Initiatives / Experiments / Visions

CONNECTER - Open-air cinema

Principal author

Miloš Kostić

Profession

Architect

Co-authors (team members)

Ana Zorić, Dezire Tilinger, Jovana Vidaković

External collaborators

Urbanium

Project year

2018

Location

Kragujevac, Serbia

Project description

The presented project for temporary revitalization of the central city square in Kragujevac (Serbia) was a winning proposal on the design competition organized and built during the Days of architecture in 2018. The project preceded the research, which focused on the understanding of the complexity and contradictions following the fragmentation of once monumental socialist square. The city center of Kragujevac had been built between 1958 and 1970, by the prominent architect Jovanka Jevtanović, which was one of the first female figures in the professional field at the time. During the socialism, the space of Prodor was even used for public manifestation organized to honor the visit of the president Josip Broz Tito. Through the analysis of urban morphology of the Prodor (Breakthrough - local name for the city center), and its transformation throughout history, specific aspects were recognized: the destruction of the historic center as a results of the centralized planning practice of socialism, building the department store as a representation of social and cultural modernity, and post-socialist fragmentation and illegal appropriation of public space, which has been continuing to the present, not only in Kragujevac, but also in many smaller cities and towns in Serbia. The project CONNECTER – OPEN AIR CINEMA seeks to recognize specific aspects of the site and put the current way of using the public space in favor of the idea of a collective and to contribute to the creation of the network among the current use of this central public space. Prodor is regarded as an urban situation in which architectural and symbolic meanings are important for the wider understanding of the general context. By setting of a lightweight structure of the scaffolding wall between the parking and the green surface the installation defends the remaining unoccupied public space. The structural wall is used for an open-air cinema during the night, and the vertical garden with picnic area during the day. In the context of Kragujevac, the structure revives the central public space as a recreational, cultural and leisure zone open for the vast majority of users. Even though the initial design proposed a transformation of the parking lot into the car cinema, the tight budget and short time had us to reconsider the smaller scale intervention. On the opening night, the 1961 Yugoslavian movie The First Citizen of The Small Town was screened, thematically following the history of centralized planning of the city centers in socialism. Upon its setting up, not only did Connecter caused an interest among locals, but it was also recognized by the professionals in the field of urban planning and architecture. The importance of the reconceptualization of the current urban design practices was further discussed during the event Days of Architecture, which was organized by the Urbanium initiative.

Text description of the author

Miloš Kostić, M.Arch, currently working as a teaching assistant at the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Architecture. Ana Zorić, M.Arch, currently working as a teaching assistant at the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Architecture. Jovana Vidaković, a student of Master studies – Architecture, University of Belgrade – Faculty of Architecture. Dezire Tilinger, a student of Master studies – Architecture, University of Belgrade – Faculty of Architecture. The team works in the field of architecture and urban design, through self-initiated and competition projects. In their projects, they question the socio-cultural meanings of architectural practice and the position of an architect in the contemporary ideological context.

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