Meeting: “The 1990s. Architecture during the early days of democratic transition”

October 27, 6 p.m.

Polish architecture of the early stages of democratic transition is a controversial phenomenon. It is often perceived as marked by clumsy designs, wasted architectural opportunities, and architects’ conceit and pretentiousness.

Sometimes it seems that even the architects themselves do not like it, when they refer to the example of Solpol in Wrocław and express embarrassment and disgust. However, there are also positive examples: the Manggha Centre of Japanese Art and Technology in Krakow or the building of the Warsaw University Library.

Like many aspects of social life, also the architecture of the early 1990s was born during the period of transition, balancing between the remnants of a centrally planned economy and the new realities of capitalism.

If architecture says something important about the condition of society, about its desires, aspirations and spiritual needs, what image of it emerges from the landscape of the early transition period? What happened to the creative energy released after this breakthrough?

Now, thirty years on, when these buildings become our youngest history, and we know much more about the mechanisms of democratic transition, a revision of existing positions is much needed.

We would analysed these questions starting with a screening of documentaries by Zyta Kusztra and Ewa P. Porębska, and a discussion with Łukasz Galusek, Ewa P. Porębska, and Michał Wiśniewski.

Guests: Ewa P. Porębska, Anna Syska

Host: Dr. Michał Wiśniewski

Patronage: Association of Polish Architects | Krakow branch

Venue: “The Ravens” hall

Biographica notes:

Ewa P. Porębska – architect, architecture critic, curator. She works to popularise the best models of global architecture. International expert, consultant, juror of competitions, including the European Union Mies van der Rohe Award and the Public Space Award. Since 1994, she has been the editor-in-chief of the architectural magazine “Architektura-murator”.

Anna Syska – architectural historian and architecture publicist. Author of the book "Spodek w Zenicie. Przewodnik po architekturze lat 1945–1989 w województwie śląskim". Her research interests focus on the cultural heritage of the Silesian Voivodeship and Western Małopolska, especially the architecture of the 20th century. She works as the Municipal Conservator of Monuments in Tychy. Author of a popular Instagram profile @to_tylko_architektura.

dr Michał Wiśniewski – a graduate of the Institute of Art History of the Jagiellonian University and the Faculty of Architecture of the Krakow University of Technology. He works at the International Cultural Centre, responsible for the postgraduate studies programme at the Academy of Heritage and the University of Economics in Krakow. Fulbright fellow (Columbia University). Co-founder and board member of the Institute of Architecture Foundation. He is interested in the relationship between modern architecture and politics.