Editorial board
From September 2012, the Museum of applied arts in Brno has housed the exhibition dealing with decorativism and ornament Silent revolution in ornament – Experiments in decorative art, 1880 – 1930. The exhibition is organised by the Moravian gallery in Brno as part of major project In the track of modernism. We usually believe the ornament is a formal element, a filler or a substitute. Ornament is not part of the official history of art. Modernism demonised the ornament as being our enemy or a crime. This exhibition aims to break such stereotypes and describes the powerful period of decorativism that resulted in the Secession, Art Deco, Cubism and the early Modernism. Lada Hubatová-Vacková who has done research into the ornament for several years was the curator of the exhibition. She believes that the decorative art can be described without the modernist prejudices, emphasizing its relation to the contemporary scientific discoveries, botany, theory of colours, optics, film and photography. The impressive installation – historical showcases and dark walls with chalk ornaments made by voluntary decorators – presents the works of popular (or unknown) Czech or foreign artists they made in ceramics, glass, tin, textile or books. Old herbaria, collections of butterflies or crystals are also included in the exhibition. Several multimedia performances refer to the relation of the exhibition to contemporary art.