Valentin JeckNational and University Library of Kosovo in Prishtina, Kosovo, by Andrija Mutnjaković (1971–82, photographed in 2016)
Covering projects ranging from Niko Kralj’s Rex Chair to Uglješa Bogunović and Slobodan Janjić’s Avala TV Tower, a new Museum of Modern Art exhibition highlights design in Yugoslavia. Open through Jan. 13, “Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980” includes roughly 400 photographs, models, films, and drawings. The show features archival material from museums and personal collections as well as a modern-day perspective, like a 2016 shot of the Avala TV Tower—which was rebuilt in 2010 “to much public enthusiasm,” says guest curator Vladimir Kulić, after the original was destroyed by NATO in 1999.
Valentin JeckAvala TV Tower in Mount Avala, Serbia,by Uglješa Bogunović, Slobodan Janjić, and Milan Krstić (Originally built in 1960–65, destroyed in 1999 and rebuilt in 2010, photographed in 2016)
Valentin JeckMonument to the Battle of the Sutjeska in Tjentište, Bosnia and Herzegovina, by Miodrag Živković (1965–71, photographed in 2016)
Valentin JeckTelecommunications Center in Skopje, Macedonia, by Janko Konstantinov (1968–81, photographed in 2016)
Valentin JeckŠerefudin White Mosque by Zlatko Ugljen in Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina (1969–79, photographed in 2016)
Valentin JeckBraće Borozan building block in Split 3 in Split, Croatia, by Dinko Kovačić and Mihajlo Zorić (1970–79, photographed in 2016)
Valentin JeckMonument to the Uprising of the People of Kordun and Banija by Berislav Šerbetić and Vojin Bakić in Petrova Gora, Croatia (1979–81, photographed in 2016)
Personal archive of Jovan IvanovskiPoster for a retrospective exhibition of architect Janko Konstantinov (1984)
Sara Johnson is the former associate editor, design news at ARCHITECT. Previously, she was a fellow at CityLab. Her work has also appeared in San Francisco, San Francisco Brides, California Brides, DCist, Patchwork Nation, and The Christian Science Monitor.
