemented by a March exhibition at CAMP

The new book from the Bigg Boss publishing house ARCHITEKTURA 58-89 with the subtitle The Captivating Story of Czech Pre-revolutionary Architecture was launched on the first day of March at the Prague Center for Architecture and Urban Planning. Visitors can view and read it throughout the month, enhanced by a 25-meter wide audiovisual installation.

For more than ten years, a new child of the Bigg Boss publishing house has been born – the two-volume set measures 30 centimeters and weighs 5.6 kilos. These dimensions are easier to understand when exploring the chapters, of which there are more than 40, each dedicated to an architect, author duo, or group that shaped the architectural face of the Czech Republic from 1958 to 1989. As a preview, let’s mention Karel Prager, Sial, Vera and Vladimir Machonin, Alena Šrámková, and Emil Přikryl. Each chapter describes the architect's persona and their work, fundamental phenomena associated with their creations, and includes a catalogue of their works. These texts are supplemented with 11 loosely conceived discussions with eyewitnesses. The book is intended to foster public familiarity with pre-revolutionary architecture, which is still an eyesore for many due to its political subtext.

Interestingly, the book features only period photographs. This is also the reason why some projects are missing photographs (they could not be traced). Vladimir 518 stated at a press conference: "In the first three years, when we were compiling the materials (period magazines, catalogues, books, scripts, personal meetings), we collected 8500 period photographs, and about 1200 are in the book." He later added that due to copyright issues, it is not possible to freely display the photographs. However, some of them have become part of the audiovisual installation.

The exhibition itself consists of a red counter with books, a cube made of wrapped two-volume sets of the book, and the aforementioned audiovisual installation. This expands and complements the book's content, artistically presenting a unique 25-meter wide wall in the main hall of CAMP, onto which an audiovisual work of approximately 20 minutes is projected. It is a collage of period photographs, sound recordings, 3D models, and documentary footage. The installation was created by Vladimir 518, with music provided by Ondřej Anděra, David Vrbík as the post-production supervisor, and Jan Zajíček responsible for the film entries. The architectural solution for the exhibition is by 0.5 Studio. The brochure for the exhibition contains photographs and excerpts from the book.

The exhibition is part of a project (which includes the book, an eight-part television series for Czech Television, and a feature documentary film in Czech-Slovak co-production) that Vladimir 518 presented at CAMP back in 2018 – the quartet of lectures entitled Architektura5889 can still be viewed on the campuj.online website. The film and television footage has already been shot, and work is currently underway on editing and post-production. The first outputs are expected at the end of the year. The exhibition in March will be complemented by a series of three lectures: Past (architecturally valuable buildings of the second half of the 20th century and the associated cases resulting in their irreversible loss), Present (current cases and the system of defining historical values of buildings from 1958-1989), and Future (the fates of buildings that already know their future).