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November 23rd, 2008
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When Czechoslovakia wowed the world

An exhibition and multimedia program revisits the 1958 triumph in Brussels

By Tony Ozuna
For The Prague Post
June 11th, 2008 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Hop in: Cruisin' in the latest Tatra beneath the glittering Atomium.
COURTESY PHOTO
Even appliances looked stylish.
The Brussels Dream


at Prague City Gallery-Municipal Library Ends Sept. 21. Mariánské nám. 1 (entrance on Valentinská), Prague 1-Old Town. Open Tues.-Sun. 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
For complete program information, check www.expo58.info/en/
In 1958, the Czechoslovak pavilion at the World Expo in Brussels was an international triumph. Fifty years later, artifacts from this extremely successful exhibit for promoting Czech culture, design, fashion, craftsmanship and overall ingenuity at the dawn of the Atomic Age can be revisited at the Prague City Gallery’s space in the Municipal Library.
Socialist Czechoslovakia was showing great progress when countries from both sides of the Iron Curtain came together in Brussels in 1958. The Western countries were optimistic about achieving a world of peace in the nuclear era. Indeed, the motto of the Expo was, “We live in 1958, the year of technological miracles, when all is possible.”
The first room of the current exhibition is divided by a puffy inflatable barrier — one side black and the other side white. On the bright side of the barrier are rows of the magnificently designed orange tram seats (in mint condition) that are still in use today in the older trams operating in Prague. The dark side has a row of panels providing historical background about significant events in the years leading up to Expo 58.
By that time, the chilly political climate in Czechoslovakia had begun to thaw. Currency reforms in 1953 that significantly depreciated personal savings led to the first major anti-communist protests since the party took power in 1948. Another milestone was Stalin’s death in 1953, and the sharp criticism of his iron rule by Khrushchev in 1956 at the 20th International Congress of the Supreme Soviet. This gave hope for even more reform. In 1956, the Czechoslovak Writers’ Union protested against censorship and the imprisonment of artists and intellectuals.
Meanwhile, on the scientific and industrial front, Czechoslovakia achieved nuclear fission, becoming only the ninth country in the world to operate a nuclear device. In 1957, the Soviets launched Sputnik into orbit.
After this introduction, the next room takes visitors back to Brussels, with pictures of other national pavilions at the Expo (Russia, France, the United States) and small-scale replicas of some of the largest attractions, such as the towering “Atomium,” a giant model of an atom’s structure.
Spaced throughout the exhibit are short documentary and promotional films (shot by Czech Television), as well as interior re-creations and background materials, such as concept proposals, sketches and drafts of the Czechoslovak pavilion.
Throughout the exhibition there are also original items that were displayed in the Czechoslovak pavilion or were in common use in households at the time: Czech glass, mosaics, toys, shoes, furniture and electronics.
Unfortunately, the contributions of many artists and designers were dismantled and never restored again, such as Dora Nováková’s geometric abstract panels, a large installation of colored glass by René Roubíček, and Jan Kotík’s monumental abstract stained glass sculpture Sun, Glass, Water (though photos of the original works are displayed).
Prime 1950s kitsch is represented by Antonin Kybal’s hand-woven wool carpets, including Cosy Chat, which shows two long-haired nude women in a futuristic domestic setting, and Luba Krejčí’s On the Way to the Sun, a huge bobbin-lace scene full of folk characters like witches on horseback and dancing peasants.
The highlight, however, was the nonverbal multimedia performance Laterna Magika and the Polyekran technique — a centerpiece not only of the Czechoslovak pavilion but of the entire Expo. The now-famous Laterna Magika combined film projection and live performance (theater, dance, pantomime) with sound and lighting effects. Polyekran (meaning multiple screens) featured a parade of images synchronized to classical music, projected onto eight trapezoid screens hung at various angles against a black background.
In October 1958, the New York Post wrote: “The Czechs alone met the challenge of the Brussels theme: What does the Atomic Age bring to your people? … In the Czech pavilion the product was pleasure. It was humor and poetry ….” Garnering this statement, made during the Cold War by rival Americans, was clearly a great achievement in itself.
By the end of Expo 58, the Czechoslovak pavilion had won the Golden Star, the Expo’s highest honor, as well as individual awards totaling 56 grand prizes, 47 commendations and 35 gold, 18 silver and 14 bronze medals — quite an achievement for a small country.
Afterward, the effect of the success in Brussels reverberated worldwide in fashion, design and the arts — the so-called Brussels style. Some works from the immediate post-58 rush are also on display, including motor scooters, book and magazine covers and fashion photography by Fred Kramer.
Nestled at the edge of Letná Park, discretely overlooking the city, the semicircular Expo 58 restaurant (now restored for office use) is the last full remnant of the award-winning pavilion designed by František Cubr, Josef Hrubý and Zdeněk Pokorný. In conjunction with this exhibition, there will be public tours of the former Praha Expo 58 restaurant building June 21 and 22.
Other accompanying activities include films, music and theater performances, and even a meeting with eyewitnesses of Expo 58 (Wednesday, June 25) for firsthand accounts of one of the Czechs’ and Slovaks’ greatest collective achievements of the 20th century — the pavilion at Brussels Expo 58.

Tony Ozuna can be reached at features@praguepost.com


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