Abstracts > Lilli Lička

Green Postwar Modernism: Its Humble Beginnings in Vienna - Lilli Lička (BOKU, Vienna)

Following the 4th IFLA Congress held in Vienna in 1954, Alfred Auer, Director of the Garden Department, helped local politicians to organize two international events in Vienna within 10 years: The International Garden Exhibitions in 1964 and 1974. The first helped the city in general, but also the profession of landscape architecture, to return to the international stage after the dark period of National Socialism and the difficult post-war years. Prosperity had at last returned, paternalism was on the increase and the Socialists were in full control of the city. It was not only politicians who saw modern concepts as a means of overcoming the past and looking to a better future. Landscape architecture had also reestablished contact with contemporary colleagues in Europe and abroad. On the site of the 1964 garden show, the troubled history was brushed aside, and the area was covered with a new layer of modern landscapes designed by such luminaries as Roberto Burle-Marx and Willi Neukom. Just how profound this new beginning was, however, is not easy to grasp.

 Auböck-Karasz, Donaupark, Vienna, 2012; former Rosarium, International Garden Exhibition, Vienna, 1960. (Photo: Klaus Pichler)