archint_1989_cz:de: Monuments of Freedom and Reunification - Tschechisches Zentrum Berlin

Recorded 14.11.2019 at Tschechisches Zentrum Berlin

The attempts for regaining freedom culminated in the Czech Republic with the Velvet Revolution in November 1989. In the same month also the Berlin Wall fell, which led to the German reunification in 1990. What are the monuments of the regained freedom and reunification? What are the natural monuments – which places do remind us of these actions in Prague and in Berlin? What do the official monuments look like? How were the circumstances of their creation? And how would the ideal monuments look like and what role should they play in the cities in the eyes of art historians Anežka Bartlová and Sophie Jung?

archint_1989_cz:de is an event series focusing on the architecture and monuments from the post-war period and how they have been dealt with since the Velvet Revolution and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Why does our freedom often manifest as the freedom to destroy or simply just to forget? Can these actions be seen themselves as not only interventions but as actual monuments to the regained freedom, reunification and post-1989 transformation? Should these works of art and architecture be disconnected from their political connotations and instead be respected for their artistic value? Is it a question of East – West division? Here, Czech and German architectural theoreticians will present their new projects and discuss them.

Partners of the event series: Embassy of the Czech Republic in Berlin, Collegium Hungaricum Berlin, Polish Institute Berlin, Slovak Institute in Berlin, EUNIC Berlin.

Photo by Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR: Memorial of the Student Demonstrations of 17 November, in Prague (1990, sculptor Otakar Příhoda) Graphic design: Iveta Krajcirova, Deconstructed