When hooliganism and the socialist city melt into one

In the Western Balkans, one can still find many city enlargements produced in the era of socialist Yugoslavia. There is a renewed interest by architectural historians and critics in Yugoslavia's architectural production between 1948 and 1980. However, and more remarkably, we find the images of the former socialist urban utopias back in recent music videos, especially rap videos, where it serves as the backdrop to an unusual mix of violence, drugs, sex, religion, and dance. Somehow the raw beauty of the Brutalism in Novi Beograd and the Modernism of Split 3 crosses over from its socialist ideological origins to contemporary youth culture in unexpected ways. The built environment from the time of Tito gets a different meaning altogether. We do not try to explain HOW or WHY this has happened. This article aims to raise the awareness THAT this happens, and we do so with pictorial means.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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