TYPE & EXHIBITION DESIGN

Jože Plečnik – The Karst Man

Jože Plečnik – A karszti ember

at Műcsarnok / Kunsthalle Budapest, Hungary | 2015

Curator: András Hadik & József Készman

The exhibition „The Karst Man” aimed to display the works of Jože Plečnik, the eminent Slovenian architect. Plečnik was the main figure of the Art Nouveau movement of Central European architecture; his greatest achievement was creating a completely new achitectural appearance to Ljubljana (1925–37).

Plečnik was a small nation's architect of fantastic talent and originality, a monk of the art of building, who, despite his eccentricities, created a remarkable œuvre through dogged perseverance. This œuvre was forgotten after his death, as it had no connection with the modern canon. In the 1980s he was discovered worldwide thanks to postmodernism, even though his work is essentially different from postmodern thought.

Originally, Font Plecnik was made for the exhibition as the letter of the identity. The font was constructed out of a letter-form which was designed by Plečnik himself and which appears on the plans for the Ljubljana Castle in 1947. It seemed rewarding to make up a complete alphabet from the few finished letters, since this Slab Seriff type became a very popular in the actual lettering trends.