specific interest in transformation of public domain in processes of transition. with the focus on transformation of the city and space of the city that is happening both on institutional and informal/spontaneous level and results in radical changes of public and private space. the general idea behind all the projects is to research changes in the city to reveal the cultural patterns behind reactions in the space so to create knowledge how to deal with dynamic system of the city. furthermore, focusing on belgrade and serbia, to see how informal practices that are happening can be transformed and implemented in the practice of, so to say, formal architecture and to if they can, how can the knowledge from cities in transition be implemented in cities with more strict building policies. additionally, in some works, the shifting position of an architects in today's society is being addressed, from master builder to just one of the services, what will implications of that be in future.
"case study: russian pavilions" video photo
Russian Pavilions is the old part of the town. Built just after the second world war it was one of the first organized housing project newly formed communist state Yugoslavia built after formation. Immediately after the war, it was a place where army officals got apartments, but very fast, with development of other parts of the city, Russian Pavilions became dominantly workers' neighborhood. Little was invested in Russian Pavilions since they were built as the city was expanding too fast.
In nineties local residents started seeking perimissions from the municipality to transform attics into apartment space. Those low scale transformations, self-organized and sometimes even self-built were almost symoblically linked to the collapse of the state that happend in Serbia in nineties. Left without maintainance and other types of formal support from the city, residents had to tend for themselves.
In 2001. private developers lurking for the cheep profitable land near the city center, realised that they can use the same rules used by local inhabitants and started almost systematicly extending buildings. The lack of fixed regulations and control, brutal market logic of developers lead to extension of absurd scale. Additions on one storey high buidling were 4 or 5 stories high. Peaceful neighborhood became overcrowded and crammed.
Still, there were some benfits for local residents. Leaking roofs were fixed, facade repainted, joineries changed and even some teraces added. Permission to extend was "bought" also with square meters in the extension. And the whole neighborhood was transformed in just few years. Interview tries to unveil some of the effects of that transformation, while also telling the story how extensions were built.
"Case Study: Russian Pavilions" was exhibited at Akademie Schloss Solitude on exhibition "Case Study: Russian Pavilions, 2001." from March 19th - May 3rd, 2009. web site
Russian Pavilions is thematically attached to the ongoing project Belgrade, Belgrade: Ongoing Archive of Unruled Practices developed together with Ivan Kucina.
year 2004 - ongoing
"BELGRADE, BELGRADE: Ongoing Archive of Unruled Practices"
(Roof Extensions) download pdf
documenting informal architecture that happens on the roofs in central parts of belgrade, this project in longer run wants to examine the cultural habits that provoke this kind of action in the city and their implication on architecture and public space of the city.
research project with ivan kucina, assistant professor, faculty of architecture, belgrade university.
material gathered during the workshop with students of faculty of architecture in may 2007. this is part of ongoing research project on informal architecture in belgrade, with series of workshops planned with students and resulting in book about belgrade informal architecture.
this segment of research was presented as exhibition "belgrade rooftop extensions" during belgrade architecture week in gallery "jade", museum of applied arts, belgrade, serbia. web site interview (in serbian)
this research was included in exhibition BALKANOLOGY New Architecture and Urban Phenomena in South Eastern Europe curated by Kai Voeckler held at Swiss Architecture Museum 04.10.08 – 04.01.2009 web site we.make.money.not.art review
year 2007 - ongoing
(River Rafts) download pdf
documenting informal architecture that happens on the rivers sava and danube in belgrade, this project is second step in ongoing research on unruled practices in belgrade. as if self-appointed guardians of the river banks, these structures change shapes according to demand of public or private needs. lack of organized planning for the area allowed inhabitants to test out possibilities by building variety of uses, from one room temporary holiday houses to big disco clubs and sport facilities.
research project with ivan kucina, assistant professor, faculty of architecture, belgrade university.
material gathered during the workshop with students of faculty of architecture in december 2007. this is part of ongoing research project on informal architecture in belgrade, with series of workshops planned with students and resulting in book about belgrade informal architecture.
year 2007 - ongoing
"department stores"
next project with a working title "old fashioned guide to shopping - department stores in yugoslavia" will focus on typology of departments stores in former yugoslavia, that were built by the state in period of 1960 - 1990. by analysing process of their creation, networked existence, role in society and disintegration that followed after falling apart of yugoslavia the new formats for future existence of these now empty shells will be proposed. the starting point is the article written for "lexicon for provisional futures" as an entry "waiting churches of communism"
ongoing
"liberating the names" video
after each "liberation" street names in belgrade got changed. this video challenges the idea that mere act of changing name will change the identity and transform public space.
video was done on "looking for october" workshop organized by school of missing studies. web site
year 2003-2004.
"belgrade laboratory:test tube highway" pdf abstract
book that summed up research that was done on faculty of architecture, university of belgrade in 2002-2003, on the course of architectonics course with teacher ivan kucina. the transformation of the public space around highway, and influence of highway on city fabric it penetrates was the core of the research. after initial research was finished, the idea to produce the book appeared. the concept of the book was developed by dubravka sekulic and dejan mrdja.
year 2003.
"shadow economy" ppt
one man's trash is other man's asset. the workshop manhattan shadow project organized by the school of missing studies in new york was concentrated on immaterial in material city. the work deals with bags of trash waiting in bulks on pavements of upper east and west side in nyc to be picked up. occupying public space it reveals much more than just human presence. it can unveil the story of various economies that exist simultaneously in the city and that are shaping it.
project was done on "manhattan shadow project" workshop organized by school of missing studies, in van alen institute, new york. web site
year 2004.
//"curb your man/seat/office" series of 3 postcards: curb your man curb your office curb your seat
the curb set of 3 photographs/postcards came out of shadow economy project. it was created for the field of vision: new york exhibiton. the set plays with the things left on the sidewalks as garbage, or and the notice curb your dog in the upper east and west side of new york. web site
year 2004.
"port of miracles" video
video is part of 7 piece instalation done with branko belaćević, sandra drašković, nikola knežević, jelena mitrović, dunja predić and tijana stevanović, with ivan kucina. the instalation is simulation cctv system of the abandoned port in dieppe. seemingly "normal" situation in time becomes the little mirage that lasts less than a minute. the work tries to provoke more creative approach for the future use of the port through surreal events that are occuring. it tries to bring the idea that there is a future for the port after its closing and that restricted area can become public space open for everyone.
video was done for "le temps d' un maree 2" 2nd bienale in dieppe, france web site
year 2007.
"what's your flava" hybrid house for hybrid city web site
flash animation "whats your flava" done for hybrid city project is interactive game. visitor of web site plays a game building its own hybrid house out of elements that are sampled from photographes of the unseen cities - glasgow, athens and istanbul, in the end placing it on the hybrid panorama of the 4 cities. the work tries to explore the notion that each house is in the end the mix of different cultural and spatial patterns.
flash animation was done as part of "narratives of the unseen 2: hybrid city" tutored by branko pavić, held in belgrade supported by british council web site
year 2006.
"we ask architects that ask: ask those asked about new belgrade?" video jpg
this work puts architects in ambivalent position to ask and to be asked: what is the key question of new belgrade? with series of questions posed by architects, this work looks into the decision making positions and their importance for the future of the city and puts into the question process of transformation happening in the new belgrade now.
video was done with dunja predić and davor ereš, as part of differentiated neighborhoods project of the centre for visual culture, museum of contemporary art belgrade, serbia. initiator of the project zoran erić, curator of the centre. project web site
year 2007.
"bigz alternative cultural space" video
bigz is the largest printing factory in balkans. it colapsed and went bankrupt during 90ties, the menagment found the way to raise money for salaries by letting the spaces that are not used. during time, beside small companies, artists and musicians started renting out studio spaces. in 2004 with a group of then architecture students we rented a space of former restaurant situated on the top of the building to host 50 students of architecture from europe. the transformed space of restaurant was used as living space, space for meetings, lectures and parties. after the conference ended, the space was transformed into alternative cultural space, sort of public space for all people using bigz as production space so they can present themselves. for the period of 9 months the cultural space was alive. smartcity bigz alternative cultural space team: dubravka sekulić, dunja predić, ivana turza, relja bobić, bojan marković, ilija milošević, janko radojević, milan srdić.
during period we were running cultural space, the research about the transformation of the building was made and it was presented as an exhibition "bigzer" during annual architectural salon. concept of research and exhibition was developed by dubravka sekulić, research team dubravka sekulić, dunja predić, exhibition design by milan srdić, janko radojević and ivana turza.
year 2004-2005