MoMA to Explore Spomenik Monuments With “Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980”

The Museum of Modern Art will explore the architecture of the former Yugoslavia with Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980, the first major US exhibition to study the remarkable body of work that sparked international interest during the 45 years of the country’s existence. The exhibition will include more than 400 drawings, models, photographs, and film reels culled from an array of municipal archives, family-held collections, and museums across the region, introducing the exceptional built work of socialist Yugoslavia’s leading architects to an international audience for the first time.

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 characterized the Yugoslav state itself. Exploring themes of large-scale urbanization, technological experimentation and its application in everyday life, consumerism, monuments and memorialization, and the global reach of Yugoslav architecture, Toward a Concrete Utopia will feature work by important architects, including Bogdan Bogdanović, Juraj Neidhardt, Svetlana Kana Radević, Edvard Ravnikar, Vjenceslav Richter, and Milica Šterić. 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.

Organized by Martino Stierli, The Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art, and Vladimir Kulić, guest curator, with Anna Kats, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art.

Generous funding for the exhibition is provided by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.

Additional support is provided by the Annual Exhibition Fund.

News and exhibition description via MoMA.

• Title

  Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948– 1980

• Type

  Exhibition

• Website

  https://www.moma.org/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAtJbTBRDkARIsAIA0a5Nq0_3SVmew8SgDsoTx-0WhuqBPexD20_lStLzxVtnPI7fZur231FYaAjjlEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

• From

  July 15, 2018 10:00 AM

• Until

  January 13, 2019 08:00 PM

• Venue

  The Museum of Modern Art

• Address

  11 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019, USA