Guided Tour: Bogdan Bogdanović

Guided tour in German!

Friedrich Achleitner talks about the work of Bogdan Bogdanović.

The Exhibition

Bogdan Bogdanović, born in 1922 in Belgrade, is not only the leading architect of memorials in the former multi-ethnic state of Yugoslavia but also an unconventional urbanist, essayist and writer who “built to be able to write, and wrote so that he could build”.

Between 1951 and 1981 Bogdanović completed over twenty memorials throughout Yugoslavia to commemorate the victims of fascism and anti-fascist resistance fighters. Free from ideological insignia, these archaic feeling architectural ensembles invite visitors to linger in contemplation. Bogdanović’s poetic and yet pathos free treatment of sites of destruction are manifested, above all, in the Jasenovac flowers, which stand on the site of what was once a concentration camp.

There are over 12,500 works by the architect in the Az W Collection, including both working designs and surrealist fantasies. Now it is possible to show and follow the working methods and thinking of this ‘architecture philosopher’ for the first time in one comprehensive show.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue Bogdan Bogdanović. Memoria und Utopie in Tito-Jugoslawien, as well as issue 42 of the Az W journal Hintergrund (both in German).