{"id":12200,"date":"2025-01-30T14:00:17","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T14:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mck.krakow.pl\/wystawy\/architektura-niepodleglosci-w-europie-srodkowej\/"},"modified":"2025-05-27T13:31:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T13:31:07","slug":"architektura-niepodleglosci-w-europie-srodkowej","status":"publish","type":"wystawy","link":"https:\/\/mck.krakow.pl\/en\/wystawy\/architektura-niepodleglosci-w-europie-srodkowej\/","title":{"rendered":"Architecture of independence in Central Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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The end of World War I brought freedom to many nations of Central Europe, while for others it meant profound changes in their political and economic life. In the following decades war destruction, shifting borders and confrontation with the new post-war political reality made a profound impact on the development of culture and the shape of architecture in this part of Europe.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It was a short but very dynamic period. A mosaic of new countries emerged on the map of Central Europe. A dream that formed after the tragedy of the First World War was to regain stability, to introduce order into the world torn apart, to find a new system for nations that finally gained their desired subjectivity<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 says \u0141ukasz Galusek, the deputy director for programme policy at the ICC and one of the curators of the exhibition.\u00a0Now, one hundred years later, we can look back at the moment when this new order was formed; for many, this was a time to celebrate, for others this date still provokes reflections. We look at our part of the continent in a broad horizon, trying to embrace a wide spectrum of changes happening at the time, which were reflected in space, urban planning, and architecture<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Political changes cast former lively metropolises into oblivion, while provincial towns became capitals of new states or regions. The state\u2019s authority was expressed by the monumental forms of architecture that housed its institutions \u2013 newly built or redesigned \u2013 as well as of churches and public spaces that offered scenography for the theatre of power. It was also a moment of particularly powerful presence of conflicts of memory and the problem of dissonant and unwanted heritage. Independence meant not only the creation of new national symbols, but also the destruction of marks of foreign domination and their oblivion from collective memory. Success was enjoyed by modernism, which was developed to serve the poorest groups of society (e.g. new housing estates in Vienna, Bratislava, and Warsaw), but in time gained a new, luxurious form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The man of the future was envisioned as healthy and fit, while his body was to resemble a machine. Health and hygiene, sports and active leisure were considered factors of social and personal change as well as important vehicles of consolidation of new societies. This dynamic transformation was well illustrated by the evolution of spas and sports facilities. Sports halls, racing tracks, swimming pools, and stadiums able to accommodate thousands of viewers were a visible sign of modernisation and a perfect tool for propagandist messages communicated by the newly emerged states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This multimedia exhibition was addressed to art viewers without any age restrictions, both to the lovers and scholars of architectural history and applied arts, as well as to those interested in cultural and social changes of the early 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The makers of this exhibition wished to show a multi-layered nature of the subject matter through the presentation of archive architecture designs, original photographs from the period, films, as well as visualisations and models of architecture designed into the 1920s and \u201830s. Maps illustrating dynamically shifting borders of countries that regained independence will be shown as an integral part of the exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Curators<\/div>
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dr \u0141ukasz Galusek<\/div>\n
Programme Director of the International Cultural Centre<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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dr \u017banna Komar<\/div>\n
Exhibition Curator at the International Cultural Centre<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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Helena Postawka-Lech<\/div>\n
Exhibition Curator<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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dr Micha\u0142 Wi\u015bniewski<\/div>\n
Head of the Educational Centre \u2013 Heritage Academy at the International Cultural Centre<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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Natalia \u017bak<\/div>\n
Exhibition Curator at the International Cultural Centre<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n
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Curators<\/div>\n \n
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dr \u0141ukasz Galusek<\/div>\n
Programme Director of the International Cultural Centre<\/div>\n \n
\n Deputy Programme Director at the International Cultural Centre in Krakow.\r\nHe specialises in the culture and art of Central Europe, with a particular focus on the relationship between space, memory, and identity. He is the author of over 150 scholarly publications on the cultural heritage of Central Europe, as well as issues related to memory and cultural education. His works include Jo\u017ee Ple\u010dnik. Architect and Visionary (Krakow 2006) and The Borderlands Rediscovered: The Shared Heritage of Poland and Ukraine (Krakow 2007).\r\n\r\nHe has co-authored and curated exhibitions introducing Central European art and heritage to Polish audiences, including presentations on Slovenia (2006), Poland and Ukraine (2007), Romania (2013), and Croatia (2017). <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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dr \u017banna Komar<\/div>\n
Exhibition Curator at the International Cultural Centre<\/div>\n \n
\n Art and architecture historian, curator.\r\nShe works at the Institute of European Heritage at the International Cultural Centre in Krakow. She has curated several major exhibitions, including Ukraine. Mutual Gazes (2021\/2022), Architecture of Independence in Central Europe (2018\/2019), and Lviv, 24 June 1937: City, Architecture, Modernism (2017\/2018).\r\nShe is the author of the book The Third City of Galicia: Stanis\u0142aw\u00f3w and Its Architecture during the Galician Autonomy Period (Krakow 2008). <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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Helena Postawka-Lech<\/div>\n
Exhibition Curator<\/div>\n \n
\n Art historian and graduate of the Institute of Art History at the Jagiellonian University.\r\nFrom 2010 to 2020, she was affiliated with the International Cultural Centre in Krakow as a curator of public programmes. She specialises in art criticism and regularly collaborates with various cultural institutions, including the Ma\u0142opolska Institute of Culture in Krakow. For the Institute, she developed a trail of interwar architecture in Krynica and prepared the presentation Modernist Ma\u0142opolska as part of the Virtual Museums of Ma\u0142opolska project. <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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dr Micha\u0142 Wi\u015bniewski<\/div>\n
Head of the Educational Centre \u2013 Heritage Academy at the International Cultural Centre<\/div>\n \n
\n Architectural historian, graduate in art and architectural history.\r\nAssistant Professor at the Department of Economic and Social History \/ UNESCO Chair for Heritage and Urban Studies at the Krakow University of Economics, and Head of the Educational Centre \u2013 Heritage Academy at the International Cultural Centre in Krakow.\r\n\r\nA Fulbright scholar, he is the author of numerous academic and popular publications on 19th- and 20th-century architecture in Krakow and Poland, including monographs on Krakow-based architects Ludwik Wojtyczko, Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz, and Tomasz Ma\u0144kowski.\r\n\r\nHe is a board member of the Institute of Architecture Foundation and co-author of exhibitions and publications developed by the Institute’s team. <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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Natalia \u017bak<\/div>\n
Exhibition Curator at the International Cultural Centre<\/div>\n \n
\n Art historian and curator.\r\nNatalia has collaborated with art galleries in Poland and abroad. At the International Cultural Centre in Krakow, she co-curated several exhibitions, including Not Only Bauhaus: Interwar German Photography and Polish Traces (2021) and Photobloc: Central Europe in Photobooks (Krakow 2019\/2020; Olomouc 2020; Vilnius 2021). <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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