THE MODERN COTTAGE: AN ARCHITECTURAL PHENOMENON

Exhibition concept and curator: Adam Štech
Co-curator: Jan Bureš
Exhibition design: Matěj Činčera, Jan Kloss
Graphic design and installation: Matěj Činčera, Jan Kloss
Zdeněk Pešánek cottage installation: Štěpán Kus
Cooperation: Iva Knobloch

The phenomenon of country cottages, holiday homes and weekend houses is related to the overall emancipation of modern society in the 20th century. The expansion of industry and the greater affluence of European society, especially in the interwar years, gave workers much more leisure time, which they liked to spend in the country. Vacations in the countryside led to holiday homes being built near large towns and cities, in isolation or in colonies. There were also enclaves for nature lovers. Whether these holiday homes were opulent country retreats or simple cabins, they all reflected a longing to escape from the city and into the tranquillity and romance of untouched nature.

The Modern Cottage: An Architectural Phenomenon examines country cottages and weekend houses as an important but often neglected category in 20th-century modern architecture and interior design, one that is related to radical social changes and avant-garde thinking on art and architecture. The exhibition looks at specific examples of such cottages and the genesis of their architecture in the 20th century, from the founding of Czechoslovakia to the end of the socialist era. This is all in the context of international developments in architecture, emerging modernist trends, and changing social and political structures.

The exhibition deliberately avoids romanticising its subject, which is often treated as a distinctly Czech sociological phenomenon. Instead we focus on specific designs and typologies of modernist cottages and weekend houses, now long forgotten, by both prominent and lesser-known architects. The exhibition shows that even very individualistic and experimental projects worked with general principles and typologies. The installation includes parts of a cottage designed by Zdeněk Pešánek, a visionary light artist who was closely involved with the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague. This year marks the 130th anniversary of his birth.