The Hudec Cultural Foundation was the honorary guest of the 14th World Congress on Art Deco in Cleveland, USA in 2017 May. The World Congress aims to provide a forum for the worldwide exchange and promotion of ideas and information about Art Deco.

The main organiser of the program, the 20th Century Society USA, http://www.20thcs.org/, provided a a 5 days program with lectures, guided architectural and museum tours and evening parties. Participants had been presented to all the important museums and well known architectural sites of the city. The almost 200 attendants were coming from Australia and New Zealand, Argentina, Canada, China, Europe and USA. 

During the 5 days program every participants could hear lectures about famous and forgotten american art deco artists and brands in the field of product design (Rose Iron Works with Paul Kiss and Paul Fehér, Lawson Clock), graphic designers (Ilona Kárász) interior design (Paul Fehér) and fashion design (Erté), mural designers (Hildreth Meière) as well about the designer of this period’s symbolic object the “Jazz bowl” (Viktor Schreckengost). There were presentations about the music and cultural life of this age and about Cleveland Exposition of 1937, the most glorious time of the city. In addition to the american Art Deco content the invited honorary guests, the Major of Saint-Quentin (France) introduced the rich Art Deco heritage of the city and Ms Julie Faure of the Paris Art Deco Society introduced the oeuvre of Jacque-Emile Ruhlmann, an interior designer of Paris. Virag Csejdy’s presentation about László Hudec titled: “L. E. Hudec’s oeuvre and architectural analogies” was introducing his cultural background, his most famous Shanghai buildings and some Hungarian buildings with similar designing concepts. This way the Hungarian culture and Budapest’s Art Deco heritage was popularised for the international public of the congress. The ending lectures were about the coming Art Deco World Congress in year 2019 by Adriana Piastrellini, President of Art Deco Argentina. The last day of the World Congress is the best place and time to promote the next city, Buenos Aires, the capacities and the planned program. See full program: http://www.20thcs.org/cleveland-2017/

The lectures were taking place in the mornings. In the afternoons participants were transported to the most famous Art Deco and Non-Deco locations and museums of Cleveland and recieved guided tours by experties. These tours were perfectly organised and filled with a lot of infromation about Cleveland history and its cultural richness. Some of the most exciting city sites: Playhouse Square, Greyhound Bus Terminal, West Side Market, The Arcade, Old Cleveland Post Office, Society for Savings Building, Rose Iron Works, the Ohio Bell Building, Western Reserve Historical Society, Severance Hall, Park Synagogue, The Cleveland Museum of Art.

The World Congress participants were interested in the cultural and artistic content of the city as much as in the social life programs. Those focusing on Art Deco clothing, dancing and partying had great programs too:  ART DECO DINNER DANCE, DINNER CRUISE ALONG CUYAHOGA RIVER, FASHION PARADE.

The Hudec Cultural Foundation was represent by Virag Csejdy and this participation was supported by the Hungary Initiatives Foundation’s Conference Support Grant.