Stories from Ostrava – Industry to Culture

As deindustrialization takes hold in Europe, national landmarks such as Dolní Vítkovice, a decommissioned ironworks in Ostrava, Czech Republic face the threat of either dereliction or Disneyfication. In a series of interviews two students at the Architectural Association, Veronika Janovcova and Timothy O’Hare, peel back the layers of nostalgia and romanticism surrounding the site to reveal the social and political forces behind the redevelopment of the European Cultural Heritage site into an educational and cultural hub. Alongside the resulting fifteen-minute film D.O.V., the AA Gallery will host a photographic exhibition by Ostrava born photographer Viktor Kolář, whose continuous photographic study of Ostrava and its inhabitants enhance the film with a deeper and wider context of urban and social changes Ostrava has experienced since the 60s.

D.O.V. takes cues from the films of Charles and Ray Eames and presents a snapshot of the difficult, yet urgent transformation of a city and a community, exposing the conflicting interests of the public and private actors involved.
Case Study Ostrava juxtaposes for the first time black-and-white photographs from Viktor Kolář famous Ostrava Series with colourful images from recent years while demonstrating the unity of people and their environment. Kolář’s use of deep tones, textures, light, and contrast creates a melancholic and poignant look at the landscape and people of Ostrava over the course of several tumultuous decades, earning him a place as one of the most important contemporary Czech documentary photographers. Curated by Marek Pokorny, Plato Gallery.
Viktor Kolář, born in Ostrava in 1941, has devoted his life to photographing his hometown, a large industrial city and important source of coal and steel. Kolář studied at the Photographic Institute in Ostrava but emigrated to Canada after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. He was subjected to police interrogations upon returning home through Paris and London five years later in 1973. After years of being unable to professionally practice photography under communist rule, Kolář finally gained international acclaim in the 1990s following the fall of communism.

Greatly influenced at a young age by the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson and by his father, a self-taught photographer and filmmaker, Kolář is known for his black and white documentary photographs capturing “decisive moments” of action, when all the elements in a composition come together perfectly for a split second.

Organised by Architectural Association in cooperation with Czech Centre and Plato Ostrava.