<VERSUS ARCHITECT in the academic year 2007/2008>

This academic year, the meetings on architecture VERSUS ARCHITECT will take place again. Following last year's series of eight evenings at the Czech Centre in Prague, where nearly forty guests related to architecture gathered, this year's cycle will be held in collaboration with the House of Arts in Brno and with the kind support of the Arts and Crafts University in Prague. The upcoming evenings, dramaturged by the studio A1Architects, will focus on the issues of public space - CITY VERSUS ARCHITECT.
The meetings will address these and similar questions: What is public space? Who is the public? How should we manage shared spaces and how should we not? Who has the right to decide? Are there alternatives to our cities and villages? What is a city and what is a landscape?

The themes of the Brno cycle will be as follows:

1) PLANNING VERSUS ARCHITECT (Wednesday, 21.11.07, 19:00, House of Lords from Kunštát)
To plan or not to plan? What does that mean exactly? Is it even possible to manage the organization of a city anymore? What should the goals be? What are the alternatives to the current system? What is good about it and what is not? Does it work anywhere? Where, how, and why? If we are to plan, who should do it and who shouldn't?

Guests: Zdeňka Vydrová, Roman Koucký, Radek Kolařík, Petr Pelčák.

2) TRANSPORT VERSUS ARCHITECT (Sunday, 20.02.08, 19:00, House of Lords from Kunštát)
Is mobility our victory or defeat? Does easy mobility carry costs? If not, who bears them? Is it possible to treat cars in an alternative way? Are we moving towards an American model? Can we still create meaningful urban forms and integrate current transport demands into them? What is the future of transport? Where do our demands stop?

3) URBANIZATION VERSUS ARCHITECT (Wednesday, 05.03.08, 19:00, House of Lords from Kunštát)
What are the prospects for our cities and their surroundings? What threats do we face, and what is unavoidable? What is good about it and why? Are there alternatives? What does the contemporary city do to humans? How do we live in a city whose form I did not choose? Do I have a chance to influence anything? Do large concepts make sense?

4) LANDSCAPE VERSUS ARCHITECT (Wednesday, 16.04.08, 19:00, House of Lords from Kunštát)
Does landscape still exist? What is it and how should we deal with it? What is the relationship between a city and the landscape? Can we protect it from urbanization? Is it necessary? Can the landscape be improved and can it be harmed? What should we ask in connection with it? Is the landscape mortal?

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In addition to the Brno cycle, VERSUS ARCHITECT is preparing for 2008 a pair of Prague lectures by Japanese architect Terunobu Fujimori. Alongside his active design practice, Fujimori is also an architectural historian and has been a professor and head of the studio at the University of Tokyo since 1985. In 2006, European architects had the chance to encounter his work at the Venice Biennale of Architecture in the Japanese pavilion, where he presented his work and theoretical contributions from the ROJO group, of which he is a member. Fujimori is currently a leading figure in the Japanese architectural scene, alongside Tadao Ando, Kengo Kuma, and Toyo Ito. The latest publication released in English that presents his work along with architects Isozaki, Ando, and Kuma, is a book dedicated to contemporary tea house realizations in Japan.

Besides his own work, Fujimori's personality is very interesting from the perspective of the history of Czech architecture. As a historian, he has explored the influence of architects of Czech origin on Japanese modernism. Architects Raymond, Letzel, and Feuerstein, along with Frank Lloyd Wright, are important names and milestones in the development of local architecture in the first half of the 20th century.

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VERSUS ARCHITEKT is a civic association whose ambition is to combine interdisciplinary perspectives, name problems, and promote diverse opinions in the field of architecture by gathering a mosaic of views and personal insights as a basis for increasing general awareness, open discussion, and friendly confrontation allowing mutual correction. On this basis, the organizers engage leading cultural figures in discussions about current topics. Each evening takes place individually according to agreements, requests, and the number of invited guests.

A separate audio and audiovisual recording of all presentations and subsequent discussions is made from each VERSUS ARCHITEKT meeting. Additionally, a written summary of individual contributions is created, some of which are provided by the authors for publication in their exact wording. The meetings take place with an audience present, are always broadcast live on the internet via the portal www.archiweb.cz, and these recordings are subsequently made available on the official website www.versusarchitekt.cz. After the official conclusion of the evening, the spaces of the House of Lords from Kunštát remain open, and the meeting continues informally.

We cordially invite both professionals and the general public.
Admission is free.