Munich hosts the exhibition "Zlín - a Model City of Modernity"

On November 19, an exhibition titled “Zlín – A Model City of Modernity” was opened at the Museum of Architecture at the Technical University of Munich in the Pinakothek of Modern Art. This exhibition is an adaptation of the exhibition “The Baťa Phenomenon – Zlín Architecture 1910-1960,” organized by the National Gallery in Prague and the Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlín in the Prague Trade Fair Palace in the spring of this year. The exhibition presents to the German public the architectural development and socio-historical background of Zlín based on models, plans, photographs, and films. Original drawings and models related to the lesser-known Le Corbusier projects for Baťa are also presented – the regulation proposal for Greater Zlín, Baťa stores in France, the Baťa satellite in French Hellocourt, and the Baťa pavilion for the 1937 World Expo in Paris. Two publications are also being released: a catalog for this exhibition and a collection drawing on the themes and conclusions of the international symposium “Utopia of Modernity: Zlín,” which took place in May of this year in Prague and Zlín. The exhibition and publications were created as part of the “Zipp – Czech-German Cultural Projects” initiative of the Federal Cultural Foundation. More information at www.projekt-zipp.de/cz.

In the extensive English-language collection “A Utopia of Modernity: Zlín”, foreign and Czech architectural historians, architects, sociologists, and urban planners combine historical analyses with views of the current reality in Zlín and forecasts for the future of this city. They primarily address the question of how much Zlín can serve as a learning model for the future of urban planning and architecture. The distinct aesthetics of this city are illustrated by color and black-and-white photographs, plans, and film footage, encouraging a critical confrontation with the “Zlín phenomenon” – the problematic context of the promise of economic and social welfare on one hand and the completely regulated controlling architecture on the other. The collection will be distributed in the Czech Republic by Slovart and Kosmas (ISBN 978-3-86859-034-0).

The authors of the contributions include Daniel M. Abramson, Ivan Bergmann, Regina Bittner, Zdeněk Chládek, Lucie Galčanová, Adam Gebrian, Petr Hlaváček, Ladislava Horňáková, Svatopluk Jabůrek, Joan James, Igor Kovačevič, Rostislav Koryčánek, Dagmar Nová, Jiří Novotný, Ladislav Pastrnek, Zdeněk Pokluda, Nina Pope, Jitka Ressová, Jaroslav Rudiš, Andrea Scholtz, Vladimír Šlapeta, Annett Steinführer, Miroslava Štýbrová, Rostislav Švácha, Petr Szczepanik, Mariusz Szczygiel, Barbora Vacková, Petr Všetečka, and Karin Wilhelm.

The second publication being released in this context is a German-language catalog for the Munich exhibition “Zlín – A Model City of Modernity” (Zlín – Modellstadt der Moderne), published by Winfried Nerdinger in collaboration with Ladislava Horňáková and Radomíra Sedláková, also by JOVIS Publishing. It contains essays by renowned architectural historians illuminating the multifaceted development of Zlín and the Baťa concern from urban, architectural, and socio-historical perspectives. The image of the city that Le Corbusier called a “shining phenomenon” is completed by plans, photographs, and historical documents.

“Zlín – A Model City of Modernity” is an exhibition of the Museum of Architecture at the Technical University of Munich, the National Gallery in Prague, and the Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlín.

The exhibition and both publications are part of “Utopia of Modernity: Zlín,” the Zipp project - Czech-German cultural projects initiated by the German Federal Cultural Foundation.

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Zipp – Czech-German Cultural Projects
Initiative of the German Federal Cultural Foundation

Through the Zipp initiative – Czech-German cultural projects, the German Federal Cultural Foundation continues its series of bilateral cooperation programs with Eastern European countries. Zipp focuses on selected themes and issues that are socially relevant in both countries, such as the legacy of democratic movements, the handling of historical traumas, the experience of economic transformation processes after 1989, or the future of our cities. Since the beginning of 2008, projects in the areas of theater, film, radio, architecture, visual arts, and contemporary history have been realized within the thematic fields of “1968/1989,” “Utopia of Modernity: Zlín,” “Worlds of Life,” and “Kafka.”

More information at www.projekt-zipp.de/cz