Tag: yugoslavia

Balkans, Pokretači, The Nutshell Media, Travel

Pokretači #31 Donald Niebyl – Spomenik Database / Illinois, USA

Donald Niebyl founded and manages Spomenik Database, a website dedicated to monumental Yugoslav WWII memorials. Donald not only travelled up and down former Yugoslavia visiting monuments (or ‘spomeniks’ as they are called in local languages), but he also researched and wrote detailed history of many of them, soon to be published as a book – ‘Spomenik Monument Database’ (pre-order on Amazon). Notes Spomenik database on … Continue reading Pokretači #31 Donald Niebyl – Spomenik Database / Illinois, USA

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Pokretači, The Nutshell Media

Pokretači #29 Luka Popović – Ex-Yu Aviation / Beograd

Luka Popović već 10 godina svakog dana na Ex-Yu Aviation blogu piše o novostima u komercijalnoj avijaciji na prostru bivše Jugosavije. Njegov blog je jedan od 100 najboljih u svetu avijacije, i često je citiran od velikih medijskih kuća. Sa Lukom sam pričao o tome kako izgleda praviti izuzetno uspešan blog, da li postoji formula uspeha, i šta je toliko privlačno u avijaciji. Beleške View … Continue reading Pokretači #29 Luka Popović – Ex-Yu Aviation / Beograd

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Belgrade (31): How Slets and Sokols Helped Work Out a Yugoslav Identity

It has been 30 years since the last ‘slet’ – a spectacular annual event much like the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games that included the presentation of a relay baton that had been carried across each Yugoslav state followed by mass games featuring coordinated gymnastic routines and dances. The event was part of the former Yugoslavia’s Youth Day celebrations, one of the largest events … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (31): How Slets and Sokols Helped Work Out a Yugoslav Identity

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Pokretači, The Nutshell Media

Pokretači 2.09 Mario Milaković – Yugodom/Super Bake, Beograd

Mario je serijski pokretač, koji stoji iza Yugodoma i Super Baka. Yugodom, pokrenut 2013. je prostor u Beogradu koji slavi estetiku SFRJ, i koji je postao atrakcija za domaće i strane ljubitelje dizajna, koji u njemu mogu i da odsednu. Super Bake su socijalno preduzeće, pokrenuto kroz crowdfunding kampanju 2017.,  koje ne samo da vraća svojim mušterijama ukus detinjstva, već i pruža nasim starijim sugrađanima … Continue reading Pokretači 2.09 Mario Milaković – Yugodom/Super Bake, Beograd

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Politics, Serbia

Escaping Tito’s Long Shadow

In Serbia and most former-Yugoslav republics, May, it seems, was, is and will be, at least for another few decades, the month of Tito. Not only does it start with the International Worker’s Day,  but Tito was born, celebrated his official birthday, and died in May. He was born on 7 May 1892 in Kumrovec, Croatia, to a Croat farmer father and a Slovene mother. … Continue reading Escaping Tito’s Long Shadow

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Guide to Belgrade, Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Belgrade’s Socialist-era Interiors

With a MoMA exhibition of Yugoslav-era brutalist architecture coming up in the summer, countless photos of Spomenici (aka WWII monuments) making weird architecture listicles and the never-ending appeal of mid-century architecture, it seems like a high time for Serbia to start preserving its Socialist-era architectural heritage, including its peculiar interiors. Although there have been some notable public efforts recently, like reconstruction of Belgrade’s Museum of … Continue reading Belgrade’s Socialist-era Interiors

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Culture, Reviews

Ederlezi Rising (2018) Review

A Serbian low-budget sci-fi film  featuring a renowned adult entertainer in the role of an android designed to help (and pleasure) her astronaut/operator on the trip to Alpha Centauri, sounds like something that could, at best, aspire to be a cult-classic taken apart by trash-movie enthusiasts like Mystery Science Theatre 3000, or, at worst, languish in the depths of IMDB’s Bottom 100, only occasionally drawing … Continue reading Ederlezi Rising (2018) Review

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Uncategorized

Understanding Marina Abramovic

For a nation that takes immense pride in its famous sons and daughters, the Serbian public’s apparent disinterest in Marina Abramovic’s global success as an artist is an aberration. Despite the fact that Abramovic is by far the most acclaimed living artist from the former Yugoslavia, the average Serb would probably not know her name. She is mostly absent from the Serbian press, there are … Continue reading Understanding Marina Abramovic

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Belgrade (22): Pištolj-mala and Lower Dorćol’s lowly days

Now a budding foodie hub, attracting Belgrade’s fashionable creatives, Lower Dorcol was the site of Belgrade’s most notorious shanty town, Pištolj-mala (“Pistol slum”), some 90 years ago. As Serbian architect and historian of Belgrade’s urbanism, Dr Zlata Vuksanović Macura, notes in her research(with some great photos), at its peak this shantytown housed about 1,500 souls in about 300 houses , spread in the area around … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (22): Pištolj-mala and Lower Dorćol’s lowly days

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist, Uncategorized

Hidden Belgrade (21): The rise and fall of the Friendship Park

There are a few testaments of Socialist Yugoslavia’s global ambitions dotted around Belgrade, from the obelisk by Branko’s bridge commemorating the first meeting of the Non-Aligned movement in 1961, to Sava Centar, built to host conferences of OSCE and Non-Aligned Movement in 1977 and 1979, respectively. However, the most striking and poetic memorial to rise and disastrous fall of Yugoslavia’s international clout is the Friendship … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (21): The rise and fall of the Friendship Park

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Belgrade (16): The Forgotten Feminist Palace

If you pass through a hallway of an unassuming building with a blackened facade in Resavska 11, you will find yourself staring at a graceful jewel box of a building which currently houses Serbia’s leading folklore dance society AKUD “Lola”. Its pink and white facade, hides behind it one of the prettiest halls in Belgrade, decorated with wonderful chandeliers and elegant art-nouveau ornaments. This hall, … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (16): The Forgotten Feminist Palace

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Belgrade (12): Konjarnik: Buddhism, Brutalism and rap

As you approach Belgrade by highway from the East, you will pass a hill from which you will be able to see the whole city in front of you, but the view will be dominated by three massive stepped concrete buildings. Officially called Rudo, after a city in Bosnia, the complex is known as the Eastern Gate, in parrallel with another brutalist masterpiece that is … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (12): Konjarnik: Buddhism, Brutalism and rap

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Balkans, Travel

9 must-sees in Slovenia, Europe’s fairytale country

If you are in doubt as to where to go this summer (or ever): go to Slovenia  I love Slovenia. It is easily one of the prettiest countries in Europe and one of the most pleasant to explore. Although it has been on the interrail trail for a while, it still feels like a hidden gem. It even has an instagram-crazed president and it gave … Continue reading 9 must-sees in Slovenia, Europe’s fairytale country

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Belgrade (7): The fall of Ikarus

Tragically named airplane factory that found its way to the hearts of New Belgraders Ikarus was the first Yugoslav airplane factory, founded in 1923, in Novi Sad.  As expected for an aircraft factory named after the first known air accident with a human fatality, Ikarus had suitably a bumpy start as it almost went bankrupt before it started producing planes. Neverthelss, after a bit of … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (7): The fall of Ikarus

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Culture, Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Belgrade (2): Legacy of Petar Lubarda in Dedinje

This year marks 110 years since the birth of Petar Lubarda, one of the most accomplished Yugoslav artists. Lubarda’s colourful, raw works, reminiscent of the barren and dramatic landscapes of his native Montenegro, achieved international recognition during the 1950s and 60s. His career peaked when he beat Picasso and Dali for a Grand Prix at Sao Paolo Art Biennial in 1953. A stone’s throw away … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (2): Legacy of Petar Lubarda in Dedinje

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Belgrade (1): Works of Dragutin Inkiostri Medenjak

Like any city that has been around for about two millennia, Belgrade is filled with fantastic stories of people and places that have made it what it is . Unfortunately, due to its turbulent past,  frequent destructions and mass migrations, many of these stories are precariously close to perishing. In the time when even the most beautiful old house can fall prey to a sledgehammer … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (1): Works of Dragutin Inkiostri Medenjak

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