MoMA announces ‘Concrete Utopia’ exhibition spotlighting Yugoslavian architecture

This July, New York’s Museum of Modern Art will open an exhibition dedicated to the architecture of the former Yugoslavia. Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980 examines the bold building styles that emerged during the country’s decades-long existence—from International Style skyscrapers to Brutalist blocks.

Valentin Jeck, commissioned by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2016

Organized by MoMA’s Chief Architecture and Design Curator Martino Stierli, guest curator Vladimir Kulić, and Curatorial Assistant Anna Kats, the exhibition’s 400-plus drawings, models, photos, and film reels feature the work of the regions’s leading architects, including Bogdan Bogdanović, Juraj Neidhardt, Svetlana Kana Radević, Edvard Ravnikar, Vjenceslav Richter, and Milica Šterić.

It will be the first U.S. exhibition to study socialist Yugoslavia’s architecture.

“From the sculptural interior of the White Mosque in rural Bosnia, to the post-earthquake reconstruction of the city of Skopje based on Kenzo Tange’s Metabolist design, to the new town of New Belgrade with its expressive large-scale housing blocks and civic buildings, the exhibition will examine the unique range of forms and modes of production in Yugoslav architecture and its distinct yet multifaceted character,” MoMA said in a statement.

The exhibition runs July 15, 2018 to January 13, 2019.

Valentin Jeck, commissioned by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2016.

Ivan Petrović

Courtesy MoMA

Via: ArchDaily