New Interfaces 05/Henrieta Moravčíková – Houses of Culture: Messengers from the Past or Catalysts for Social Life?
What became of the houses of culture built in Slovakia in the second half of the 20th century? Henrieta Moravčíková will explore how these buildings were designed, whom they were meant to serve and how local communities use them today.
- Where: Medium Gallery
- Lecture series: New Interfaces 05
The construction of publicly accessible cultural and community centers spread throughout Europe after World War II, in part due to the influence of the conclusions of CIAM 8—“The Heart of the City.” In Western Europe, social democratic governments focused on building the welfare state, while countries in Central and Eastern Europe concentrated on building a socialist society. Despite their different political systems, the construction of cultural centers on both sides had similar motivations: postwar reconstruction, modernization, and the development of new city centers; the fulfillment of the Enlightenment goal of mass education and universal access to culture; the bridging of gaps between social classes; and, last but not least, public funding. The difference, however, lay in the purpose of these centers: in the West, they were intended to strengthen civil society, while in the Communist bloc, they served to consolidate state power and spread Communist ideology.
In the Western world, criticism of large cultural centers began as early as the early 1970s. Changes in the perception of culture, combined with the rise of individualism and a consumerist lifestyle, led to a decline in interest in such institutions and in the shared cultural experience they offered. Following the socio-political changes of 1989, cultural centers and community centers came under scrutiny and were rejected in Eastern Europe as well. Their association with the ideology of the communist regime played a significant role in this. Despite society’s generally negative attitude toward the legacy of the communist era, houses of culture and community centers remain important spaces for social life in local communities—places of memory that provide a sense of belonging to a place and a community.
Recent research by the Department of Architecture at the Historical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences has shown that most of these facilities in Slovakia still serve their original purpose or have been successfully repurposed to continue providing services to the public.
This lecture will provide an overview of the design and construction of this building typology in Slovakia during the second half of the 20th century, as well as the results of the latest monitoring of these buildings.
Prof. Dr. Ing. arch. Henrieta Moravčíková works as a researcher and head of the Department of Architecture at the Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. Since 2014, she has been a professor at the Faculty of Architecture at STU. Her work focuses on the theory, history, and criticism of 20th- and 21st-century architecture. She is an editor and a member of the editorial board of the academic journal Architektúra & Urbanizmus. From 1997 to 2009, she served as editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine Arch on architecture and other culture. Since 2000, she has served as chair of the Slovak working group of DOCOMOMO—an international organization dedicated to the research and preservation of modern architecture. She has published several monographs and dozens of studies and reviews on 20th- and 21st-century architecture. She has curated numerous architectural exhibitions both in Slovakia and abroad. She is the co-author (with M. Dulla) of the comprehensive book Architecture of Slovakia in the 20th Century (Slovart, 2002) and the editor of the first comprehensive monograph on Slovak architecture, Architecture in Slovakia: A Brief History (Slovart, 2005). She collaborated with L. Kaboš on the first feature-length documentary film about modern architecture in Slovakia, produced by Slovak Television in 2008. She is a two-time recipient of the Literary Fund Award and a two-time winner of the Martin Kusý Award for theoretical work in the field of architecture.
The fifth edition of the “New Interfaces” lecture series focuses on the themes of home and the house—in a time of armed conflicts, when many people have lost their homes and are searching for new ones. What is “home,” and in what spaces does its function—associated with safety and acceptance—manifest itself? What becomes of “home” when there is no longer any life within it? What does “home” mean for artists and cultural workers who migrate for work, participate in residencies abroad, and, conversely, establish cultural centers in their hometowns? What were they like, and what became of the legendary buildings in Slovak towns and villages from the socialist era—the houses of culture? The lectures in the series “New Interfaces 05” also reflect the thematic thread of the Medium Gallery’s 2026 exhibition program, which centers on the search for and discovery of home and its fragments.
Supported using public funding by the Slovak Arts Council.
