Panel Discussion in “The Austrian Phenomenon”

The emergence of new tendencies in Austria in the 1960s is marked by discontinuity, and can be seen as a process of historical excavation and salvage. The intellectual elite had been driven out of Austria by eleven years of Fascism, the Modernist project crumbled. The pioneers of Austrian architecture of the 1920s and 30s had adopted a critical ‘modern’ position, approaching their buildings contemplatively, with sensitivity and scepticism in the face of self-satisfied progress.

Unlike them, however, some young architects and groups of architects in the 1960s formulated a criticism of functionalism that employs avant-garde gestures. They related to strategies and techniques employed by historical avant-garde movements: Their modes of self-presentation and production switched genres back and forth between architecture, art and pop, and were increasingly conceived to be media-compatible.

They also distinguished themselves in appearance and modes of expression from other architects of the day – who were working on a modulation of modernist functionalism, using their built work to introduce architecture concepts to the public arena. This constellation can be seen as the manifestation of local regional facets of modernity.

The panel is to discuss the regional characteristics in a modernist conflict.

THE PANEL:
Moderated by: Armin Thurnher, editor in chief of Falter

Friedrich Achleitner, writer and architecture historian
Martin Prinzhorn, linguist and art critic
Georg Schöllhammer, editor of the magazine springerin, Hefte für Gegewartskunst
Jan Tabor, architecture historian