An initiative of the
From May 19 to 23, 2009 the international symposium "A Utopia of Modernity : Zlín" took place in Zlín and Prague.
The symposium, that featured prominent international scholars and theorists, pursued the question if Zlín is relevant for issues currently faced by city planners and architects and thus represents a learning model for the future. From a contemporary perspective Zlín is an irritating example, for it concords neither with the critical articulations of Postmodernism, nor with the certainties proclaimed by defenders of Modernity. The key issues to be discussed were the legacy of Fordism, post-socialist structural change, architectural branding and corporate identity - and last but by no means least, the place of social-utopian thinking in our present age.
We would like to thank the students of the multimedia and communication faculty of the Tomáš-Baťa-University, who were responsible for the video documentation of the symposium.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 20 2009
6:30 pm Opening
To mark the opening of the conference, two lectures – one from an American, the other from a European perspective – explore Zlín as a model of a social and city utopia, providing the initial impulses for a discussion of the key historical themes. The architecture historian and philosopher Richard Ingersoll, who teaches at the Syracuse University in Florence, plots the architectural history of ideal cities and company towns and, taking Zlín as an example, illuminates their influence in Modernity. The Czech art historian Rostislav Švácha looks into the old town center of Zlín, with its stock of historical buildings from the 16th through to the 19th century, and depicts the transformation process as well as the conflict between preserving the architectural heritage and urban renewal, the poles between which Zlín’s modernization is played out.
Welcome
Opening Lectures
THURSDAY, MAY 21 2009
9-11:30 am
The Bata Phenomenon and Modernity
The interaction between economic rationalization, technological progress, and visionary architectural and societal reorganization forms the basis of the Baťa phenomenon. The experience Tomáš Baťa gained during his spell in the USA also contributed to this unique social and architectural experiment. There Baťa had seen Fordist modes of production in action: detailed factory management and serial manufacturing as developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor, Edward A. Filene, and Henry Ford became his model for a shoe produced on the assembly line that was affordable for all income groups. Factory and city merged economically, socially, and communally into a unit that has continued to have an impact down to the present day.
12 am - 1:30 pm
Social Utopia / City utopia
The “Zlín experiment” connected architectural ideals with those of the social engineer seeking to create a “new industrial man”: progressive in outlook and oriented completely on the promises of Modernity. On the basis of prosperity and social harmony, this ideal-type was to loyally serve the company employing him/her for the whole of their life. Despite a host of studies on Zlín’s architectural and urban history as well as the biography of its founder, little is known about the people who lived and worked there during the interwar years, the period of the city’s most extensive redevelopment. The continuing extension and development of Zlín, with which Tomáš Baťa, not just as entrepreneur but also in his capacity as mayor, pressed ahead, contrasts sharply with the current situation in the city center, defined by a vast number of new owners and a confusing legal status.
Annett Steinführer
Uncharted Zlín. On the Untold and Unknown of the Realized Utopia.
In English language
Learning from Zlín
Learning from Zlín
Galčanová, Mumford, Sedláková, Šlapeta, Steinführer. Vacková. Moderation: Nerdinger
FRIDAY, MAY 22 2009
2:30 pm - 7 pm
Modernity and Urbanity: A Contradiction?
Postmodernist theories of architecture have formulated the thesis that the functional city is at once also anti-modern. In many respects Zlín substantiates such assertions: the city lacks a series of differentiations decisive for turning a city into a complex social, political, cultural, and physical space. Urban regulation and planning lay in the hands of the company and the architecture was adapted to fit the rhythms of assembly line work. At the same time, Zlín offered the comforts and conveniences of modern life: houses and apartments were of a high standard, while modern leisure time activities were catered for, and quality education facilities and entertainment venues built. Paradoxically, this space of disciplining and control overseen by an omnipresent entrepreneur was also a place of emancipation. The general skepticism towards the feasibility of planning a city rekindles interest in the cities of the future planned and built in the past. This is what makes Zlín so interesting for contemporary architects, city researchers, and urbanists: the Baťa city raises the question as to the actuality of modern urbanism.
SATURDAY, MAY 23 2009
9 am - 1 pm
Marketing a Social Utopia
The entrepreneur Tomáš Baťa intermeshed the development of the Baťa brand with the planning of Zlín: a key factor in the contemporary industrial modern age was the relentless triumphal advance of marketing, which exploited the still young, but already influential mass media. In this respect, Zlín was nothing less than a corporate identity set in stone. The technologically advanced utilization of mass media for advertising and promotion purposes points far beyond the historical period of the city’s origins, while in many respects the education system can be considered as exemplary for following generations. Today’s “signature buildings,” branding strategies, and the significance of serial designs for specialist sales stores have a highly visible historical origin in Zlín.
Ladislava Horňáková
The International Expansion of the Baťa Company: Zlín´s Satellites and the Export of Architecture, Production, Business Model and Philosophy of Life.
In Czech language
Maria Topolčanská
From Utopia to Detached Reality. Limited series of Baťa´s Zlín in Slovakia.
In Czech language
Petr Szczepanik
The Aesthetics of Rationalization. The Baťa Company´s Media Network an the Town of Zlín.
In English language
Imprint / Print