Ambivalences of Modernity

How did modernist architecture interact with political systems? And how can biographical gaps in architectural archives be explained and filled? Taking Roland Rainer as an example, both of these questions were the subject of investigation in an FWF research project. This symposium presents a discussion of the results of this cooperation between the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the Architekturzentrum Wien.

The acquisition of the estate of the Austrian architect Roland Rainer (1910–2004) by the Architekturzentrum Wien in 2015 made it possible to scientifically contextualise this central oeuvre of architectural modernism. The architect, urban planner, theorist and university lecturer, who was influential after the Second World War, had already developed many of his ideas and concepts in the 1930s and 1940s, including during his eight years in the service of the Nazi administrative apparatus in Berlin and Breslau. Ingrid Holzschuh, Waltraud P. Indrist, Monika Platzer, Susanne Rick and Angelika Schnell discuss their research findings in a critical debate with respondents at the Architekturzentrum Wien and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. The two-day symposium presents both the latest findings from archival research, and comparative visual analyses of various urban planning concepts. The focus is on the question of his modernity, his place in the controversial discourse on Modern architecture and its political and ideological involvement.

A cooperation by Az W and the Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien. Supported by Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (FWF, P 34938)

PROGRAMME

Fri 22.11., 15:00–20:00, Az W Podium

Welcome address:
Angelika Fitz, director of the Az W; Johan Hartle, Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (AdbK)
Introduction: Angelika Schnell, IKA, AdbK

Fractures and Continuities
Ingrid Holzschuh, IKA, AdbK: Biografical Dissonances. Rainer’s Role in the Planning Apparatus of the Nazi Dictatorship
Monika Platzer, Az W: On Planning, Political Debate and Networking. Roland Rainer in Postwar Austria

Response: Winfried Nerdinger, Munich; Antje Senarclens de Grancy, TU Graz

18:30 Keynote: Ulrich Herbert, contemporary historian, University of Freiburg

Sat 23.11., 09:00–13:00, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Anatomiesaal

On Sources and Data
Susanne Rick, IKA, AdbK: From Archives towards a Scientific Approach: The Roland Rainer Database as a Tool for Architectural Research

Discursive Parameters for Modern Architecture
Waltraud P. Indrist, IKA, AdbK: The Structured and Loosened Up City — A Paper and the Adaptability of her ‘Scientific’ Arguments
Angelika Schnell, IKA, AdbK: The Political Unconscious. Roland Rainer and the Discourse on Modern Architecture

Response: Katja Bernhardt, Univ. Hamburg; Kenny Cupers, Univ. Basel; Anna Minta, KU Linz

Summary: Daniel Gethmann, TU Graz