Slumbering Concrete
Political systems have historically been known to establish their identity through architecture of their institutions. In the latter half of the twentieth century, Croatia and former Yugoslavia have done the same, forging their hybrid political system in the complicated Cold war circumstances.
In 1948, the Yugoslav President Tito broke all formal relationships with Stalin, left the Eastern Block, and laid the foundations for a new geo-political movement: The Non-Aligned Movement. That left Yugoslavia in need of new ideological symbols – imposing buildings that would reflect its “non-aligned” position. While literature, philosophy and films were all partly censored, and critical thinking repressed, architectural aesthetics was free. With its privilege to reflect the system’s identity as undisputedly modern, it often represented system’s identity much more progressively than the controversial Yugoslav society ever was. The 1970’s architecture in Yugoslavia have therefore triumphed in its modernism. Proud, optimistic, future-oriented architecture was supposed to set the framework for the new, better world, which ultimately never came true. The first season of “Slumbering Concrete” focused on the socialist architecture in objects built for tourism, the second season on unfinished projects intended for cultural and social transformation, and the third season will explore museums, monuments and political institutions – all built to represent an ideology. The series critically explores the fate of buildings that have lost their original purpose to protect the political system but have not lost their cultural and spatial significance. Can we stop our recent history to be completely wipedout and take a critical look at the achievements of one whole generation? Can we remove the stigma of the ideological enemy from some of the greatest examples of our architectural legacy? And ultimately, by doing so, can we establish some continuity in our urban and cultural history?
In 1948, the Yugoslav President Tito broke all formal relationships with Stalin, left the Eastern Block, and laid the foundations for a new geo-political movement: The Non-Aligned Movement. That left Yugoslavia in need of new ideological symbols – imposing buildings that would reflect its “non-aligned” position. While literature, philosophy and films were all partly censored, and critical thinking repressed, architectural aesthetics was free. With its privilege to reflect the system’s identity as undisputedly modern, it often represented system’s identity much more progressively than the controversial Yugoslav society ever was. The 1970’s architecture in Yugoslavia have therefore triumphed in its modernism. Proud, optimistic, future-oriented architecture was supposed to set the framework for the new, better world, which ultimately never came true. The first season of “Slumbering Concrete” focused on the socialist architecture in objects built for tourism, the second season on unfinished projects intended for cultural and social transformation, and the third season will explore museums, monuments and political institutions – all built to represent an ideology. The series critically explores the fate of buildings that have lost their original purpose to protect the political system but have not lost their cultural and spatial significance. Can we stop our recent history to be completely wipedout and take a critical look at the achievements of one whole generation? Can we remove the stigma of the ideological enemy from some of the greatest examples of our architectural legacy? And ultimately, by doing so, can we establish some continuity in our urban and cultural history?
Feast of the Wolf
Bukovica region in the Croatian Dalmatian hinterland is just a few kilometres from popular tourist destinations on the Adriatic Sea. However, houses there are devastated and in ruins, fields are overgrown with weeds, and many roads are impassable. There are no bars, no community spaces, no shops, or bus stops.
In such a socially isolated place, wolves turned up. They prey, lying in wait, bringing anxiety among people. In the night, terrified villagers listen to them howl. The local population’s bare existence is at stake. Their insecurity is deepened by memories of the war in the nineties that led to the break-up of Yugoslavia they lived through and the shocking news of a new one looming in Eastern Europe.
Ana drives in her little car for miles daily, armed with her camera and medical instruments. She moved here from the city far away to take the position of a state official who conducts investigations into the wolf attacks and oversees the compensations to herders. Being a scientist, she has a very rational approach to the world around her.
While conducting investigations, Ana meets an irrational world: a world full of suspicions, prejudices, myths, and conspiracy theories. The locals have no doubt in the latest theory: the state, in an agreement with Brussels, systematically populates the area with wolves, flying them from abroad with helicopters. They believe that the wolves are here to dispel the population, creating space for new foreign industries, stone quarries, and wind farms.
Energetic, charming, and adrenaline-driven, Ana is a bold woman trying to be accepted in the patriarchal milieu. She is educating shepherds, fighting with their stubborn disillusions.
But how can Ana convince the locals that their beliefs are wrong when they even suspect her of involvement in a conspiracy? Even as she refuses the conspiracy theory, she eventually decides to spend the rest of her life living among locals.
Ana’s transformation is the main dramatic arc of the film.
In such a socially isolated place, wolves turned up. They prey, lying in wait, bringing anxiety among people. In the night, terrified villagers listen to them howl. The local population’s bare existence is at stake. Their insecurity is deepened by memories of the war in the nineties that led to the break-up of Yugoslavia they lived through and the shocking news of a new one looming in Eastern Europe.
Ana drives in her little car for miles daily, armed with her camera and medical instruments. She moved here from the city far away to take the position of a state official who conducts investigations into the wolf attacks and oversees the compensations to herders. Being a scientist, she has a very rational approach to the world around her.
While conducting investigations, Ana meets an irrational world: a world full of suspicions, prejudices, myths, and conspiracy theories. The locals have no doubt in the latest theory: the state, in an agreement with Brussels, systematically populates the area with wolves, flying them from abroad with helicopters. They believe that the wolves are here to dispel the population, creating space for new foreign industries, stone quarries, and wind farms.
Energetic, charming, and adrenaline-driven, Ana is a bold woman trying to be accepted in the patriarchal milieu. She is educating shepherds, fighting with their stubborn disillusions.
But how can Ana convince the locals that their beliefs are wrong when they even suspect her of involvement in a conspiracy? Even as she refuses the conspiracy theory, she eventually decides to spend the rest of her life living among locals.
Ana’s transformation is the main dramatic arc of the film.