Erste Foundation Bond
Balkanology. New Architecture and Urban Phenomena
In the Western Balkans the collapse of the socialist economic system in former Yugoslavia and Albania has given rise to extensive informal building activity that represents a new form of urbanisation. The question is: to what extent do such urban transformations indicate patterns of future development for European cities in general?
The exhibition uses examples from projects in Belgrade, Bucharest, Zagreb, Kotor, Prishtina and Tirana to illustrate the way architects, urbanists and activists are dealing with these rapid urban transformation processes. The outstanding yet hardly known buildings of socialist modernism in Yugoslavia are compared and contrasted with contemporary architecture.
Opening a new field, the exhibition “Balkanology” presents the little known architectural treasures of the post-socialist period and the result of unregulated, uncontrolled urban planning in the South Eastern European countries. Its focus is on the impact of recent socio-political changes on architecture and urban design.
Parallel to the “Balkanology” exhibiton, Kai Vöckler initated the “Archis SEE Network” , a network of local initiatives launched by architects, planners, artists, urbanists, sociologists and other professionals engaged in the process of improving various political and social dimensions of their urban environment.
Picture Gallery
New Prishtina Exhibition Bordeaux 2009
