Presentation
Az W Classics: Friedrich Kurrent. The Critical Conscience of Architectural Austria
Friedrich Kurrent at the opening of the exhibition „x projects by arbeitsgruppe 4. Holzbauer, Kurrent, Spalt (1950–1970)“ at the Az W, 2010
© photograph: Pez Hejduk, Wien
Welcome address: Sonja Pisarik, Az W
Guests:
Friedrich Kurrent, architect
Christian Kühn, Dean of Studies at Vienna University of Technology, architecture writer and journalist
Franz Peter, former assistant to Kurrent at the Technical University of Munich, architect
Erich Klein, literature and culture columnist and writer
Susanne Veit-Aschenbrenner, former student of Kurrent at the Technical University of Munich, architect
Moderated by Franziska Leeb, architecture expert and journalist
Friedrich Kurrent, born on 10 September 1931 in Hintersee, Salzburg, is not only a recognised architect, researcher, writer, and teacher but also a concise and an astute critic. He numbers — also for his readiness to issue warnings — among the proponents of an uncompromising culture of architecture. Kurrent is a key rediscoverer of Modern architecture in Austria, and an expert with a deep knowledge of the buildings of Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos, Josef Hoffmann and Josef Frank. “Friedrich Kurrent is a moralist of the incorruptible but also of the most strenuous and uncomfortable kind; it is difficult to excuse him for usually being right.” (Friedrich Achleitner).
On Kurrent’s 85th birthday, an illustrious gathering of guests discusses the efficacy of architecture criticism, and what it focuses on today.