2009/30/09/ Acceptance – Intervention – Destruction in DOX Centre

Acceptance – Intervention – Destruction. Delineation of three approaches to the industrial heritage of the past, but at the same also three thematic lines of a third exhibition of alternative projects by students. The AID Exhibition, presenting the approach of young architects to the values of industrial heritage in the context of contemporary thinking in architecture, will be open from October 1 through November 1 in the Centre for Contemporary Art DOX.

Press Release /30. 09. 2009

Acceptance – Intervention – Destruction in DOX Centre

Acceptance – Intervention – Destruction. Delineation of three approaches to the industrial heritage of the past, but at the same also three thematic lines of a third exhibition of alternative projects by students. The AID Exhibition, presenting the approach of young architects to the values of industrial heritage in the context of contemporary thinking in architecture, will be open from October 1 through November 1 in the Centre for Contemporary Art DOX.

“In addition to its true meaning, emphasizing help to and support for the Czech industrial heritage, that has doubtless come to be quite urgent over the past few years, the name AID is an acronym for three strategies and trains of thought most frequently applied in the course of conversion, namely, acceptance, intervention, and destruction,” explains Exhibition Curator Petr Vorlík. Coauthor Tomáš Šenberger notes: “Conversion is almost always associated with intervention in the original building substance, but the extent of intervention ensues from the conditions of conversion, character and form of building protection and by and large also the inner attitude (aggressiveness) of the author.”

The AID Exhibition, a part of the 5th International Biennial, Vestiges of Industry was organized by the Research Centre for Industrial Heritage of the Czech Technical University in Prague (ČVUT) in conjunction with DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, ČVUT Faculties of Architecture and Civil Engineering, the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (VŠUP), FUA TU Liberec, and other organizations. Students have come up with original conversions of many buildings that either await further uses or face demolition. The projects on display include the long-debated Nuselský mlýn, Braník Icehouses, Florian Schmidt Textile Mill in Krnov, railway station in Ústí nad Orlicí, or Český Těšín Malt House.


The exhibition of students’ projects to give a new lease on life to industrial heritage marks the peak of the 5th International Biennial, Vestiges of Industry 2009. “The projects raise new challenges inspired by current debates on endangered industrial buildings,” says Benjamin Fragner, one of the chief organizers of the biennial. “They perceive the limit situation of the decaying industrial age that we experience as a spent industrial compound turns into an endangered cultural monument. They attempt to come to terms with the heritage that we have yet to fully understand and that we touch with reluctance. The architectural visions presented should help us understand, grasp and reappraise this heritage.”

One of the side events in Café DOX is a polemical discussion on October 15, anchored by Benjamin Fragner, one of the chief organizers of the Vestiges of Industry Biennial, and Curator Petr Vorlík. To obtain more information on the side events, please visit www.doxprague.org.

The Vestiges of Industry Biennial is jointly organized by the ČVUT Research Centre for Industrial Heritage and the ČKAIT & ČSSI College for Technical Monuments in conjunction with the Czech ICOMOS National Committee, National Monument Institute, and the Ecotechnical Museum. In cooperation with the British Council, we are scheduling a conference under the keynote: Industrial Heritage in Professional-Amateur Vacuum. The 5th International Biennial, Vestiges of Industry is financially supported by the International Visegrad Fund (IVF). Complete information about the program of the Vestiges of Industry Biennial 2009 is available on www.industrialnistopy.cz.

Partners of DOX Centre: Capital City of Prague and TECHO
DOX Centre programs are financially supported by the Ministry of Culture.
Media Partner of DOX Centre: Hospodářské noviny


CONTACTS:
DOX Centre for Contemporary Art
Office Address (mailing address):
Vojtěšská 8, 110 00 Praha 1
T: +420 224 930 927
E: info@doxprague.org or media@doxprague.org
Exhibition space:
Poupětova 1a, 170 00 Praha 7
www.doxprague.org
(Tram: 5, 12, tram stop Ortenovo náměstí, Metro: Nádraží Holešovice)

Public Relations/ DOX Centre:
Terezie Kaslová, E: kaslova@mediareport.cz or media@doxprague.org
T: +420 603 551 372
Hana Pokorná, E: pokorna@mediareport.cz
T: +420 728 279 521

Contacts for the Vestiges of Industry Biennial 2002:
SMART Communication s.r.o.
Silvie Marková & Lucie Čunderliková
T/F: +420 272 657 121
M: +420 733 538 889 / +420 604 748 699
E: office@s-m-art.com
www.industrialnistopy.cz