Divadelná Nitra 2019 Catalogue

This Is Art, Too 2019
For the sixth year in a row (since 2014), the
interactive project This Is Art, Too organised
by Association Divadelná Nitra uses
a symbol and a simple banner to mark
often forgotten, neglected or nearly destroyed
works of architecture, urbanism
and art. The previous edition was organised
newly in collaboration with the civic
association Nitra Cultural Heritage. Five
new sites have been added to the already
highlighted 33, once again corresponding
to the current year’s festival theme. Faces
of Freedom serve as an opportunity
to recall a number of monuments of war,
liberation, as well as those documenting
life in times of ‘freedom’ and the ‘defence’
of world peace.
1. The World War I Military Cemetery in
Nitra was started in 1915 besides the
Military Hospital in Mlynárce. In 1924,
a monument with a statue of a soldier,
created by Nitra ‐resident sculptor Július
Bártfay, was erected in the middle of the
grounds. It depicts a soldier standing
above the graves of his comrades and
the civilian victims of the world war.
2. The Red Army Monument was uncovered
in 1960 on the square in front of the Regional
National Committee Palace (currently
the District Office in Nitra). The
sculpture of a Red Army Man assuming
a victorious liberators’ pose was created
in the spirit of Socialist realism by Tibor
Bártfay, a native of Nitra. Shortly earlier,
he had collaborated on the decoration
of the Slavín Monument in Bratislava,
which had a notable influence on the
artwork in Nitra.
3. The Predmostie Apartment Building was
designed in 1954 − 155 by a collective of
architects consisting of Michal Maximilián
Scheer, Tibor Gebauer and Štefan
Sojka. It is one of the largest works of
post ‐war urban development in Slovakia.
Although the architects were still limited
by certain design principles adopted
form the Stalinist Soviet Union, it may
be regarded as a first ‐rate work of architecture
with a unique urban plan. Its
construction took until 1961.
4. The multi ‐figural sculpture A Protest
Against War, installed in the City Park
below Nitra Castle, was created in
1963 − 1964 by sculptor Tibor Bártfay
in collaboration with architect Štefan
Svetko. As the title suggests, this work
warns of the threats of future war. It
can therefore be considered a pacifist
artwork. The collaboration between
a sculptor and an architect likely also
resulted in the unusual arrangement
into two compositional units – a group
of playing children and a self ‐standing
figure of a mother in the foreground,
ready to protect them.
5. An artwork by sculptor Ladislav Gajdoš
placed at the centre of the Párovce II
Residential Area, built in 1961 − 1968. The
group of six concrete blocks, arranged
in a line, serves a purely aesthetic function.
It incorporates a repeating basic
form with minimal alterations of proportion
and features variations on an
abstract relief on the blocks’ front side.
Like many other artworks placed in the
public space, it represents the collective
effort to create a cultivated environment
for life in Socialist society.
A list of works and their photographs can
be found at www.nitrafest.sk under the
section ‘Other Projects’.
Partner / Partner:
85
Sunday 29 September 2019, 15:00 − 16:30, Svätopluk square, Centre, Pedestrian Zone.
This Is Art, Too – guided tour of the forgotten monuments of Nitra, commentary: Juraj
Novák.