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Papers by Maja Babic

Colloquia Humanistica, 2021

Since the end of the state-socialist era in the early 1990s – and effectively, since the end of t... more Since the end of the state-socialist era in the early 1990s – and effectively, since the end of the Yugoslav federation and the subsequent wars that had engulfed the Western Balkans for almost a decade – the study of the twentieth-century South-Eastern Europe has intensified. The scholarship on the region’s twentieth-century architecture has been prolific since the early years of the new millennium, and the new generation of urban and architectural scholars has further amplified this trend. However, an inquiry into the post-socialist city in Western Balkans has been relegated largely to the secondary position to the study of the Yugoslav modernist architecture and its role within the socio-political mechanisms of the Cold War era. In this discourse, the study of the post-socialist urban space remains lacking in architectural and urban history – it is mainly conducted within the methodological and theoretical frameworks of sociology, socio-cultural anthropology, and urban geography.
To bridge this scholarly gap and identify possible new trajectories of inquiry, I probe into the different scholarship dealing with the post-socialist city and the urban, ideological, and social remnants of the state-socialist era in former Yugoslavia. I argue that the study of the multi-disciplinary nature of the scholarship examining the state-socialist and post-socialist city serves as a vital step in the more comprehensive understanding of the (post )Yugoslav architectural space, its particulars, and idiosyncrasies. Methodologically, I identify and outline the different disciplinary strands in the study of the post-socialist space in general, and post-Yugoslav space in particular, followed by an analysis of the established discourses and their points of interference and overlap. By investigating qualitative methodologies and different theoretical approaches in the study of the Central-East European and Yugoslav post-socialist city, I explore the post socialist urban space in former Yugoslavia in a wide-ranging manner, ultimately identifying conduits for future research.

International Journal of Islamic Architecture, 2023

The study of the Cold War built environment and its links with communist ideology have permeated ... more The study of the Cold War built environment and its links with communist ideology have permeated the field of architectural history and theory since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. However, the treatment of Ottoman Islamic heritage under state socialist rule remains a little examined subject. The earthquake that demolished large swaths of the Yugoslav city of Skopje in 1963 caused heavy damage to Ottoman architecture. In the years that followed, the reconstruction of Skopje became a symbol of a singular, international collaboration between countries from both sides of the Cold War divide. The city that arose became the 1970s brutalist capital of the Balkans. This article examines the treatment of Ottoman urban heritage in Skopje and its sociocultural and political implications during the post-disaster (re)construction of a modernizing and modernist city. I argue that disregard for the historical breadth and the continuing religious, cultural, and social significance of the region's Ottoman-era urban spaces and structures for Skopje's Muslim community in the creation of the brutalist city was not exclusively based on anti-Muslim rhetoric. Rather, it was part of the driving quest for modernity sought by the Yugoslav communist leaders in the second half of the twentieth century.

MÖGG, 2020

The urban transformations taking place throughout the region of former Yugoslavia are best exempl... more The urban transformations taking place throughout the region of former Yugoslavia are best exemplified in the capitals of the once-communist federation’s successor states. The recent urban developments in the cities of Belgrade, Zagreb, and Sarajevo illustrate the realities of contemporary societies in the Balkans and the socio-political shifts of the pe- riod of transition. The built environments of the newly capitalist countries serve as exag- gerated, yet emblematic examples of nation-building projects and their deep entwinement with economic processes unfolding throughout post-communist South-Eastern Europe. However, the links between the post-socialist urban and national identity, as well as poli- tics and economy, remain understudied.
In this paper, I enquire into the present-day urban transformations of Sarajevo, Bel- grade, and Zagreb. I examine these cities within the context of post-Yugoslav economic and political space, exploring the particularities of the creation of built environments that no longer exist on the Yugoslav periphery, but now are at the centre of newly democratic societies. Through the investigation of the political, economic, and architectural particularities of Belgrade Waterfront and Zagreb Manhattan development projects, and Sarajevovo City Center commercial complex, I examine the influx of foreign funds – mainly from the Middle East – and their impacts on the construction of regional urban centres. I argue that the modern-day capitals of post-Yugoslav states are developing as products of the interpolation of a communist past into the capitalist present characterised by the perpetual quest for “Europe”, and in line with the broader socio-political and architectural trends in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. In post-Yugoslavia, urban practices are problematically interwoven with politics: the cities simultaneously serve as displays of geopolitical change and catalysts for social transformation in post-socialist societies.

Keywords: Post-socialist city, urban transformations, Balkans, nationalism, Yugoslavia, Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo

Landscape_InProgress, 2018

An architectural investigation into Skopje provides us with the tools to understand both the Yugo... more An architectural investigation into Skopje provides us with the tools to understand both the Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav architectural and political events. The contemporary architecture of Skopje exemplifies of the architectural production in the post-socialist Southeastern Europe and its deeply intertwined relationship with politics. The examination of the re-production of politics and ideology through architectural construction allows for an insight into events taking place in Skopje today, in the deeply problematic processes of both cancelling and negating of the communist past. I study the two reconstructions of Skopje, the post-1963 earthquake period and the contemporary architectural events in the city, and I argue that both projects exhibit the shifting relationships between architecture and politics, as well as its perpetual re-negotiations, and the paramount importance of their contexts in understanding the conjunction of the past and present in the city.

post: notes on art in a global context, 2018

Publications by Maja Babic

by Anatole Upart, Alla Vronskaya, Lily Filson, Maja Babic, Flavia Marcello, Maria Elisa Navarro Morales, Fatina Abreek-Zubiedat, Alona Nitzan-Shiftan, Raluca Muresan, Andreea Ion Cojocaru, ISIL EKIN CALAK, Georgios Karatzas, Ceren Katipoglu Ozmen, Caterina Cardamone, Edoardo Piccoli, Sanja Matijević Barčot, and Eliana Sousa Santos

Papers presented bring together different responses to questioning architectural history to perpl... more Papers presented bring together different responses to questioning architectural history to perplexing, competing and complementary perceptions and interpretations of the past, its geography and culture. The focus is on the multiple perceptual forms and interpretations of architecture and their entanglements regarding conditions of historicity, notions of geographical belonging, as well as concepts of cultural or political identity.

Books by Maja Babic

Living Politics in the City: Architecture as Catalyst for Public Space, 2023

The book gathers several papers presented in the two symposia that have been reframed and develop... more The book gathers several papers presented in the two symposia that have been reframed and developed to fit the scope of the publication, being enriched with a number of specially commissioned essays. While the symposia were funded by the research labs GRIEF (Groupe de Recherche sur l'Invention et l'Évolution des Formes, ENSAB) and PTAC (Pratiques et Théories de l'Art Contemporain, Rennes 2 University), by the

Colloquia Humanistica, 2021

Since the end of the state-socialist era in the early 1990s – and effectively, since the end of t... more Since the end of the state-socialist era in the early 1990s – and effectively, since the end of the Yugoslav federation and the subsequent wars that had engulfed the Western Balkans for almost a decade – the study of the twentieth-century South-Eastern Europe has intensified. The scholarship on the region’s twentieth-century architecture has been prolific since the early years of the new millennium, and the new generation of urban and architectural scholars has further amplified this trend. However, an inquiry into the post-socialist city in Western Balkans has been relegated largely to the secondary position to the study of the Yugoslav modernist architecture and its role within the socio-political mechanisms of the Cold War era. In this discourse, the study of the post-socialist urban space remains lacking in architectural and urban history – it is mainly conducted within the methodological and theoretical frameworks of sociology, socio-cultural anthropology, and urban geography.
To bridge this scholarly gap and identify possible new trajectories of inquiry, I probe into the different scholarship dealing with the post-socialist city and the urban, ideological, and social remnants of the state-socialist era in former Yugoslavia. I argue that the study of the multi-disciplinary nature of the scholarship examining the state-socialist and post-socialist city serves as a vital step in the more comprehensive understanding of the (post )Yugoslav architectural space, its particulars, and idiosyncrasies. Methodologically, I identify and outline the different disciplinary strands in the study of the post-socialist space in general, and post-Yugoslav space in particular, followed by an analysis of the established discourses and their points of interference and overlap. By investigating qualitative methodologies and different theoretical approaches in the study of the Central-East European and Yugoslav post-socialist city, I explore the post socialist urban space in former Yugoslavia in a wide-ranging manner, ultimately identifying conduits for future research.

International Journal of Islamic Architecture, 2023

The study of the Cold War built environment and its links with communist ideology have permeated ... more The study of the Cold War built environment and its links with communist ideology have permeated the field of architectural history and theory since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. However, the treatment of Ottoman Islamic heritage under state socialist rule remains a little examined subject. The earthquake that demolished large swaths of the Yugoslav city of Skopje in 1963 caused heavy damage to Ottoman architecture. In the years that followed, the reconstruction of Skopje became a symbol of a singular, international collaboration between countries from both sides of the Cold War divide. The city that arose became the 1970s brutalist capital of the Balkans. This article examines the treatment of Ottoman urban heritage in Skopje and its sociocultural and political implications during the post-disaster (re)construction of a modernizing and modernist city. I argue that disregard for the historical breadth and the continuing religious, cultural, and social significance of the region's Ottoman-era urban spaces and structures for Skopje's Muslim community in the creation of the brutalist city was not exclusively based on anti-Muslim rhetoric. Rather, it was part of the driving quest for modernity sought by the Yugoslav communist leaders in the second half of the twentieth century.

MÖGG, 2020

The urban transformations taking place throughout the region of former Yugoslavia are best exempl... more The urban transformations taking place throughout the region of former Yugoslavia are best exemplified in the capitals of the once-communist federation’s successor states. The recent urban developments in the cities of Belgrade, Zagreb, and Sarajevo illustrate the realities of contemporary societies in the Balkans and the socio-political shifts of the pe- riod of transition. The built environments of the newly capitalist countries serve as exag- gerated, yet emblematic examples of nation-building projects and their deep entwinement with economic processes unfolding throughout post-communist South-Eastern Europe. However, the links between the post-socialist urban and national identity, as well as poli- tics and economy, remain understudied.
In this paper, I enquire into the present-day urban transformations of Sarajevo, Bel- grade, and Zagreb. I examine these cities within the context of post-Yugoslav economic and political space, exploring the particularities of the creation of built environments that no longer exist on the Yugoslav periphery, but now are at the centre of newly democratic societies. Through the investigation of the political, economic, and architectural particularities of Belgrade Waterfront and Zagreb Manhattan development projects, and Sarajevovo City Center commercial complex, I examine the influx of foreign funds – mainly from the Middle East – and their impacts on the construction of regional urban centres. I argue that the modern-day capitals of post-Yugoslav states are developing as products of the interpolation of a communist past into the capitalist present characterised by the perpetual quest for “Europe”, and in line with the broader socio-political and architectural trends in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. In post-Yugoslavia, urban practices are problematically interwoven with politics: the cities simultaneously serve as displays of geopolitical change and catalysts for social transformation in post-socialist societies.

Keywords: Post-socialist city, urban transformations, Balkans, nationalism, Yugoslavia, Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo

Landscape_InProgress, 2018

An architectural investigation into Skopje provides us with the tools to understand both the Yugo... more An architectural investigation into Skopje provides us with the tools to understand both the Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav architectural and political events. The contemporary architecture of Skopje exemplifies of the architectural production in the post-socialist Southeastern Europe and its deeply intertwined relationship with politics. The examination of the re-production of politics and ideology through architectural construction allows for an insight into events taking place in Skopje today, in the deeply problematic processes of both cancelling and negating of the communist past. I study the two reconstructions of Skopje, the post-1963 earthquake period and the contemporary architectural events in the city, and I argue that both projects exhibit the shifting relationships between architecture and politics, as well as its perpetual re-negotiations, and the paramount importance of their contexts in understanding the conjunction of the past and present in the city.

post: notes on art in a global context, 2018

by Anatole Upart, Alla Vronskaya, Lily Filson, Maja Babic, Flavia Marcello, Maria Elisa Navarro Morales, Fatina Abreek-Zubiedat, Alona Nitzan-Shiftan, Raluca Muresan, Andreea Ion Cojocaru, ISIL EKIN CALAK, Georgios Karatzas, Ceren Katipoglu Ozmen, Caterina Cardamone, Edoardo Piccoli, Sanja Matijević Barčot, and Eliana Sousa Santos

Papers presented bring together different responses to questioning architectural history to perpl... more Papers presented bring together different responses to questioning architectural history to perplexing, competing and complementary perceptions and interpretations of the past, its geography and culture. The focus is on the multiple perceptual forms and interpretations of architecture and their entanglements regarding conditions of historicity, notions of geographical belonging, as well as concepts of cultural or political identity.

Living Politics in the City: Architecture as Catalyst for Public Space, 2023

The book gathers several papers presented in the two symposia that have been reframed and develop... more The book gathers several papers presented in the two symposia that have been reframed and developed to fit the scope of the publication, being enriched with a number of specially commissioned essays. While the symposia were funded by the research labs GRIEF (Groupe de Recherche sur l'Invention et l'Évolution des Formes, ENSAB) and PTAC (Pratiques et Théories de l'Art Contemporain, Rennes 2 University), by the