Thursday, 13 June 2024.
19.00 OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION
(13–16.06.2024)
EU LINA PROJECT
→ BINA KABINA, FLU, Mila Milunovića 1
The accelerated growth of the city, caused by a huge inflow of population as a consequence of political and social changes in the last thirty years, has led to great changes in Belgrade’s urban tissue. The capital’s citizens often talk about the jeopardised identity of the city, inadequate infrastructure and pollution. On the other hand we have some unquestionable qualities: 7000 years of the continuous urban history, the position at the confluence of two big navigable rivers, overlapping of a myriad of cultural influences, but also numerous destructions and reconstructions as a consequence of living on a border, having to endure the tumultuous history and the wartime ravaging repeated every 40-50 years on average. The Belgrade’s urban identity is defined by the structures and edifices, as well as empty spaces separating them, created in all historical eras. To nurture the spirit of a place implies identification and designation of important memorial and material layers of a city.
What makes Belgrade recognisable today on the urban map of Europe is this very material testimony of its long continuous existence, consisting of the preserved fragments and traces, culminating in the interwar and post-war modernist heritage.
We invited creative youth to Belgrade, with the idea to let them, during their residence, provide their visions, in different media, for Belgrade’s development potentials. This year’s focus is on New Belgrade, particularly the neighbourhoods of Old Bežanija and Bežanija blocks 61, 62 and 63. These liminal spaces in the permanent process of transformation, where rural environment meets the mega-blocks, represents a huge challenge for both urban planners and architects. The six teams that participated in the LINA’s Open Call for 2023 present their perspectives on the local situation, as well as their proposals for preservation of the spatial identity and transformation in line with the demands of modern living and needs of the residents.
