enczsksiplhudeitsvhrespt
/ enMain menu 
Navigation:  PROJECT TACE / ARTICLES / Does a national architecture exist?, asks the large TACE exhibition
11.2.2010 |

Does a national architecture exist?, asks the large TACE exhibition

Is the National Theatre in Prague ‘just’ a display case for domestic culture, or is it also a symbol of Czech architecture? And how has the national awareness of Poles, Hungarians, Slovenians, Slovaks, and Russians been reflected in the past two centuries in their main theatre buildings? These and other questions are raised by the major exhibition project ‘Beyond Everydayness’, which will be welcomed this year and next year in metropolises throughout Europe and will present around seventy different theatre buildings. The exhibition has been created as part of the multi-year project TACE (Theatre Architecture in Central Europe) and its curator is the architect Igor Kovačevič and his team.

‘Theatre has been described as the pillar of national culture and language. It seems that even architecture is not immune to national or nationalistic attributes. Is that a good or a bad thing? Finding an answer to this question is also the object of this exhibition’, says Igor Kovačevič. ‘Beyond Everydayness’ will have its premiere showing from 26 March to 30 April this year in Budapest, from where it will travel to the National Technical Library in Prague, where it will be open to the public from 12 May to 6 June. The exhibition will be welcomed in Warsaw in July, in Bratislava in September, and from there it will go to Ljubljana. Details are available at: www.theatre-architecture.eu.
 
The changing appearances of theatre buildings and theatre spaces generally over time is an appealing theme in Central Europe given the multicultural composition of the region. Defining a comprehensible pattern of architectural events in the given region is one of the goals of the exhibition. The curators set the exhibition along two axes: current state organisation and linear chronology. This concept is reflected in the imaginative architectural interpretation of the exhibition, which recalls a musical staff.
 
‘Although at the start of the work we felt that everything worth saying had already been said, the opposite is true. The 19th century, for instance, is very exciting, at that time architecture functioned as a medium, a medium we no longer know how to read today. At first glance a person could tell from the many symbols whether the structure was German, Czech, or Jewish, and how the given enclave is doing’, states Igor Kovačevič, who claims that thorough synthesis of a theme showed how architects in Central Europe were able to work towards an exclusivity of their space and to limit the very widespread copying of the ‘global’ style.
 
Each country will be represented by a selection of around a dozen theatre buildings or theatres spaces. The selection for the Czech Republic will include, for instance, the National Theatre, Alfred in the Courtyard Theatre and, unique to Europe, the apartment theatre of Vlasta Chramostová. Next to the Theater an der Wien and the Burgtheater we will also find the modern building of the MUMUTH musical theatre in Graz, which was only opened to the public last year. Poland is represented, for example, by the Opera Krakowska, opened in 2008, or the historical building of the Great Theatre – National Opera in Warsaw. From Slovak theatre architecture visitors to the exhibition will not only be able to compare the new and the historical buildings of the Slovak National Theatre, but also learn about, for instance, the Noble Theatre in Hlohovec. The examples of Hungarian theatre architecture will include the new National Theatre in Budapest and the Hungarian Theatre in Cluj in Romania, drawing attention to the mingling of Central European cultures. The Tartini Theatre in Piran and the Slovenian National Theatre in Trieste display Central Europe’s Mediterranean influences. At each stop on the tour of ‘Beyond Everydayness’ there will also be a full accompanying programme.
 
TACE (Theatre Architecture in Central Europe / Divadelní architektura ve střední Evropě) is a multi-year project organised by the National Theatre in Prague in cooperation with important theatre institutions in Slovenia, Poland, Hungary, and Slovenia. The project is supported by a grant from the European Union’s ‘Culture 2000’ programme and was initiated by the Arts Institute – Theatre Institute. The objective of the project is to create a detailed map of Central European theatre architecture, the history and present of which is explored through several events. News on the TACE project and events in the field of theatre architecture in Central Europe and in the world is provided at: www.theatre-architecture.eu.

 

 

 

The aim of the project is to promote the still existing historic theatres in Europe by way of a new cultural tourism route, a free online database, and a travelling exhibition, also fostering cross-border cooperation among these theatres.

Historic theatres in 5 minutes

Litomyšl - Castle Theatre

Český Krumlov - Castle Theatre

Graz - Opera

Vienna - Theater an der Vien

Weitra - Castle Theatre

Grein - Municipal Theatre

Kačina - Castle Theatre

Mnichovo Hradiště - Castle Theatre

Graz - Drama Thatre