On display until January 2019, New York’s Museum of Modern Art will be exhibiting ‘Toward a Concrete Utopia’ an exploration of Yugoslav architecture from 1948 to 1980. Under the blanket of socialism, Yugoslav’s leaders supplemented their goal of creating a better, more perfect society through various architectural projects. The empowerment of public spaces was critical to reaching this objective, by providing park-like landscapes in mass housing projects, and communal spaces for where social interactions could be fostered.

These design-forward, mismatched buildings were created for the common person, allowing architecture’s confinement to only those who could afford the luxury to be abolished. The International Style skyscrapers and Brutalist ‘social condensers’ were a direct expression of Yugoslav’s idealist mission. MoMA will be showcasing over 400 drawings, models, photographs, and film reels highlighting the significant works from the leading forward-thinking architects of the under-studied time period in Yugoslavia.

Words: Paola de Oliveira
Photography: MoMA