The CentrArt Association- New Workshop of Art Historians holds its first thematic conference on January 28, 2011 under the title "Progressive Tendencies in Ephemeral Architecture - Hungarian Case Studies". Ephemeral buildings appeared in the course of architectural history as provisional phenomena, standing only for a short time. It was a genre seen by planning architects and architectural historians themselves as an experiment, finding new possibilities, techniques and styles. The conference tries to find an answer to the question, in which way the notion of (architectural) progress can be examined in connection with ephemeral buildings - first of all exhibition pavilions - beyond the already canonised approach described above. The lectures examine pavilions planned by Hungarian architects that were erected for world and international exhibitions, within the context of the buildings of a certain exhibition and compared to the international trends of the period. In addition to the study of architectural progress, one of the main aims of this conference is to present and discuss the new results of the past decade achieved in connection with ephemeral architecture. Its study may go well beyond architectural history research. It may also yield new results for some other branches of science, or even set new directions for them. The majority of the conference lectures deal with exhibition pavilions that functioned not only as exhibiting rooms, but also as a means of national representation. With the help of the objects put on display, the lectures touch upon industrial, agricultural, and technological history, as well as on fine and applied arts and ethnography. These lectures may also be of interest to all those, who deal with the French, Italian, Austrian, German, Romanian and English relations of Hungarian culture.
The next scheduled stage of the conference wishes to present the ephemeral architecture of the Central European region.

Lectures are held in Hungarian.

Miklós Székely PhD
Conference organiser

For details please follow the link:
http://www.centrart.hu/centrart.php?lang=en&it=konferencia&tab=efemer