Oscar Niemeye is a legend of world architecture. He was born a hundred years ago, on December 15, 1907 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. When he was twenty-three years old, he enrolled in the local art academy and after graduating he found a job in the studio of Lúcia Costa. He was an ardent advocate of modern trends, which quickly made their way from Europe to the South American continent. A turning point in Niemeyer's life came in 1936, when Le Corbusier visited Brazil. Niemeyer was at first a master's faithful disciple and collaborator, but gradually became his opponent. Even today, Niemeyer said of his great role model: Le Corbusier had an extraordinary imagination. He was a great architect, but as a man he was small. ”In this context, it is interesting that Niemeyer emphasizes fantasy as the main guide to the art of construction. He himself developed architecture, the formal side of which often prevails over the aspect of utility. The best proof of this is the capital of Brasília, which is a resounding hymn to Niemeyer's artistic genius.

Damjan Prelovšek

The exhibition is a collection of 40 photographs of buildings from the city of Brasília by Oscar Niemeyer. The author of the photographs is the Slovenian historian of architecture and photographer Damjan Prelovšek. The photographs, installed in the originally conceived exhibition, capture all the important buildings of the century-old, still actively forming a great world modern architecture. The exhibition was created for the National Gallery in Ljubljana and could also be seen in the National Gallery in Prague and in the Museum of Architecture in Wroclaw. The Ostrava exhibition will be complemented by an accompanying exhibition by Oscar Niemeyer in Czechoslovakia, which will focus on the inspiration and response of his work in the former Czechoslovakia.

Author of the exhibition: Damjan Prelovšek

Architectural design:  Eva Prelovšek

Curators of the exhibition: Marja Lorenčak, Tadeáš Goryczka, Jaroslav Němec, Martin Strakoš