“Visionaries in Exiles”

opening: February 25, 1995, 10 a.m.

The symposium took place on the occasion of the exhibition with the same title in the Kunsthalle Wien (opening: February 24, 1995). The discussion centered on the lives and works of Austrian architects who emigrated to the United States between the turn of the century and the end of World War II

or were exiled there. International experts shed light on the context and impact of the work these architects carried out in connection with American modern art. The numerous artistic interrelations and biographic links that characterised their world were examined. The study included prominent Austro-American architects such as Joseph Urban, Rudolph M. Schindler, Richard Neutra, Friedrich Kiesler, Bernard Rudofsky, Victor Gruen, and Felix Augenfeld.

Speakers:
– Otto Kapfinger, Vienna
“Die Pioniere. Prägung und Wirkung der Architekturemigration vor 1929”

– David Gebhard, Santa Barbara
“The European Impact on Californian Modern Architecture”

– Robert Sweeney, Los Angeles
“Rudolph M. Schindler”

– Thomas Hines, Los Angeles
“Richard Neutra”

– Julian Shulman, Los Angeles
“On Site with the Architects”

– Matthias Boeckl, Vienna
“Im Schatten der Diktaturen. Architekturemigration und Vertreibung seit den dreissiger Jahren”

– Andrea Bocco Guarneri, Turin
“Bernhard Rudofsky, Critic, Prophet and Architect”

William Menking, New York
“Victor Gruen and the Urbanistic Challenge in Postwar-Society”

August Sarnitz, Vienna
“Ernst Lichtblau und das Neue Wiener Wohnen im Exil”