Modernism: Designing a New World 1914-1939
Victoria & Albert Museum
South Kensington

14 - 15 July 2006
10:00 - 17:00

This international conference complements the major exhibition of the same
name, the first to explore Modernism in the designed world from a truly
international perspective, in terms of all the arts. Modernism was not a
style but a loose collection of ideas. Covering a range of movements and
styles that largely rejected history and applied ornament, often embracing
abstraction, Modernism was driven by a utopian desire to create a better
world. This desire was frequently expressed through social and political
beliefs that asserted design and art could transform society. For
Modernists, technology was the key means with which to achieve social
improvement and the machine was a symbol of their aspiration.

The conference will benefit historians of art, design, architecture and
the social sciences, cultural geographers, museum professionals, and
members of heritage bodies as well as students, educators and artists. To
stimulate debate on the subject, and go beyond the exhibition itself, the
conference will consider a wide range of subjects.

Day One- Morning Session

Christopher Wilk
Exhibition Curator, V&A: Reflections on Exhibiting Modernism

Tag Gronberg
Birkbeck College, University of London: Josef Frank's Textiles:
Fabrications for a Modern World

Petr Roubal
Charles University, Prague: The Czech Sokol: Body, Sport and Architecture

Ulrich Lehmann
V&A/RCA: Team Work: Collectivism and Modern Sport

Day One- Afternoon Session

Christina Lodder
St Andrew’s University: Workers’ Clubs and Constructing Modernism

Andrzej Szczerski
Jagiellonian University, Krakow: Gdynia - Modernism, Politics and National
Utopia

Paul Betts
Sussex University: Politics and Continuities in 20th Century German
Design: The case of Wilhelm Wagenfeld

Alan Powers
University of Greenwich: A Phantom Bauhaus? Reception and Influence in England

Day Two- Morning Session

Matthew Witkovsky
National Gallery of Art, Washington: Photography and the Historicist Turn
in Interwar Modernism

Gennifer Weisenfeld
Duke University: Modernist Photography and Japanese Advertising

Jeremy Aynsley
History of Design, RCA: From Graphic Workshop to Design Agency: the new
typography

Day Two- Afternoon Session

Tim Benton
Open University: Le Corbusier: Man of Concrete

Hilde Heynen
Catholic University of Leuven: Everyday Versions of Modernism. Post Second
World War practices in Flanders

Ian Christie
Birkbeck College, University of London: Enchanted Modernism: The Post
Second World War Reaction in Art and Cinema

Nancy Troy
University of Southern California: Designs on Mondrian—Avant-Garde and Kitsch

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Ticket Prices:
Conferences
Cost per day: full rate including V&A Patrons and Members £52; senior
citizens, £44; students, disabled people and ES40 holders £20 (includes
lunch). For two-day ticket prices please call +44 (0)20 7942 2211. A free
place is available to a carer accompanying a disabled person and to a
lecturer accompanying students. Ticket price includes admission to the
exhibition and refreshments.

To book call 020 7943 2211 or email bookings.officevam.ac.uk.

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Modernism: Designing a New World 1914-1939
Sponsored by Habitat
6 April - 23 July 2006 at V&A South Kensington
Book now on 0870 906 3883 or www.vam.ac.uk

Unleashing Britain: 10 Years that Shaped the Nation 1955-1964
30 November 2005 ? 30 June 2007 at V&A Theatre Museum
Admission free

V&A Museum of Childhood temporarily closed for exciting redevelopment
Reopening autumn 2006. See the V&A website for details

Keep in touch ? visit www.vam.ac.uk and sign up for our regular e-newsletter

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Madeleine Sarley Pontin
Conference Organiser & Head of Adult Learning
V&A Museum
Cromwell Road
London SW7 2RL
Tel:0207 942 2190
Fax:0207 942 2193
m.sarleypontinvam.ac.uk