Public talk by Michael Lambek (Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto Scarborough)
Tuesday, 27.06.2023, 3:30 PM (CEST)

Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS), Prague, with the support of Strategy AV21 invites you to a public talk by anthropologist Michael Lambek (Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto Scarborough) on “WRITING BEHIND THE GLASS: The Villa Tugendhat and Its Family ”

The talk will take place at 3.30 PM (CEST) on Tuesday, 27.06.2023, at the Institute of Ethnology, CAS, Prague. The event can be attended in person or on-line. Registration is required for attendance — To register, click https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=p_oY1y0LJUa0oZDSDfcaG2-XXairW4xOhvKokPpa3lNUMkFRS0w2TlowOFUyN0hKN1lEMTZGWEVTTy4u&origin=QRCode

ABSTRACT

As an icon of modernism, the Villa Tugendhat is a UNESCO world heritage site and also the heritage of both the city of Brno and of a family. Behind the Glass recounts the intertwined history of this family of Moravian Jewish origins and the house that Grete Tugendhat commissioned from Mies van der Rohe in 1928. In the 1960’s she began a conversation with the city that led eventually to the restoration and celebration of the house, with implications for how the family came to view itself and how Brno came to acknowledge the family and its own heritage.  Written by a family member, the book simultaneously problematizes the nature of family and reflects on the difficulty of writing about it.

Download poster pdf here.