Lines, shapes and carefully selected details that meet and create amazing buildings. As part of the two exhibition projects (“B: MAD 3.0 ‘ Bucharest – Art Deco City – Rediscovery, Contextualization, Debate” and “FAR | 12 Architectural Photographers from Romania”) of the media platform “Asociația Igloo – Habitat și Arhitectură”, the Austrian Cultural Forum Bucharest presents the exclusive online screening of the documentary films “Forms in relation to life / Die Wiener Werkbundsiedlung” (2014) and “Villa Empain” (2019).
The documentary film “Forms in relation to life / Die Wiener Werkbundsiedlung” by director Heidrun Holzfeind shows everyday life in a housing estate in the 13th district of Vienna, which was designed in the interwar period as an architectural project to promote the coexistence of different classes. In the 1920s, the Werkbund architectural association developed a new approach to living, in which people and their housing needs dictated the form of the architecture. In her film, Heidrun Holzfeind portrays the relationship between man and house, in which practical, everyday challenges are discussed alongside aesthetic aspects.
With care and patience, Katharina Kastner rediscovers in “Villa Empain” ornaments, sounds, pictorial fragments and memories that make up the essence of one of the most emblematic Art Deco buildings in the Belgian capital. Commissioned as a private building by Baron Louis Empain, the Villa Empain served as a museum, after World War II as an embassy building, was subsequently rented by a television station, fell into disrepair in the 1990s before being rescued by a wealthy family (Boghossian) who converted it into an East-West cultural centre.
“Forms in relation to life / Die Wiener Werkbundsiedlung” -from 9 August, 18.00 (Bucharest), until 6 September, 23.00 (Bucharest) exclusively on the website of the Austrian Cultural Forum Bucharest. This screening is supported by Sixpackfilm and the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs.
“Villa Empain” – between August 16, 18.00 hrs and August 30, 23.00 hrs (Bucharest time) exclusively on the website of the Austrian Cultural Forum Bucharest.
