Modernism Protected by Law
Conference

  • Modernism Protected by Law

The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw would like to invite you to a conference titled “Modernism Protected by Law”, organized in relation to the termination of the Museum's activities at the former Emilia furniture pavilion.

The subject of protecting post-war modernism has been a very emotional one for the last several years, and the disappearing of buildings is eliciting more and more social disapproval and gaining the interest of public opinion. In the case of Warsaw, those conflicts often arise around the replacing of valuable buildings created by well-known modernist architects with buildings from noted contemporary designers, which heats up the atmosphere even more. This process sees a clash of different visions of the city - a tall, skyscraper-filled Warsaw, and a capital that treats its heritage with more empathy. The participants of the conference will look at the difficult situation of the representatives of Polish modernism.

The meeting will begin with a several hour long Modernism defenders’ marathon, during which guests from all over the country - researchers, art historians and activists - will tell stories of the loss or preservation of the most important examples of modernist architecture from Poland's communist era. The main characters of the first day of the conference will include the Chemistry Auditorium in Wroclaw, PKS Bus Station in Kielce, Cracovia Hotel in Cracow, Wrocław's “Manhattan”, the railway station in Katowice and objects from Warsaw, such as the Supersam supermarket, Praha movie theater, SKS Warszawianka stadium, Syreni Śpiew or the Emilia furniture pavilion. The second day will be an open discussion on legal issues, which will include two themed panels with lawyers, researchers and architecture conservators.

The first one, titled “The current state of research on modernism”, moderated by Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University professor Jakub Lewicki, will present the voices of scientists and theoreticians related to the protection and conservation of historical buildings, including dr hab. Hanna Grzeszczuk-Brendel, professor Sławomir Gzell, professor Joanna Olenderek, professor Andrzej K. Olszewski, dr hab. Maria Jolanta Sołtysik, dr hab. Andrzej Szczerski. The panel will be accompanied by a question on the role of research in architecture conservation and restoration. It will present the key centers of architecture history and the challenges facing researchers. The second panel - “Modernism protected by law” - will be led by Katarzyna Zalasińska, representing the Historical Building Protection Society. The audience will learn more about the issue of protecting modernism from the point of view of people actively working for the protection of Polish modernism. Speakers will include Michał Krasucki (Warsaw Historic Preservation Office), Mikołaj Kołacz (Monuments of Mokotow Association), Anna Fogel and Jacek Brudnicki.

The conference will end with a promotional event for the book “Emilia: furniture, museum, modernism” published by the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and Wydawnictwo Karakter. The book is a unique portrait of one of the most interesting examples of post-war modernism and one of Warsaw's last remaining commercial pavilions from this era. It is described in the context of the reconstruction of Warsaw's city center and the absurdities of socialist commerce by historian Błażej Brzostek and other architecture historians. It also presents the history of the “museum in the furniture store” - the last few years when Emilia became one of the most popular and liked places on the cultural map of Warsaw. Art historians and conservators, in a discussion titled “It started with the activists. What now?”, look for an answer to the question why the best examples of Polish modernism are now being destroyed to make place for new buildings, and how to protect such architecture. The texts are accompanied by a great number of archival photographs, ground plans and previously unpublished architectural designs, as well as movie stills from cult Polish comedies in which Emilia was the background (films by Stanisław Bareja or Tadeusz Chmielewski's “I Hate Mondays”). The book includes the photographic documentation of the building prepared by the brilliant Polish-German architecture photographer Maja Wirkus.

Thursday, May 12, 2016

4:00 PM Modernism defenders’ marathon

Tomasz Fudala, Patrycja Jastrzębska – moderators
Łukasz Wojciechowski - renovation of Wrocław's “Manhattan”
Krzysztof Ziental - Chemistry Auditorium in Wrocław
architect Grzegorz A. Buczek – CDT department store
Gosia Kucewicz - Warsaw Cross-city Line railway stations
Cezary Polak – Uniwersam store
Alicja Gzowska – Katowice railway station
Cezary Lisowski - Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń assembly hall
Piotr Kibort – Praha cinema
Patrycja Jastrzębska – SKS Warszawianka stadium
Katarzyna Domagalska – Sady Żoliborskie residential complex
Grzegorz Mika - the pavilion of the former Powiśle hotel (Syreni Śpiew)
Paweł Giergoń – Supersam store
Michał Wiśniewski – Cracovia Hotel
Gosia Kuciewicz - Moskwa cinema

Friday, May 13, 2016

12:00 noon The current state of research on modernism

prof. Jakub Lewicki – moderator
dr hab. Hanna Grzeszczuk-Brendel
prof. Joanna Olenderek, Politechnika Gdańska
prof. Andrzej K. Olszewski, Uniwersytet Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego

3:00 - 5:00 PM Modernism protected by law

Katarzyna Zalasińska – moderator
Michał Krasucki
Mikołaj Kołacz
Jacek Brudnicki
Anna Fogel

6:00 - 7:30 PM “Emilia: furniture, museum, modernism” book release

Marcel Andino Velez
dr Błażej Brzostek
Tomasz Fudala
Maja Wirkus


 

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