Is Belgrade’s socialist Modernism considered as architectural heritage or still attached to its political implications?
The buildings I decided to pay homage to are above anything else – spectacular. They quietly stand there, magnificent and timeless in all their beauty, as a testament to the creativity and relentlessness of the human spirit, devoid in my perception of social political or historic context. It is a good thing, though, that a random observer is free to apply his own input, because pursuing freedom is what art is all about, whether creating or enjoying it – at least that’s what keeps me going.
Your series aims at exalting the iconic value of the edifice, without showing the ground and any contextual relation. What is their role?
Their role, the way I have intended it for them, is to enrich and enliven the space designated by the walls they would be adorning, and also to offer ‘to all whom it may concern’ a way to compose their own filtered version of the Belgrade skyline, consistent solely of the most beautiful facades I believe the city has to offer.
How did you treat the concrete bigness of brutalist edifices with your photography?
Deciding how to deal with whatever it is that you wish to portray is less about how deft you are in your craft and more about how much are you willing to back off and let the theme do the communication on your behalf. Whenever a craftsman has succeeded in doing so, consequently his crafts is lifted – promoted to being an art.
Does Belgrade have other hidden treasures?
Most certainly! Only these aren’t hidden. Actually it is quite the opposite, they are on display for everyone to see and enjoy them; they are the part of our common day reality, perhaps so much so that lately we have been forgetting to highlight them. But given the amount of information we are exposed to, it is not unusual to oversee that what is in front of our very eyes.
