In Ľubo’s Memory
Ľubomír Longauer will forever remain the embodiment of sincerity, purposefulness, equality and mettle. I don’t know another person who could live and articulate his life programme better. He ridiculed puffedup self-importance and bashaw stupidity; he recognised an honest approach and professionalism without unnecessary words. His most powerful weapon was the word, which came from his great factory of knowledge, experience, connections and refined stylistics. Even to these words of mine, he would only mutter: “Well, well, well!”
His appearance was like his life: Challenging and yet clear and comprehensible. He spoke, wrote and lived the truth. He once said to me, “I’ll tell you the secret of how to write a good text: Say in your mind what you want to write, and at the same time write it. And then cross out, cross out, cross out.” I knew that he didn’t cross out his words. He didn’t have to. High-quality textbooks could easily be created from the transcripts of his speeches. When he appeared somewhere, the room was full and what he said always had a clear idea and message. Not everyone was comfortable with it, and not everyone was able to have a dialogue with him. He was upset about many things and often looked for reasons why people with the same goal and attitude would play dirty tricks on each other. He formulated it quite clearly when he said: “Not politicians or civil servants, but in Slovakia, you will eventually be played by your own people from your own profession.” It was not paranoia, but a bitter experience. He fought for the values he believed in all his life, but sometimes when he looked over his shoulder, he was alone in the barricade. I am glad that in the moments when there was a fight for the Design Museum, we were always behind him. Although it is still unclear whether we really won the fight.
Maroš Schmidt on behalf of the Slovak Design Centre.
We will bring you a more comprehensive article about Prof. Ľubomír Longauer (* June 2, 1948 – † September 6, 2025) in Designum 4/2025. (ed.)