Thursday, June 15, 2023. 18.00
→Likovna Galerija KCB, Knez Mihailova 6
Participants: Nataša Đurić (ŽAD), Jasmina Đokić (New Planning Practices), Milenija Marušić, Olivera Gaborov Lazić, Nađa Vujović and Tamara Nikolić (NGO Cultural Cerak)
Moderator: Snezana Ristić
Residential settlements created in the second half of the 20th century, due to the quality of their urban solutions and architecture, deserved to be included in the lists of protected heritage, as well as in prestigious museum collections. Despite this, the way in which they would really be reconstructed and who should take care of it is not in sight. Experts and tenants will talk about problems, possible solutions and civic initiatives at the forum.
Settlement Cerak Vineyards was designed in 1977 by Milenija and Darko Marušić, and co-authored by Nedeljko Borovnica.
The Cerak Vineyards settlement (Cerak I and Cerak II) became in 2019 the first modernist residential settlement placed under the authority of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City of Belgrade, and then, perhaps at the last moment – at the beginning of 2021 – by the decision of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the Central Zone New Belgrade received the status of a cultural asset: spatial-cultural-historical unit. Today, this settlement, like other architecturally valuable residential settlements from that period, asks for reconstruction. The ground floor, which has been designed very carefully and functionally, needs to be restored, the facades need to be fixed, driveways, parking lots, greenery, infrastructure needs to be renovated… And the citizens who have become apartment owners in the meantime cannot finance it. Should the state, or the city, or all of them together with the residents of the settlement take the stage now? And how should it be done? Restore them archeologically, or adapt them to today’s times? Who should be in the design team? Still living authors should definitely be consulted. However, will it really happen, or will we leave this valuable architectural heritage of the twentieth century to the test of time?
photo S.Ristić
