Exhibition of Photographs: Whispering and Defenseless

16.3. -13.4.2007
Czech Center in Vienna
Herrengasse 17
1010 Vienna

The photo exhibition includes 50 large-format black-and-white panoramas from the calendars Šumná and bezbranná, which loosely follows the television series Šumná města. The project was created by architect David Vávra and director Radovan Lipus, and the photographs were taken by young Ostrava photographer Michael Míček. Contemporary photographs will be complemented by archival period images of the given objects, accompanying texts, and poems by both authors. The exhibition aims to draw attention to endangered, abandoned, and often devastated monuments and objects of modern architecture from the 19th and 20th centuries in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia.

Part of the exhibition will be the screening of new episodes of the television series Šumná města, and a Czech-English-German accompanying catalog will be published.
The exhibition will tour Czech and Moravian cities throughout 2007 and 2008. Under the auspices of Czech centers, it will also visit abroad (Vienna, Tokyo, Beijing, Sofia, Dresden, Stockholm, Bratislava, Košice, and others).

The television series Šumná města has been broadcast with minor interruptions on Czech Television over the past nearly ten years. More than 50 episodes have been produced. In 2007, viewers will see some reruns of older episodes, but also further continuations of the series, primarily newly filmed cities: Písek, Strakonice, Horažďovice (an episode covering all 3 cities titled Otava), Moravská and Česká Třebová, Jihlava, Litomyšl, Beroun, Šumava, Znojmo, Trutnov, Příbram, and Tábor.

The calendar ŠUMNÁ A BEZBRANNÁ was first published five years ago. The authors are both protagonists of the TV series Šumná města, architect David Vávra and director Radovan Lipus. It is published by Happy Materials in cooperation with the Civic Association Šumná města. The artistic aspect was contributed by artist Pavel Šťástný.
The calendar aims to highlight deteriorating architectural monuments and objects primarily from the 19th and 20th centuries and to stimulate interest among their owners or potential sponsors for their rescue. In 2004, it won the 1st prize in the competition for "Best Calendar of 2004".
The patrons of the calendars became Doc. Jiří T. Kotalík and architect Zdeněk Lukeš.


Architect and architectural historian Zdeněk Lukeš:

"In our country, there are many beautiful monuments, indeed far more than in many other countries. We are also appropriately proud of them. But only of some – the modified, decorated ones. We are not very proud of the others, which are slowly falling apart (if they have not completely fallen apart already) or which have been brutally rebuilt; we are even a little ashamed of them sometimes. However, we are probably not ashamed enough, because otherwise there would not be so many sad monuments to our indifference around us. Often, these are works by outstanding artists. The worst area is the Sudeten region, where you can even find a swimming pool in the middle of a valuable cemetery with classicist gravestones made of Carrara marble, and this is just a few hundred meters from the recently completed Building of Reconciliation – a library and a synagogue. You can see this scenery in the center of Liberec. If you look at the images in this calendar, you will discover many such treasures waiting for their rehabilitation. The question is whether they will eventually receive it.... Yes, time is running, and we should not be indifferent, but rather we should start as soon as possible to save them. If we are truly a cultural country, as we like to claim, it is our direct duty."

Doc. Jiří T. Kotalík:

"Šumná města are a phenomenon and an established certainty. In a cultivated and imaginative way, they bring us closer to our architectural heritage, deepen our knowledge, and accentuate the significance of modern architecture in the broader context of our environment. They often discover forgotten or completely unknown values of 19th and 20th-century objects. This specific group of buildings is, in fact, the most numerous layer of our heritage fund, and without realizing it, it dominantly shapes the appearance of our cities. At the same time, it also represents a risky set, which is potentially threatened by disinterest, neglect of maintenance, loss of use, and gradual decay, often leading to decay and merciful demolition.
The reason for this threat is primarily ignorance and lack of information, as these objects are not understood as monuments by the majority of the population due to their relative "youth." That is why the Civic Association Šumná města has dedicated itself to the laudable effort of contributing to the rehabilitation and rescue of some objects that were presented in the series and whose condition is, to say the least, alarming. The result of its efforts is also the remarkable calendar you have in front of you. It commemorates some modern buildings that are important milestones in architectural development, authentic testimonies of the time of their creation, and an integral part of the image of the place in which they were built. These buildings currently need our interest and our care."