Docomomo International | Conferences

Fourth International Docomomo Conference

Sliac & Bratislava, September 18–20, 1996

Universality and Heterogeneity

The Fourth International Docomomo Conference, in Slovakia, has been an important occasion in many ways. As the title “Universality and Heterogeneity” suggests, the modern movement has known many different local and regional interpretations of one universal goal. The participants’ stay in Central Europe—the Big Brother environment of Bratislava after the War, as well as the pleasant 1931–37 spa buildings of Sliac by the architect Rudolf Stockar—made this point clear from various angles.

German philosopher Helmut Lethen opened the first conference day in Bratislava with a bang. His paper “Between the Barrier and the Sieve: Finding the Border of the Modern Movement” was a sobering and critical, yet carefully designed mirror, reassessing the image of the modern movement and the conservation of its relics. Keynote speakers Carla Yanni (USA), Gérard Monnier (France) and Fabio Grementieri (Argentina) all questioned, in different and well-presented ways, the validity of the various interpretations of the modern movement as provided by historiography so far.

With strong cocktails and a bus ride, the nearly 200 delegates returned to Sliac, two hundred kilometers east in the foothills of the Tatras, their apropos and location for the next two days of the conference. András Ferkai’s kaleidoscopic overview of modern architecture in the former Austro-Hungarian territories; Daniel Bernstein’s paper on his students’ analysis of Le Corbusier’s Unité at Firminy; Jorge Gazaneo’s ode to his old employer and master, Amacio Williams; Allen Cunningham’s ideas about making use of the modern movement legacy as an educational catalyst; and Jeffrey Chusid’s exposé on concrete problems at California houses by Schindler and Frank Lloyd Wright—captivating presentations, all, they set a standard of quality which was to become the norm for future Docomomo conferences.

Read the table of contents of the proceedings of the Fourth International Docomomo Conference.