Undulations. About landscapes and townscapes in the works of Slovak modernists

20.10 (Thursday), 18.00    
Undulations. About landscapes and townscapes in the works of Slovak modernists – a lecture by Dr Michał Burdziński within the cycle Art in Slovakia in the interwar period accom­panying the exhibition Košice Modernism.

Sophisticated modernity and the interwar cultural achieve­ments of Slovaks – a puzzling or even provocative combination of phrases, especially when set against the hackneyed legend of Janosik. However, it will become a driving force of a story on the richness of Slovak culture in the first half of the 20th century, caught up in stereotypes and self‑stereotypes as well as biased interpretations of researchers. The lecture contrib­utes to the efforts directed at recovering the heritage of mod­ernism in the former Eastern Czechoslovakia (moderna Slovenska) and of Slovak modernism (Slovenská moderna). This time the focus will be on what the Slovaks themselves could boast about: artistic visions of their own and foreign urban centres, and above all on the landscapes of their undulating native land, with the High Tatras as the backdrop.

Dr Michał Burdziński– expert in comparative studies, working for the Maso­via Museum in Płock. Studied in Kraków, Brno and Warsaw. His study vis­its include such cities as the Bratislava, Budapest, Lviv, Košice and Paris. He  investigates the history of modernist literature and art in Central Europe in the context of changes occurring on the entire continent.