Docomomo Slovenia is deeply honoured to be approved to host  the 15th international Docomomo conference in Cankarjev Dom,  Ljubljana, Slovenia in August 2018. As this is also the year in which Docomomo International is  celebrating 30 years of its existance, we would like to kindly invite you to join us  at this unique place and moment in the history of Docomomo International in the conference with the title Metamorphosis – The Continuity of Change.

We are currently experiencing a complete escalation of change in different areas of life. Change has never been as easy as it is now, in the 21^st century. We are getting closer and closer to Kafka’s Metamorphosis becoming a reality. The meaning of truth, human and social values, authenticity and identity are changing their importance. The difference between the original and the phoney is waning. The Modern Movement’s social and aesthetic values have never been so strongly in the spotlight as they are today. What do we stand for? What does Docomomo stand for in this changed World’s paradigm?

Change has long been a leitmotif in the geographical, historical, cultural and political agendasof little Slovenia, especially in the last hundred years. Always just on the edge of the major hubs of the Modern Movement, squeezed in between the East and the West, Slovenia has developed into a boutique-like European country, strategically located between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps, surrounded by Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia. Having been part of the Habsburg Monarchy, Illyrian Provinces, Austro-Hungarian Empire and part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and after having experienced three totalitarian regimes, Slovenia continued as a member of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for 46 years before achieved independence in 1991 and joining the European Union in 2004.

Ljubljana, which is also known as Plečnik’s Ljubljana and Ravnikar’s Ljubljana, after the architects Jože Plečnik and Edvard Ravnikar, was the 2016 European Green Capital. In a 100-year period, it has transformed from an Austro-Hungarian provincial town into a capital with a population of 300,000 inhabitants. With almost everything in walking distance, Ljubljana is today well known for being a great place to raise children. Playfulness and mystery, both of which are part of children’s creativeness, have always been very important constitutional elements in Plečnik’s and Ravnikar’s architectural discipline.

The conference will be located in Cankarjev Dom, designed by Edvard Ravnikar (1960-85). Cankarjev Dom is part of the Republic Square which represents the heart of Ravnikar’s Ljubljana. It is the main cultural centre in Slovenia, an example of Slovenian structuralism par excellence.