Viera Kleinová: Zachrániť alebo vymazať?

Ceramic practice of Juraj Marth and Jozef Sušienko in public space.

The lecture is a contribution to the public debate about art in public space, which in recent years, thanks to institutional and activist initiatives, has undergone a quite dynamic turn towards the recognition, interpretation, protection and revitalization of this still "hot" part of our cultural heritage. At the same time, it is an appeal and joins the activities of colleagues from Banská Bystrica and Hlohovec, who recently initiated the rescue of an extensive and unique ceramic work - Jozef Sušienko's Wall in the park near the SNP Memorial in Banská Bystrica.

A clear part of the numerous, public works of Juraj Marth and Jozef Sušienko is gradually becoming (or has already become) a victim of our permanently unclear and often a far-sighted attitude towards modernist art, design and architecture of real socialism. Their materiality is an additional problem. Is it just a "clay game" for us? Is the relationship to ceramics an argument for its long-term survival as a (un)picturesque ruin?

The lecture will deal with how ceramics asserted itself in the urban "nature" (J. Sušienka), and with what arguments it negotiated in collaborations with architecture (J. Marth). He will ask where, how and why the ceramic codes of these sculptors were rewritten in the environments of Bratislava, Hlohovac, Banská Bystrica and Piešťany.

Viera Kleinová is a design historian and curator. Until March 2025, she was the curator of the Design and Applied Art Collections of the SNG in Bratislava. He currently works at the Department of Art Theory and History of the University of Applied Sciences in Bratislava. She has long been a collaborator and curator of the Bratislava Design Week International Festival. She researches the materiality of clay, is interested in the discourse and practice of material disciplines in the 20th century.