The exhibition Reason versus feeling: Zlin Industrial Design 1918-1958 is a part of a large-scale joint project of the Faculty of Multimedia Communications of Tomas Bata University in Zlin, the National Technical Museum in Prague and the Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlin, mapping design in technical disciplines during the existence of Czechoslovakia.
The exhibition itself presents the theme of the beginning of industrial design not only through period exhibits and unique documents. Its innovative concept gives visitors a unique opportunity to try out new technologies such as augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) and experience the exhibition from a completely new perspective. Moreover, it takes place in two buildings – one part can be found in our gallery G18, the other part can be seen in the Regional Art Gallery in the 14th building of the Svit complex.
Opening of the exhibition: 10 December 2019 at 17.00 in the Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlin
Duration of the exhibition: 12 December – 30 January 2020 in G18 Gallery
11 December – 1 March 2020 at the Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlin
Curators: Vít Jakubíček and Zdeno Kolesár
About the exhibition
The dominant axis of the exhibition is the history of the Bata School of Art (1939-1949), on the grounds of which one of the icons of Zlin design was created during the war – the design of the MAS R50 turret lathe, the work of sculptor Vincenzo Makovský, created in collaboration with engineers and doctors studying occupational diseases. The introductory part of the exhibition therefore aims to place this machine in the broader context of the development of engineering production at Bata in the interwar period that preceded its creation. The continuity of the School of Art’s influence in the post-World War II period was maintained in particular by Zdeněk Kovář, one of its first graduates, a prominent designer and founder of design pedagogy in Czechoslovakia, through the activities of the Machine and Tool Shaping Department, founded in 1947. A significant part of the exhibition is dedicated to his personality, presenting the circumstances of the establishment of the specialised studio, his pioneering work in the field of ergonomic shaping of tool handles, as well as the complex development from the late 1940s until the end of the 1950s, when Zlin design celebrated a significant success at the 1958 World EXPO in Brussels.
Winning several Grand Prix was an important expression of recognition of the results of the twenty-year history of Zlin design, whose initial period was often marked by unfulfilled expectations and clashes between bold visions and complex realities. However, during this time, the pioneers of the “new profession of industrial design” in Zlin were able not only to avoid copying foreign models, as was the case at the beginning of the period under review, but also to come up with their own authentic concept, which was then practically applied in the form of concrete industrial products.