At 7 p.m. today, 14 May 2008, on the premises of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts at rue du Musée 9 in Brussels, the Slovenian Minister of Culture, Dr Vasko Simoniti, will open the exhibition ‘Plečnik Project', part of the cultural promotion programme during Slovenia's EU Council Presidency.
The work of the Slovenian architect, town planner and designer Jože Plečnik (1872-1957), whose creations are spread between Vienna and Prague and Ljubljana, has in recent decades - with the arrival of post-modernism and the associated re-examination of architectural development - become something of a revelation for Europe and the whole world. In parallel with functionalism, twentieth-century century architecture featured a number of other tendencies, thanks to which construction skills using classical materials were not entirely lost. Slovenian Jože Plečnik was in fact a central personality among the opponents of functionalism. His ultimate mastery was achieved through a subtle artistic expression tuned into the very nature of the material at hand, thus maintaining a dialogue with the Greco-Roman heritage. His work is distinguished by extraordinary originality in the use of historical, regional and even provincial elements, each time rounded off to shape integral pieces that are new and original.
In collaboration with the architect of Slovenian origin and international reputation, Boris Podrecca, the National Gallery of Ljubljana has organised an exhibition on the work of the most renowned Slovenian architect, Jože Plečnik. Plečnik is the founder of the ‘Slovenian school' of architecture and his works have ennobled the architectural and urban face of the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana. Plečnik's masterpieces, in which classical design has been used in a surprising and quite often unconventional manner, include street furniture and objects of applied art, from chairs and lamps to goblets and typefaces. Plečnik's voluminous works will be presented through original sketches, models, film presentations and records.ž
