November 19, 2009 - Feburary 21, 2010
Opening: November 18, 2009
Architekturmuseum of the TU Munich, Pinakothek der Moderne

The modern development of the south Moravian town Zlín is closely connected with Baťa shoe factory. From 1923 to 1938 the entrepreneur Tomáš Baťa and his stepbrother Jan Antonín extended Zlín like a huge laboratory for collective life and work. According to the designs of František Lydie Gahura – a former associate of Le Corbusier’s – a “factory in the countryside” with spacious open areas, housing estates as well as cultural and social facilities was developed on a planning grid of 6.15 m x 6.15 m. Baťa combined clever entrepreneurship with Fordian mass production of shoes and social experiment. This sole worldwide example of a town erected according to strictly functional principles has been studied and admired as a showcase by modern architects and politicians of all kinds alike. The exhibition shows the Czech sample town by means of plans, photos, films and models.

An exhibition by the Architekturmuseum der TU Munich, the National Gallery in Prague and the Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlín.

The exhibition is part of “A Utopia of Modernity: Zlín”, a project by Zipp - German-Czech Cultural Projects, an initiative of the German Federal Cultural Foundation.

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