New York's Museum of Modern Art will examine former Yugoslavia's impressive concrete structures and bold urban planning visions created during its communist years, in an exhibition opening this summer.
Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948?1980, will present examples of the distinct style that emerged in the state, which occupied the Balkans region of Central and Southeastern Europe for most of the 20th century.
Toward a Concrete Utopia will include examples of Yugoslavia's huge public spaces, like Edvard Ravnikar's Revolution Square (now Republic Square) in Ljubljana. Photo by Valentin Jeck, commissioned by MoMA
The exhibition will bring together over 400 drawings, models, photographs and film clips showing the region's most impressive architecture, planned and constructed during the later part of Yugoslavia's existence. "The architecture that emerged during this period ? from 'International Style' skyscrapers to brutalist 'social condensers' ? is a manifestation of the radical pluralism, hybridity, and idealism that characterised the Yugoslav state itself," said a statement from MoMA.
The exhibition will explore the distinct architectural styles and forms that developed across the state, as seen in the Sava Center, Belgrade, by Stojan Maksimovi?. Photo by Valentin Jeck, commissioned by MoMA
Yugoslavia provides a unique point of study due to its turbulent recent history. The country was initially formed after the first world war as the Kingdo...