Milan Pitlach

Milan Pitlach (born March 1, 1943 in Kroměříž ) is a Czech architect and photographer.

Life

After graduating from high school in Opava , Milan Pitlach studied architecture at the Technical University (ČVUT) in Prague in 1966 . Between 1966 and 1969 he worked in the Delta Atelier of the Association of Project Studios (SPA) in Prague . From 1969–1970 he completed an internship in the London office of Yorke, Rosenberg & Mardall. He then worked from 1971 to 1980 as an architect in the Design Institute of the City of Prague (PU VHMP). In 1981 Milan Pitlach emigrated to the Federal Republic of Germany, where he settled in Düsseldorf. Here he initially worked in the Dansard, Kalenborn & Partner offices, between 1984 and 1989 at OM Ungers in Cologne, and in the Heuser office in Wuppertal. From 2003 to 2009 he worked in Shanghai as chief architect of the Archlong Group Co. During his stay in London, Pitlach began taking photos in 1969. He opened the first exhibition in 1972 in Prague. Since then he has realized almost forty individual exhibitions in different cities around the world and published his work in books and catalogs.

Architectural work

Milan Pitlach's work has its roots in the tradition of Czech modern architecture. He avoids formal subjectivism or ornamentalism . The focus of his work was the development of architectural and urban planning concepts. He disseminated his views on architecture in the form of critical articles. Some of them were published in the magazines Architektura ČSR , Architekt , Revolver Revue and their supplement Kritická příloha .

Milan Pitlach had lectureships at the Bergische Universität in Wuppertal (1984–1985) and at the Technical University in Prague (1992–1993).

He took part in numerous international competitions, also in cooperation with renowned architecture firms such as the Cologne architecture firm OM Ungers .

Awards

The following were awarded the highest prize: Urban planning solution for Prague - Libeň (1980), Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe (1986), Media Park Cologne (ex equo, 1987), Messepalast Wien (ex equo, 1987), BIBA Bremen headquarters (1989), Redesign of Karlplatz in Třebíč (draft selected for implementation, 1996), office building Blok # 114 Jing An District Shanghai, (2004), Jewish monument in Shanghai (2004), Min Hang District cultural zone, Shanghai (with Christopher Choa, 2005), development plan East Tai Hu Lake, Suzhou (2007). Other projects received awards: competition south-west city of Prague (1968), children's playgrounds, competition (1971), expansion of the city library in Fulda, competition (1986), residential area in Solingen, competition (1990), offices and congress center on the premises of the main train station , Prague, competition (1993), industrial zone in Schweinfurt, competition (1995), railway stations of the suspension railway in Wuppertal, competition (1993), design of the Masarykplatz and Komenskyplatz in Třebíč (1996).

Exhibitions

2004 - Artsea Gallery, Shanghai, Shanghai Jewish Memorial
2012 - DKunsthaus, Cabinet of Architecture / GVUO / Ostrava, Shanghai Concepts
2012 - Industrial Gallery, Ostrava, sketches
2012 - Kunsthaus, OKO Opava, 3 × Milan Pitlach / works from Shanghai,

Photographic work

Milan Pitlach has been involved in photography since 1969. In the communist Czech Republic of the 1970s, Milan Pitlach continued to depict the Czech reality of the era of normalization. The same aesthetic characterizes the photographs of his travels in this decade (Poland, GDR, Russia). At the same time he began to develop the subjective line of his photographic work, which he later presented in an exhibition at the Intercamera (1997) and in the book Diaries (TORST, Prague, 1999).

After his emigration to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1981, Milan Pitlach's photographic activity intensified. In his work of the eighties, which is characterized by trips to India, Italy, France, Japan, and the USA, photographs from India can be described as the focus. “What is remarkable about the photos from India, which were taken ten years later than the photos from England, is the formal bravura. Pitlach composes his pictures with professional security and aesthetic elegance. The last major topic in documentary photography was for Pitlach China, where he worked as an architect for six years. Since then, speculative photography , which often takes on abstract forms, has found more space in his new works . One of these subjects, the Gospel according to Matthew, was exhibited and appeared in book form. ”Subjects such as“ Landscapes after Friedrich Nietzsche ”,“ Calligraphy ”,“ Fragments ”or“ Gaspard de la Nuit d'apres Ravel ”were also exhibited and published.

Solo exhibitions (selection)

1972 - Reduta, Prague, Ostrov / The Island
1976 - Moravian Gallery Brno, London Diary (The exhibition is ultimately banned)
1977 - Gallery Creative Camera, London, London Diary / Londoner Tagebuch
1983 - Galerie Porta Dromedaris, Enkhuisen, photographs from Czechoslovakia
1984 - Galerie K, Tokyo, Footnotes
1992 - Mánes Gallery, Praha, Czech photography in exile
1994 - Fronta Gallery, Praha, Milan Pitlach, retrospective exhibition
1995 - City Theater, Solingen, About the Theater
1997 - Intercamera, Prague, diaries
1999 - Strážnice chateau, About party and gesture
2000 - National Gallery, Prague, photographs from India
2000 - Boskovice Castle, Let it Bleed / Theme with variations
2000 - Czech Cultural Center Dresden, photographs from Czechoslovakia in the 1970s
2000 - Tanzhaus NRW, Düsseldorf, dances of everyday life
2000 - Obecní dům, Prague, (Rep. Helsinki) We 1948-1989 (Exhibition of the Moravian Gallery in Brno)
2001 - Moravian Gallery, Brno, London Diary
2001 - Památník národního písemnictví, Praha, Gospel according to Matthew
2002 - British Council, Prague, London Diary
2003 - Gallery Werkstatt, Blankenheim, fragments
2003 - Artsea Gallery, Shanghai, Four Foreign Photographers
2004 - Artsea Gallery, Shanghai, Eyes Wide
2005 - Uměleckoprůmyslové museum, Praha, Czech photography of the 20th century
2008 - National Gallery, Prague, calligraphy
2008 - Moravian Gallery Brno, Third Side of the Wall (exhibition of the Moravian Gallery in Brno)
2010 - Fiducia Gallery, Ostrava, Salt of the Earth / Photographs from Ostrava
2012 - Galeria, Drama (Greece), The Fate of Man
2012 - Ostrava City Museum, Ostrava, calligraphy
2013 - Industrial Gallery, Ostrava, Gaspard de la Nuit d'apres Ravel
2013 - Kunsthaus Ostrava / GVUO / Le Corbusier - Chandigarh

Individual evidence

↑ Milan Pitlach - Šanghajské koncepty / cabinet architektury Ostrava
↑ 3 x Milan Pitlach. Šangajské práce / Kabinet architektury Opava
↑ Evangelium podle Matouše [Gospel according to Matthew], KANT, Praha 2004, ISBN 80-86217-75-2
↑ Le Corbusier. Chandigarh / Kabinet architektury Ostrava

personal data
SURNAME	Pitlach, Milan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Czech architect and photographer
DATE OF BIRTH	March 1, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kroměříž

[1] Milan Pitlach - Šanghajské koncepty / cabinet architektury Ostrava

[2] 3 x Milan Pitlach. Šangajské práce / Kabinet architektury Opava

[3] Evangelium podle Matouše [Gospel according to Matthew], KANT, Praha 2004, ISBN 80-86217-75-2

[4] Le Corbusier. Chandigarh / Kabinet architektury Ostrava

Milan Pitlach

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