> 6+1
Metahousing would never be fully realized without
unconditional support we have had from many
colleagues and associates that got involved in the
realization of the exhibition and catalogue. Thanks
go to Uro Adamovi, Ana Anastasijevi, Miodrag
Badnjar, Milica Bokovi, Ana Bujas, Tanja Conley,
Adam Crnobrnja, Mihailo anak, Jelena etkovi,
Darko iri, Predrag Daki, Stevan Djurii, Zoran Eri,
Ana Glaviki, aklina Gligorijevi, Goran Ivanevi,
Zorica Jankovi, Iva Jestratijevi, Jelica Jovanovi,
Bodin Jovanovi, Neda Kneevi, Damir Kovai,
Jovan Lazarevi, eljko Levnai, Vesna Marjanovi,
Zorica Medjo, Vera and Bata Mileusni, Vladimir
Peri, Bisenija Petrovi, Borko and Marija Preli, Delia
Prvaki, Vojislav Radovanovi, Jagoda Stamenkovi,
Stela Stoji, Raa Stanisavljevi, Milo Stupar, Hari
tajner, Nenad Tasi, Haruna Taira, Toe band, Danijela
Vanui, Aleksandar Zlatanovi, Miodrag ivi.

Prehistoric archaeology has been trying for a very
long time now to understand and explain. To un-
derstand material culture which originated dizzy-
ingly long ago, so long ago that even prehistorians,
whether they admit it or not, have great difficulty
in understanding and explaining it. Apart from
anything else, prehistorians live in the present day.
Sometimes confused and insecure. Often without
answers and explanations. They live surrounded by
material culture, as do all other people. Today both
other people and prehistorians have problems un-
derstanding and explaining. Material culture, ideas
about its origin, its significance, its role in and inter-
action with society. Prehistorians, like other people,
have trouble understanding and explaining. Un-
derstanding whether building a bridge is an act of
meeting the functional needs of a community or the
reflection of a social (ideological) discourse. One, the
other or both? If it is both a functional and a social
construct, how are these related? Perhaps theres
a third option, or a fourth and so on. Prehistorians
and other people have problems understanding and
explaining whether the specialisation of work today
serves to fulfil some kind of imposed social (cul-
tural, economic?) matrix which affects the creation
of personal identity. Is the identity of prehistorians
and other people so determined by our eating and
drinking in particular places, in a particular time or
in a particular manner? In interacting with particular
people and a particular material culture? Prehistori-
ans and other people understand and explain art as
a subjective and personal construct, a signal (mes-
> 8+1
sage?) from the creator and/or as some kind of ob-
jective value which is indicated through the percep-
tion (reading?) of the observer? Are the form and
appearance of art, then, the consequence of some
primordial model? The consequence of a particular
temporal and spatial determinant? The Zeitgeist?
Dark clothes, pastel tones, velvet trousers, a tweed
jacket, a raincoat worn by prehistorians and other
people, its apparent, are more a reflection of cultural
identity than the expression of a need to be warm
or to protect ourselves against problematic weather.
Prehistorians and other people thus constantly re-
assess functional, sociocultural, symbolic and many
other aspects of the physical manifestation of mate-
rial culture. Material culture which is omnipresent and
whose entire appearance is sometimes simply what
it appears to be (universal-logical?). Material culture
which is sometimes so incomprehensible and unex-
plainable (immanent?). So prehistorians, like other
people, with all their problems of understanding and
explaining the here and now, try to explain that other
time. The ways in which they understand and explain
today thus limit them in the same endeavour in an-
other sequence of time. Prehistorians are sometimes
aware of this and sometimes they are not. Some-
times they think they are unable to escape but that,
with acceptance of this today, they can understand
and explain that other time. Sometimes they even
think they have the exact and definitive scientific
method and instruments for confirmation, which will
remove any doubt that we have objectively under-
stood and explained that past.
As built environments, landscapes and settlements
are all about the human experience of them, it may
seem inappropriate for someone who has not had
much experience with New Belgrade to discuss its
socio-cultural, ideological or any other underlying
structure. I was born and raised in Dorol, an old
Belgrade quarter on the right bank of the Danube.
I attended elementary school and then high school
there. Afterwards, I enrolled in archaeology at the
Faculty of Philosophy, also very near Dorol, and
now I am working in the Belgrade City Museum, just
10 minutes from home. My whole life is in Dorol. Po-
etically I dwell there (sensu Heideggers appropria-
tion of Hlderlin of course). All the well-known New
Belgrade landmarks (the Fountain, the Municipality,
this gas pump, that bus station) were always very
puzzling to me. To be honest, I have not really tried
to understand them. I did not make this digression
in order to blow my own horn, but to underline again
that dwelling does not exist without an endless se-
quence of emotions and associations we make with
our immediate built and natural environments. Re-
turning to my area of work, I did not live in the Neo-
lithic either.

The Metahousing exhibition is part of a longer-term
project, Metamanifestations, which is currently be-
ing completed. The project aims to present the most
recognizable aspects of prehistoric and contempo-
rary life concentrating on various subjects, including
architecture and housing, technology, craftsman-
ship, art, food and drink, and clothing. The aim is
not to try to look at manifestations of modern life
through a prehistoric perception or vice versa. Rath-
er, it is our objective to evaluate the issues derived
from the aforementioned subjects separately and
in their own historical contexts. In this way, the in-
troduction of the diachronic approach is not used
to outline any kind of linear development nor is it
meant to compare any one aspect of human activ-
ity in prehistoric against modern times. We will not
invent new instruments for comprehension; we will
> 10+1
10
instead see how different specialists dealing with
similar topics cope with interpretation of material
culture in different times. This approach has shown
itself to be very fruitful. Prehistoric archaeology has
benefited greatly from the pioneering and influen-
tial works by Douglass Bailey who on several oc-
casions has considered the subjects of Neolithic
architecture (Bailey 2005b) and Neolithic figurines
(Bailey 2005a; Bailey and Cochrane and Zambelli
2010) taking into consideration myriad interpreta-
tive possibilities from other scientific disciplines and
the arts. Many artists and experts, focusing both on
prehistoric and contemporary topics, are already in-
volved in the project, and we are looking forward to
presenting the results of the project through a final
exhibition and monograph by the end of 2015.

The exhibition provides a critical approach to the
most recognizable, essential, and quintessential
aspects of the Neolithic and the modern environ-
ment in the Serbian capital, Belgrade. The showcase
presents the Late Neolithic settlement of Stubline
with more than 200 above-ground houses and a
segment of a modern Belgrade settlement consist-
ing of six sixteen-storied skyscrapers, also known
as the Six Corporals. At this moment, I cannot of-
fer any specific reasons for the selection of those
two settlements. The Stubline settlement is an ex-
ceptionally organized Neolithic settlement in the
vicinity of Belgrade, consisting of more than 200
houses arranged in rows. On the other hand, the Six
Corporals in New Belgrades Block 21 appear at first
glance to be ordinary skyscrapers which one could
see in almost any housing block in Europe. The basic
justification for such a selection could be sought in
a variety of underlying socio-cultural discourses dis-
cernible behind the physical appearance of the two
settlements. Both settlements were built on a plain,
previously uninhabited, terrain that allowed realiza-
tion of settlement concepts which have not had to
be incorporated into any existing matrix. Therefore
both Stubline and Block 21 offer a unique insight
into the Neolithic and the post-socialist concept of
a built environment.
The exhibition and the following text will try to reveal
the way in which the appearance of the houses and
> 12+1
12
the settlement organization are connected to the
ideological, economic and socio-cultural constructs
of the Neolithic and Socialist Zeitgeists. Who were/
are the builders and inhabitants of the presented
houses? What was/is their perception of the envi-
ronment? How did/do they interact with their im-
mediate neighbourhoods? What shapes the sense
of community in Neolithic and in contemporary
times? How do social transformations influence the
built environment, households and house interiors?
Finally, how and why do the settlements arise, and
how do they die out?
Drawing on some basic Lefebvrian and Heidegge-
rian questions will lead to the contemplation of the
recognizable aspects of the Neolithic and present-
day life, and this in both directions (Now to Then;
Then to Now). These will be general guidelines for
consideration and (re)interpretation which may
open new ways of observing the physical manifes-
tation of life. The final solutions to some of the inter-
pretation problems of the prehistoric world are sure-
ly too distant from analogous or similar behavioural
patterns of the present day. The exhibition will not
offer any explanations, definitions or interpretations.
Instead, it will create a space for the reconsideration
of the built environments of both prehistoric and
contemporary life. The exhibition will also provide a
peek into how the immediate future of the built en-
vironment in New Belgrade will look.

In the lucid language of Douglass Bailey and others,
the term Vina culture refers to an archaeological
overgeneralization widely used to simplify the com-
plexities of people, behaviour and material culture
focused on Serbia, Western Bulgaria and South-
western Romania (Bailey and Cochrane and Zam-
belli 2010: 161). In fact, this statement is completely
true; humans are expert classifiers and categoriz-
ers (as cited in Parker-Pearson and Richard 1997: 9;
Humphrey 1984: 143145). Thus prehistoric archaeol-
ogists have succeeded in their classifying quest, so
one might find a whole range of different commu-
nities sharing similar material cultures labelled with
the term Vina culture and neatly catalogued in a
Late Neolithic folder. In reality, the physical similari-
ties of the material culture are just imaginative, while
their social, cultural and ideological attributes differ
greatly from site to site, from time period to time pe-
riod.* There are some general patterns in settlement,
economy, material culture, but still there are consid-
* Late Neolithic Vina culture is dated to the period 53004600
BC (Bori 2009).
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14
erable divergences which do not allow broad gen-
eralizations. Some Vina-culture communities were
living on the river banks or hilltops, others on the tell
sites or even in caves. Some built elaborated two-
storey houses, other dwelled in pit-houses; some
were skilled flint knappers, other specialized them-
selves in copper metallurgy. Some made shiny black
vessels, some matte red ones. At the risk of making
just another redundant statement, I will again un-
derline that the structuring and shaping of material
culture operated under countless and various social
agents and cultural constructs.
Interpretation of Neolithic everyday life lies in the
deep shade of anecdotal and heuristic interpreta-
tions which are no longer interesting either for mu-
seum audiences or for scholars or researchers. Still,
the idealized narrative depicting a Neolithic settle-
ment in which women are cooking and weaving,
children are playing in front of a house, and a group
of men are returning from the hunt at dusk remains
as a relic of the uncritical approach to Neolithic ev-
erydayness (c.f. Whittle 2003: XIV).

Based on current information, Stubline is a Late
Neolithic Vina-culture settlement built on an el-
evated slope around 4700 BC. New excavations led
by A. Crnobrnja, as well as geomagnetic prospect-
ing, revealed that the settlement is exceptionally well
preserved, with more then 200 above-ground hous-
es arranged in rows (fig. 1), with linear communica-
tions, open spaces, and circular ditches surrounding
the settlement (Crnobrnja and Jankovi and Simi
2009).
Archaeological evidence on Vina-culture settle-
ment patterns in the Central Balkans suggest that
such large settlements must have existed, but Stub-
line stands out thus far as a unique example of
Neolithic settlement organization. As in many other
Neolithic villages, a ground plan of the settlement
at Stubline clearly illustrates settlement growth dy-
> 16+1
16
namics. We do not know which was the first house
built in Stubline and who were its first inhabitants,
but, over time, the settlement extended, and the two
ditches were dug out at the far western part, either
as a symbolic division of space, or in order to pro-
tect the inhabitants and their possessions. As time
passed, the community became larger and larger,
and as a result the two ditches were filled in order to
provide the additional space needed for construc-
tion of houses. The houses were again erected in
rows, in the same direction as the earlier ones. This
layout of new buildings enabled the persistence of
former communications. New Stubline shows con-
tinuity with earlier organizational ideas, which, on a
broader scale, reflects that the settlement narrative is
an enduring, long-term process, rather than an event,
or a point in history, a true case of longue dure.
Fig. 1. > 3D model of Late Neolithic Vina-culture settlement at the site of Stubline, near Belgrade

If you could somehow find yourself in the old town of
Belgrade, at anytime before World War II, a glimpse
over the left bank of the Sava river would reveal
nothing more than a swampy and marshy terrain. An
area that residents of Belgrade often encountered,
but never decided to inhabit, has remained a pic-
turesque natural landscape for centuries. The idea
of building a settlement on the left bank of the river
Sava was conceived well before the beginning of
the Second World War. However, the construction
of New Belgrade began after 1946 with the Sketch
for the Regulation of Belgrade on the Left Bank of
Sava by architect and urbanist Nikola Dobrovi (fig.
2). Both Dobrovis and all later urban plans for the
regulation of New Belgrade had a strongly modern-
ist scheme which was expressed through perpetual
interlinking of square habitation blocks and wide
boulevards with the highway as its main communi-
cation axis.
* The studies of modernistic heritage of New Belgrade became
very fashionable among Serbian architects and philosophers of
architecture and urbanism in last several years. Seminal in-depth
analysis was given by Ljiljana Blagojevis work on various themes
regarding shifting relationship between modernistic and marxistic
ideology in the construction and contemplation of New Belgrade
(c.f. Blagojevi 2007; Blagojevi 2009).
> 18+1
18
The appearance of architectural units was also ex-
ecuted in a clear modernist formula. The main ele-
ments are compact geometric structures and their
more complex derivatives. In the courses of later ur-
ban development in New Belgrade, urban planners
and architects remained devoted to the promotion
of a truly modernist topos.
A new city was imagined as an administrative centre
of a new state which arose victorious after the Sec-
ond World War. The conceptualization of communist
ideology was to be realized through political and ad-
ministrative structures, of which only two were ever
built: the building of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party and that of the Federal Govern-
ment. After the break with Stalins Soviet Union in
1948, the concept of New Belgrade as an adminis-
trative centre was quickly abandoned (Blagojevi
2009: 126). Housing slowly became the central
paradigm of all plans and projects while less and
less emphasis was given to the grandiose admin-
istration and political buildings. Housing policy was
determined by the specific requirements of different
purchasers but with common Marxist and socialist
formulae which were manifested through public and
communal property, reminiscent of the Lefevbrian
right to the city.
Fig. 2. > Urban plan of Belgrade by architect Nikola Dobrovi, 1948.

In contradiction to the vast number of parameters
which could be used in the study of housing in his-
torical periods, the limited and precious state of evi-
dence for Neolithic housing in the Central Balkans
allows for a very limited range of analysis. Still, there
is sufficient data which could lead to better compre-
hension of the earliest housing paradigms.
The history of housing is a lengthy narrative which
is often poetically described as the long path from
cave to palace. Still, that process is certainly not lin-
ear. There are communities that never lived in a cave;
there are those who once dwelled in caves but then
started to build above-ground houses over time;
and there are communities that never built palaces.
Thus the way of housing greatly differs, from time
to time and from place to place. The cave is not the
starting point, and the palace is not the pinnacle!
Inquires about the reasons for organized living ar-
rangements are numerous. These include a need
for shelter; a way to provide both existential and
* The intention of the following passages is not to give even a
most abbreviated overview of the prehistoric housing history, but
to provide a necessary framework for understanding of problems
I wanted to raise in the exhibition for International Architecture
and Design showcase in London.
> 20+1
20
symbolic reproduction; a step in the process of the
symbolic domestication of the wilderness; a means
for social structuring. The functionalistic and evolu-
tionary approach to housing can perhaps only be
applied to the early sequence of human history. Or
perhaps not. There were communities living in very
modest, humble huts who were building highly elab-
orate non-residential structures.
This early in the history of humanity (Palaeolithic
to Early Neolithic), securing the bare existence was
surely the highest need that shaped housing ap-
pearance. Still, even at these early stages of hous-
ing history, there are examples which show that a
humble house is not always related to humble hous-
ing. Mesolithic and Neolithic communities living at
the settlement of Lepenski Vir (cca 63005900
BC) dwelled in modest houses, but their mode of
living was vividly structured and embedded in so-
cial memory. Their living was imbued with profound
emotions related to dynamic housing trajectories.
Prehistorians argue that the Lepenski Vir communi-
ties exhibited their identity through micro-histories
of their houses (c.f. Bori 2007), thus revealing that
housing was one of the main integrative forces that
bounded and structured the whole society.
A major shift in the history of housing emerged with
the beginning of a sedentary way of life. Among
Neolithic societies in the Central Balkans, Vina-
culture communities were the first builders of solid
above-ground rectangular houses with elaborated
floor plans. Houses ranged in size significantly, from
20 to more than 220 square meters. Vina-culture
houses reflect a sophisticated subdivision of interior
space according to number of inhabitants and dif-
ferent zones of activity. The fact that several gen-
erations of a single household dwelled in the same
settlement, among others, led to the formation of an
almost standardized appearance for the three-room
house (fig. 3). Two adjoining rooms usually had ther-
mal structures for heating and cooking, fixed struc-
tures for grinding cereals, as well as vessels for food
storage. The third room usually did not contain any
fixed structures and was probably used for sleeping.
It is believed that Vina-culture houses were inhab-
ited by one patrilineal family and that further social
reproduction sometimes led to a restructuring of
the houses interior by erecting dividing walls inside
the house (c.f. Tripkovi 2010). Although data on
Vina-culture houses is scarce by comparison with
evidence from historical periods, there is consider-
able information regarding the household activities
as well as symbolic aspect of the dwelling. Aside
from the basic activities that were undertaken inside
the house (such as sleeping, cooking, or storing) we
know that at least some instances of textile, bone
and stone tool production were occurring indoors
also. On the other hand, we may suspect that certain
zones of Vina-culture houses were symbolically
structured and that at least some part of their activi-
ties was defined according to the gender and age of
dwellers. It seems that symbolically structured hous-
ing developed during the course of the domestica-
tion of the wilderness both in the sense of nature
and culture*.
The beginning of the Eneolithic period in the terri-
tory of the Central Balkans is marked by the disin-
tegration of the Vina culture and the first intrusions
of the bearers of the Tiszapolgr communities from
the Pannonian Plain and the bearers of the Bubanj
Hum-Salcua-Krivodol communities from the east
and southeast. With the disappearance of the tra-
ditional Vina socio-cultural matrix based on an or-
ganized system of long-lasting settlements and the
* There is much archaeological literature concerning symbolic
structuring in Neolithic houses of Southeastern Europe (c.f. Hod-
der 1986; idem 1990). Although recently much debated, the con-
cept has vast interpretative potential.

inclination of population towards coexistence, co-
operation and contact with the neighbourhood, the
cultural and demographic picture of post-Neolithic
Belgrade had been substantially changed. This is
the time when life at the large Neolithic settlements
at Belo Brdo near Vina, at Banjica, arkovo, Baraje-
vo, Jakovo, and Stubline was dying out. Science has
still not offered a satisfying answer to the question
as to the reason for the disappearance of the Vina
culture. We know that sometime around 4600 BC
there were no more large Vina-culture settlements
with the above-ground houses and characteristic
objects of material culture.
The new inhabitants of Belgrade built new settle-
ments and brought with them an entirely new way of
life, new customs, and new material culture. People
arriving from the north and responsible to some ex-
tent for disappearance of the Vina culture breathed
new life into uninhabited regions of Belgrade. Their
settlements were not even near in size to the Vina-
culture settlements. Their ephemeral and unrecog-
nizable character is the result of different cultural
models, different economies and different adaptive
processes of their founders and inhabitants. The new
inhabitants of Eneolithic Belgrade organized their
life on entirely different socio-cultural precepts. Their
settlements, among other aspects, actually reflect
> 22+1
22
these new social models, new economy, the family,
household and house as the nucleus of the com-
munity. Changes in organizational methods of new
settlements, which would never again reach the size
of Vina-culture settlements, should be perceived
in that context. Nevertheless, the spatially isolated
household was certainly not also culturally isolated.
Despite the fact that the isolation of the house and
household as physical and spatial manifestation
gives the impression of self sufficiency, their inhabit-
ants, like the bearers of the Vina culture, were rely-
ing on their neighbours and on trade with distant
populations from every side.
From the Middle Eneolithic onward, housing in the
Central Balkans was marked by lowland types of
settlements and dwelling structures dug into the
ground. Dugouts had elliptical or circular shape (6-7
meters in diameter) with hearths and sleeping banks
in them. The restricted space within the dugouts al-
lowed their inhabitants only basic activities such as
the preparing of food (not always), sleeping and
taking shelter from the elements. The answers as to
why only dugouts as dwelling structures have been
recorded in the territory of Belgrade may be found
in spatial, micro-regional and contextual analyses of
the material culture and economy.
 Fig. 3. > Ground plans
of Late Neolithic Vina-
culture houses from the sites of
Banjica, Gomolava and Jakovo

An interesting example of Late Eneolithic settlement
organization may be found at the Klokoevac site
(cca 3400 BC) in Eastern Serbia. There are several
excavated above-ground, single-room houses, all of
them similar in size at about 18 square meters, with
open hearths on the floors. Each house was built
on a separate slope. Up to now, this kind of settle-
ment organization is rather unique for Central Balkan
prehistory. Although one can speak in favour of a
functional explanation of this kind of adaptation of
the natural environment, I would argue that division
of space at Klokoevac and the specific house dis-
position point to a more complex society with an
established system of property.
Housing did not change significantly through the
thousand-year period of the Bronze Age. There
were communities living in dugouts in lowland type
settlements, and there were those that dwelled in
above-ground houses on elevated terrains and river
terraces. The building of small fortified hill settle-
ments with a relatively small number of houses (up
to 20 at the most) is the most prominent change in
settlement layout. Those relatively small, nucleated
settlements became focal points in the Bronze Age
world. Other dispersed, lowland settlements were
> 24+1
24
probably gravitating towards fortified sites. The situ-
ation is similar during the Early Iron Age. Settlements
and houses were, to a greater extent, structured in
order to meet the prevailing economical needs of
their inhabitants. Stockbreeding communities lived
in dispersed type of settlements, in modest dug-
out houses which were inhabited only seasonally.
Communities that were oriented towards agriculture
built somewhat more elaborated houses. Moreover,
those settlements have a complex organization of
structures for crop storing inside the settlements.
Several sites in Vojvodina have yielded more then
100 dugout storage pits and just several residential
structures, as if those sites were not settlements per
se, but some sort of highly specialized location used
for storage and redistribution (c.f. Jevti 2011).
The late Iron Age in the Central Balkans entered into
history through the first written records describing
its inhabitants and certain events. Celtic newcom-
ers, the autochthonous population, as well as the
forthcoming Romans introduced new settlement
schemes and new housing strategies. Changing
times introduced intimacy and a sense of property
in housing. This was the time to lock the house door
(fig. 4)
Fig. 4. > Iron key from the Celtic warrior grave at the Karaburma necropolis in Belgrade

Two above-ground houses were discovered during
the 2008 and 2010 excavations at the Vina-culture
settlement of Stubline (Crnobrnja and Jankovi and
Simi 2009; Crnobrnja 2012). The excavated houses
were rectangular in shape and have an exceptionally
well preserved house inventory which offers unique
insights into Neolithic housing. The house from the
2008 field season is rectangular in form without
discernible subdivision of rooms (fig. 5). The house-
hold inventory consists of two ovens, one quern, one
clay structure for cereal storage, dozens of ceramic
vessels, 43 anthropomorphic figurines and 11 minia-
ture tool models. Among other finds, one portable
clay bucranium was found in the central part of
the house. The second house was also rectangular,
again without any discernible subdivision of interior
space (fig. 6). The house had a massive clay floor
and numerous well-preserved structures and finds
(two ovens, one clay structure for cereal storage,
a clay table, one quern, a large number of storage
vessels, etc.). Two bucrania were associated with the
large oven in the north-eastern part of the house
and were found facing the floor. A third bucranium
is entirely made of clay and was found in the mass
of collapsed wall fragments in the heavily damaged
southern part of the house.
> 26+1
26
Besides the confirmation that numerous activities
transpired inside Vina-culture houses, as well as
clear evidence that the houses were both sacred
and mundane places, the houses in question re-
vealed the way in which their inhabitants conceived
their natural environment, community, and foreign-
ers. To a certain point, their houses reflected them-
selves.
Both houses had bucrania in them. Bucrania appear
in the wide geographic area from Central Asia and
the Near East to Central Europe, and they are mostly
associated with Neolithic and Chalcolithic agro-pas-
toral communities. As defined in archaeological lit-
erature, bucranium refers to a bovine skull plastered
with clay. Most often it is the part of house inventory,
placed inside the house or hung on the outer house
wall. Bucrania are highly visible items, and they are
one of the most permanent features of the house.
They represent an enduring structure, kept and dis-
played in the same part of the house for a very long
time. There are numerous examples for re-plastering,
re-modelling and modification of bucrania in Neo-
lithic houses. Even when houses undergo significant
reorganization, the bucrania are kept and repeatedly
displayed in the same or nearby place where they
were originally positioned.
Fig. 5. > Ground plan of Late Neolithic Vina-culture house from the site of Stubline, near Belgrade

Cattle had enormous economic significance in late
Neolithic Vina culture, and there is no argument
that cattle had potent symbolic value also. Bovine
symbolism was both of public and private concern.
Cattle bucrania placed inside the house, near the
oven, certainly had a more intimate character and
were most likely somehow included in the symbolic
structuring. In this way, bucrania were probably used
as instruments for advocating and curating house-
hold/ancestral narratives. Such claims are further
reinforced considering the placement of bucrania
near the oven, especially taking into account their
association with the main support beams as is vis-
ible in the houses at Jakovo, Gomolava and Stubline.
The symbolic potency of bucrania could be thus af-
firmed, considering their relation with the main con-
structive element of the house. Such a dichotomy
points to the perception of the bucranium as the
most important symbolic element, enabling life in
the house. Further association of bucrania and sup-
port beams with hearths and ovens delineates these
household areas as focal mnemonic loci, commem-
orating house narratives. In the course of the house
histories, these areas were main arenas for establish-
ing and negotiating social and gender identities.
> 28+1
28
And what do Neolithic houses from Stubline reveal
about the conception of community? Reviewing
the function of the extraordinary group find of 43
anthropomorphic figurines from the 2008 house
(fig. 7) A. Crnobrnja rightfully withdrew from inter-
pretations regarding their function in the sphere of
religion (Crnobrnja 2011). Focusing on contextual
data, their interpretations were freed from the heavy
burden with which figurine-oriented studies are usu-
ally loaded. Real advances were made through the
appraisal of the representational aspects of the 43
figurines. With the exception of one, more elabo-
rately modelled, figurine, the 42 remaining figurines
are of summarized cylindrical form with only nose/
beak and hole for inserting tool handles being repre-
sented. The figurines do not have any direct analogy,
at least concerning morphology and the number of
figurines found in a single group. On the other hand,
when it comes to the appearance of miniature clay
tool models, they represent realistic representations
of existing copper and stone tools. This represen-
tational strategy led several authors to interesting
conclusions regarding the question as to whom or
what this group of figurines represents. The interpre-
tations were concentrating from those seeing the
group of figurines as representations of household
Fig. 6. > Ground plan of Late Neolithic Vina-culture house from the site of Stubline, near Belgrade

members to those connecting them to an abbrevi-
ated image of a community with an elaborated verti-
cal stratification of Stubline society (Tripkovi 2010;
Crnobrnja 2011).
Let us return to the function of the figurines. Al-
though the function and the usage of the group of
figurines are probably not ascertainable, a certain
interpretational benefit could be obtained through
the comparison of representational and possible
functional issues. Whether the group of figurines
functioned as a game-board, a picture of a war-
rior procession, an instrument of cult, an image of
a household or a larger group of people, an imple-
mented representational strategy created an image
of a group of identical people devoid of detail (face,
dress, ornaments, or gender) carrying various type
of tools (or possibly weapons). The miniature tools
resemble generic forms of copper and stone tools
which were widely used across whole late Neolithic
of South-eastern Europe. As for the appearance of
the figurines, perhaps there is more to think about in
what is not represented then what actually is (sensu
Bailey 2005: 8086). Here I point to the fact that a
very large amount of Vina-culture figurines have
representations of various types of clothing, jewel-
> 30+1
30
lery, and hairstyles. Even when the figurines are to-
tally schematized, without any details represented,
their morphology and physical appearance clearly
point to their cultural origin. On the other hand,
figurines from Stubline have a totally abstract, sche-
matic appearance which has no significant analogy
in Vina-culture figurine production. Could it be
therefore that the figurines from Stubline represent
foreigners? Foreigners, perhaps, that the Stubline
community has not yet encountered? Is it up to the
imagination of the beholder to build upon the un-
represented parts of the image? Foreigners carrying
tools or weapons? Enemies? To sum up the issue of
figurines function and representation, much ambi-
guity remains. Neighbours or foreigners, images of
ancestors or a portrait of a society, toys or cult in-
struments. Or anything at all!
Here it is important that the contemplation of those
images occurred within the house. Besides the ba-
sic activities that were underway inside the house,
the house was both the place and the subject of
symbolic structuring, the place for family, ancestors,
neighbours, foreigners, gods, and nature. Thus the
evocation of the renowned Lvi Straussian concept
of Socit Maisons House society.
Fig. 7. > Clay figurines found in the Late Neolithic Vina-culture house from the site of Stubline, near Belgrade

As mentioned before, both the main regulation
plans and the housing policy in New Belgrade were
constantly the objects of a vibrant process of the
shifting relationship between the modernist legacy
of 1920s and Marxist/socialist ideology. But as op-
posed to other parts of Belgrade where regulation
and urbanization plans had to build upon a previ-
ous architectural legacy, New Belgrade was unique
in the fact that the uninhabited and plain space of
swampy and marshy terrain allowed the proclama-
tion and realization of new ideas and concepts of
society (fig. 8). On the other hand, housing policy
has not been strictly site-specific. Rather, it was an
outcome of the basic premises of Socialistic dogma
with public property at its core. The housing diver-
sity thereby appeared as the result of the different
standards and requirements of those who com-
missioned buildings. For the sake of evidence, it is
important to stress that both Marxist and Socialist
ideology proclaimed that owning an apartment was
one of the basic needs of the working class, and that
the right to housing is a fundamental legal institu-
tion, which provides a working man the essential
conditions of life.
There was a variety of purchasers of apartment
building in New Belgrade. The main characteris-
tic of New Belgrade housing development was
the fact that the city/state/public companies were
> 32+1
32
the major investors. Alongside them, as one of the
most powerful financiers of all building activity, was
the Yugoslav National Army, as was the case with
the main case study of our attention, Block 21 and
the six skyscrapers known as Six Corporals. Work-
ers and employees were in need of houses and the
state provided them.* This led to an interesting turn
in property proportioning. Even until the middle of
the 1950s, private apartment property accounted for
79%, while the percentage of public property apart-
ment buildings that were built after the Second
World War was around 89% (Blagojevi 2007: 135).
After the late 1980s, the inhabitants were allowed to
redeem their apartments from the city/state/work-
ers organizations.
Returning to Block 21, as mentioned earlier, the pur-
chaser was the Yugoslav National Army, while Leo-
nid Lenari, Milutin Glaviki, Milosav Miti, Duan
Milenkovi and Uro Martinovi were the main ar-
chitects responsible for the project. The block was
a part of a wider regulation plan of the large 1600
m x 1600 meter central zone of New Belgrade (fig.
9), and it is one of the most successful reflections
* Of course, not all of the workers got state apartments. The
onerous administration process of public competition was always
open to bureaucratic interpretation. Thus, the system functioned,
but not at an ideal level.
Fig. 8. > Construction of the Palace of Federal Government in New Belgrade

of modernist architectural formulae of the late 1920s
ever executed in New Belgrade. Clear lines of mono-
lithic geometric forms, free of any architectural plas-
tics, and the exceptional raw materialization of all
buildings built according to the main plan, created
a superb and coherent display of executed architec-
tural units (fig. 10). The appearance of the block as
a whole was very dynamic. Horizontal parapets on
the facade produced striking rhythmic interplay of
full and plain fields, dark and light effects (Blagojevi
2007: 191).
Ignajtovis and Kabiljos Six Skyscrapers, later called
Six Corporals, were the first buildings erected in the
central zone of New Belgrade (fig. 11). Their position
at the corner of Block 21 was later repeated, thus
there are now groupings of tall skyscrapers at all
four corners of the central zone. The Corporals are
16 floors high and have total of 496 apartments with
more than 1405 inhabitants (fig. 12). After the time of
construction, the Corporals were the tallest housing
structures in Belgrade. The buildings have red brick
and red tile facades (fig. 13).* They appear rather
* The inhabitants of the Corporals very often mention that red
bricks and tiles on the facade gave a more humane image of their
inhumanly high buildings, especially in contrast to neighboring
structures with concrete finishing.
> 34+1
34
conservative in contrast to the modernistic look of
several other neighbouring buildings.
In order to obtain an undisturbed and peace-
ful housing setting, military instructions ruled that
apartment buildings in Block 21 should not contain
shops or business premises, garages, restaurants,
or out-patient clinics on the buildings ground floor,
while additional premises which were allowed in
the block were only low, free-standing,buildings
for schools and kindergartens (Blagojevi 2007:
188, 189). The apartment structure in Block 21 is as
follows: 2.0 and 2.5 apartments prevail with 44%,
3.0 apartments have 33% in total share, while the
large 4.0 apartments are exclusively located in S-2,
S-4, and S-6 skyscrapers within the Six Corporals
(Blagojevi 2007: 189, 190).
Apartment structure in Block 21:
Building A-7 called Meander: Gf + 4F + A; length
unfolded 980 m; 794 apartments.
Building B-9: Gf + 10F + A; length unfolded 286 m;
626 apartments.
Building V-9: Gf + 8F + A; 462 apartments.
Six Corporals: Gf + 16F + A; total 496 apartments.
Fig. 9. > Regulation plan of the central zone of New Fig. 10. > Scale model of Block 21 in New
Belgrade (Leonid Lenari, Milutin Glaviki, Milosav Belgrade (Leonid Lenari, Milutin Glaviki, Milosav
Miti, Duan Milenkovi and Uro Martinovi, 1960) Miti, Duan Milenkovi and Uro Martinovi, 1960)
Fig. 11. > Six Corporals during construction, and the building of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in New Belgrade
Fig. 12a. > Ground plan of the Six Corporals S 2, 4, 6 buildings Fig. 12b. > Ground plan of the Six Corporals S 1, 3, 5 buildings

According to a 1978 analysis of the Serbian Centre
for Housing which was conducted on the sampling
of 4000 apartments in Blocks 21, 22 and 29 in New
Belgrade (c.f. anak 2011: 34), 18% of the inhabitants
slightly altered the structure of the apartments by
removing existing and raising new dividing walls.*
Thus, the results obtained reveal that the apartment
organization was exceptionally well-planned and
quite functional. These apartments from the New
Belgrade blocks became the key model for the typi-
cal standardized apartment layout, also known as
the Belgrade apartment.
As in the case of almost all parts of New Belgrade,
as time passed, random and unplanned build-
ing activity caused many modifications to origi-
nal concept of Block 21. Nowadays, there are three
bank branches, several restaurants, two open tennis
courts, several company buildings, one elementary
school, one secondary school, as well as the build-
ing of one university. Even on the ground floors of
* The analysis was carried out under the patronage of Yugoslav
National Army. After the completion of analysis and quantifica-
tion of obtained results, the Army labeled the research as con-
taining classified information important for national security. The
results were never fully published (c.f. anak 2011: 34). Information
on the percentage of apartments which were modified by remov-
ing existing and erecting new dividing walls was given by archi-
tect Mihailo anak on his 2010 lecture at Faculty of Architecture
in Belgrade (full video material is available on YouTube)
> 38+1
38
the apartment buildings there are now pharmacies,
shops and other premises. Although many of these
uses were strictly forbidden in the military building
instructions, they eased the daily life of Block 21 resi-
dents, and it would seem that those premises did
not disturb the daily life of the dwellers, as had been
suspected. Nowadays, residents of the Six Corporals
do not have to cross the bridge, to the old part of
town, in order to buy groceries or pay bills.
People lived in Block 21 during the 1960s and 1970s
differently than those living there today. As men-
tioned earlier, the properties of dwelling are highly
subjective. Although calculations and quantifica-
tions of data on some urbanistic and sociologi-
cal parameters of life in New Belgrade could quite
possibly bring some interesting conclusions to light,
numbers and statistics always blur the individual.
Some residents are thrilled to have a new shopping
mall in their block; others are revolted by its boxlike
appearance. Many of them enjoy having cafes and
restaurants in their immediate surroundings, while
others have problem with the noise they generate.
New Belgrade has developed into a vibrant and dy-
namic place, with tens of thousands daily migrants
coming there to work, study, have fun, take a stroll,
attend cultural or sporting events. Whether the in-
habitants of New Belgrade poetically dwell in their
habitat today, only they know.
Fig. 13. > The 6 Corporals today

It is not an easy task to draw sound conclusions re-
garding the issues which were only briefly sketched
above. Instead, I will address certain potential inter-
pretations regarding the settlements at Stubline and
Block 21. Both settlements were built on previously
uninhabited terrain which served as an empty can-
vas for the conceptualization of ideas as to how the
dwellings mise-en-scne should look. Needless to
mention, this conceptualization was carried out dif-
ferently in Stubline, where the Neolithic inhabitants
built houses for themselves by themselves, while in-
habitants of Block 21 were provided with apartments
that the state thought were the most appropriate.
Thus, in the case of New Belgrade, reclaiming the
swamp was part of a new political ideology, while
in the case of Stubline, the colonization of new ter-
rain was probably related to countless natural and
strategic benefits that new dwelling place offered.
Both settlements were developed according to
orthogonal geometric schemes which eased com-
munication. When it comes to New Belgrade, this
layout led to the zoned organization of certain set-
tlement premises (e.g. administration, commercial,
sports, leisure). Considering the fact that barely 1%
of the Neolithic settlement of Stubline has been
excavated, we do not have much evidence on the
structuring of different settlement assignments. We
can only suspect that there could be buildings for
purposes other than housing. Does then the assign-
ment of various contents within in a settlement im-
ply the role-structuring of the inhabitants also? Are
there then zones with restricted access? Restriction
in movement is not always by official regulation as it
> 40+1
40
is the case with government, administration or sacral
structures. Both in the Neolithic and Socialist times,
movement limitations in settlements are deeply
rooted in other non-visible, subtle relations towards
different gender, race, age, and status.*
As time passed, both settlements were the subject
of dynamic socio-cultural processes that continued
to shape their appearance and life in them. Inhabit-
ants of both settlements developed strong relation-
ships with communities living in a neighbourhood.
The dynamic connections that were/are created
generated a larger settlement matrix in which more
complex settlements acted as focal points. In a
certain way, the settlements in Stubline and New
Belgrade operate(d) as any other living organism
(sensu Doxiadis 1968; Reanudie, Guilbaud and Lefe-
bvre 2009). They both benefited and suffered from
contemporary natural and socio-cultural conditions
as well as from the acts of their inhabitants.** Some-
times poetically enjoying the advantages of care-
ful organization of their dwelling place, other times
choking from the chaos that they created (or per-
mitted), the communities living in the Stubline and
New Belgrade settlements were/are a living endur-
ing narrative, constantly reshaping and negotiating
their right to the city.
* Although no one banned the New Belgrade Roma access to
shopping malls and playgrounds in their neighborhood, they feel
uncomfortable going there.
** Lefebvre even uses terms for human diseases as sclerosis to
describe the condition of New Belgrade (Reanudie, Guilbaud and
Lefebvre 2009: 4, 5).

>> INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
One of the goals of the Research and Development
Infrastructure Initiative in Serbia is to enable Serbian
scientific institutions, as well as scientists, to become
key players who will contribute to achieving sus-
tainable knowledge, prosperity and the economic
growth of the country. The project was a part of the
Strategy for Science and Technological Develop-
ment of the Republic of Serbia 2010-2015, recon-
ciled with the European Strategy to 2020.
Analyzing the influence of international competi-
tions, the Block 39 competition team concluded that
the most significant buildings had been achieved
through a competition process: the Sydney Op-
era House (Australia) designed by Jrn Utzon; The
Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris (France) by Ren-
zo Piano and Richard Rodgers; the Bibliotheca Alex-
andrina (Egypt) by Snhetta Architects; and others.
The competition was promoted by European In-
vestment Bank (EIB) and the Ministry of Science of
the Republic of Serbia and organized by the Asso-
ciation of Belgrade Architects and the International
Union of Architects (UIA). The vision for the future
urban development of Block 39 in New Belgrade
was supported by 232 international works from 40
> 42+1
42
countries, long after the previous international expe-
riences from the Opera House competition finished
in 1971, also in New Belgrade.
The first prize in the competition for the Centre for
The Promotion of Science went to Wolfgang Tscha-
peller, an architect from Vienna. The Architect and
his team have shaped the space of the block 39 to
resemble a modern city. It is interesting that the idea
of positioning the building in amazing structural fail-
ure (in terms of reliance and the principles of grav-
ity), has been present for a long time in architectural
designs and among architectural competition proj-
ects, such as the work of Spanish team Soldevila
Arquitectes, but the winning design is unique and
exceptional. The new public space created beneath
the structure of the building, has added value to the
New Belgrade concept for the Central zone which
has never been implemented. The architecture of
the building is simple and complex at the same time
and the most important elements are space, people,
social life and learning.
>> CONTEXT / NEW BELGRADE
The winning design is the right solution for the is-
sues of the existing urban structure. Among the
carefully underlined real values that they have tried
to preserve, are the concept of modernity and the
concept of the green city.
We may also mention projects which preceded the
work for the competition:
The significance of the architecture of this period
is again confirmed at home and abroad by orga-
nizations like Docomomo Serbia and Docomomo
International.
Architecture of the Modern movement is also
recognized as important by the collaborative,
long-term research platform on architecture and
urban planning called Unfinished Modernizations
Between Utopia and Pragmatism. This platform
unites architectural and urban planning experts
from the former Yugoslavia in a common goal to
explore the production of the built environment
from the modern period, in its social, political and
cultural contexts.
Tender practices in New Belgrade give only a sin-
gle solution for urban blocks and their revitalization
has not been implemented so far.
The BINA/Redefining Post-WWII Housing confer-
ence, which brought together eminent European
experts on the subject. This conference has shown
that the urban plan for New Belgrade is unique in
Europe and underlined the necessity for its pres-
ervation.
>> SCIENCE MUSEUM /
>> UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
Once it [the museum] was a place that had instruc-
tion and the propagation of a particular view of the
world as its underpinning. Now it [the museum] has
come to be seen as an urban landmark a replace-
ment for the missing agora, a place devoted to spec-
tacle. Sudjic, D. (1993) The 100 Mile City. London: Fla-
mingo.
The architecture and urban planning of the complex
provide an opportunity to make a new public space
which could be coherent. The attractions of the mu-
seums interactive concepts are a good model for
making an education programme for the develop-
ment of the spirit of all generations (science park,
botanical garden, cafe, open-air cinema and many
other outdoor activities).
The building is smaller than the existing super-
structure of New Belgrade. It is detached from the
ground, connected with it only by the bearing pi-
lasters and elements of circulation, which has been
designed with the unique and skilful manuscript. The

ground floor is free for pedestrians, covered with
greenery and the building does not block the vision.
The upper space flows within the detached struc-
ture: entrance, lobby, information desk, coffee shop,
exhibition space, a planetarium (100 seats), confer-
ence hall (250 seats), research team, science club,
office, restaurant and a terrace with a fantastic view.
In the lower part are utility rooms, garages, truck
dock, warehouses, workshops, shelter and a chil-
drens science centre with support facilities, atrium
and courtyard.
The principal idea is that Block 39 with the existing
building of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (FDU, build-
ing designed by B. Jankovi, A. Stjepanovi and B.
Karadi, 1973) should become a Campus of Science
and Art including its contents (extensions of the
Faculty of Physics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering,
Faculty of Organizational Sconces, and High School
of Mathematics), and a venue where science, educa-
tion and technology encounter art and culture.
>> CULTURE/PARK/CURIOSITY & FUN
Culture programs and cultural tourism are new ways
for developing cities. The future development of
Block 39 with the second phase Campus for the
Arts and Sciences, are a good opportunity for Serbia
to become one of the worlds most interesting plac-
es. Many interesting initiatives that will be run from
the premises of the Centre for the Promotion of Sci-
ence will confirm the identity of a cultural exchange
> 44+1
44
with the environment and activities that contribute
to learning by encouraging curiosity and fun.
>> CENTRE
The Centre for the Promotion of Science is a Govern-
ment Institution responsible for the promotion and
the popularization of science. It was founded in the
year 2011. In the words of Centre Director Aleksandra
Drecun: The task of the Centre is to bring science
closer to the broader public, as a support to schools
and other educational institutions in upgrading the
knowledge of the nation, as well as to raise interest
in scientific careers. Its mission is to encourage an
approach to science and technology which is turned
to the future and to help in overcoming prejudices
and resistance to complicated issues in the world
in which we live, in an entertaining and approach-
able way, as well as to provide the joy of discovery.
The long term plan is that Centre should also influ-
ence the growing percentage of university educated
people and motivate young people to develop their
scientific career in Serbia.
The Centre for the Promotion of Science will be the
most important facility in the future development of
Belgrade and will particularly affect the public, chil-
dren, community, culture, tourism, science and tech-
nology of 21st century life in Serbia.
> Jelena Ivanovi Vojvodi
> Centre for the Promotion of Science, Belgrade
Fig. 14. > Future complex of the Centre for the Promotion of Science
> 1. New Belgrade offers rather challenging perspectives for theoretical analysis. Dozens of books,
exhibitions and research projects have dealt with some of the New Belgrade paradigms. For my humble
appropriation of New Belgrade, several seminal studies of the ideological background and others dealing
with the concept of neighbourhood in New Belgrade have been of exceptional importance.

> Literature: Bitter, S and Derksen, J and

Weber, H., 2009. Autogestion, or Henri Lefe-
bvre in New Belgrade, Vienna.; Blagojevi,
Lj., 2007. Novi Beograd: osporeni modern-
izam. Beograd.; Doksijadis, K., 1968. ovek
i grad. Beograd.; Eri, Z., 2009. Differenti-
ated Neighbourhoods of New Belgrade.
Belgrade.; Kuli, V. and Mrdulja, M., 2012.
Unfinished Modernisations-Between Utopia
and Pragmatism: Architecture and urban
planning in the former Yugoslavia and the
successor states. Maribor.
 < 491 / 49

> 2. The first urban crime is the high-rise buildings. These work against society because the prevent
the socially important units the family, the extended family, the neighbourhood from functioning as
naturally and as normally as before (Doksijadis 1968: 153).

The contrasting image of Neolithic and contemporary housing is seen most obviously in the expressive
verticality of modern skyscrapers. The futuristic vision of Fritz Langs image of high towers in his Me-
tropolis and the New Belgrade setting of Srdan Golubovis Absolute Hundred are superb examples of
pronounced architectural verticality in the cinema.

> Still images from Fritz Langs Metropolis and Srdan Golubovis Absolute Hundred movies
> 3. The connection between the architecture of New Belgrade and the modernist heritage of
the 1920s has been emphasised several times. Further insight into this relationship may be found in the
functionalist approach of both architectural expressions towards housing and human needs related to
housing. Corbusiers Modulor is a famous anthropometric study which inspired dozens of similar analy-
ses related to the role of human proportion in the development of functional housing. Anthropometric
analysis carried out by the Serbian Centre for Housing represents one of the most elaborate exercises on
this theme, developed in the conditions of the extreme need for apartments after the Second World War.

> Le Corbusiers Modulor and anthropmetric analysis of Serbian Center for Housing
 < 511 / 51

> 4. One of the most cited and most influential works on New Belgrade is the response of Serge
Reanudie, Pierre Guilbaud and Henri Lefebvre to the 1986 International Competition for the Improvement
of the New Belgrade urban structure (Reanudie, Guilbaud and Lefebvre, 2009). Henri Lefebvre, as a re-
nowned authority on urban dwelling, commented frankly on the condition of New Belgrade in 1986 and
its fate in the immediate future:
The planification of Novi Beograd has failed, both in its attempt at global coherence and in the political
will to create a city.
The conceptual and morphological schematicism of the zoning and grid could lead only to failure, both
social and urban.
What remains of the desire for ordered functionalism and summary purism towers and bars of omi-
nous dimension, lost in a deserted space where neither the public nor the intimate find their place.
Beyond this distressing scene, which is infinitely repeated in suburbs and new towns the world over, it
must be said that such urban catastrophes originate, not in diversification, deviation or bad interpreta-
tion of the theorems set out in Le Corbusiers Athens Charter, but in the theorems themselves.
To authoritatively separate, disjoint and disarticulate its parts kills the city, as it would any other complex
organism.
In administering the regulation of mechanical functionalism, zoning has done nothing more than to
prepare the death of the city.
The separation and isolation of normally linked activities engenders a sclerosis of each element and the
functionalism as a whole.
Little by little, solitude settles like grains of sand in the urban tissue and restricts its flexibility.
Solitude of individuals, solitude of families, within the family, the group, the neighbourhood, the apart-
ment building, the office solitude engenders inertia and, when collective, weighs on social life and
movement of the community; it prevents solidarity and sociability and compromises the development
of individual and collectivity.

Lefebvre concentrated his response around several main concepts of his study of city and urban dwelling,
the most prominent here being alienation. Although it is probably unnecessary in the current discussion,
Lefebvre used the term alienation more than 220 times in his seminal book Critique of Everyday Life
(Lefebvre 1991). Trivia or not, this clearly shows the importance of the concept of alienation in his work.
However the zonal organisation of New Belgrade did not lead to alienation and segregation of its citizens,
especially not during the 1980s. Rather, the roots of such a process could be sought in the course of the
breakdown of societal property and the market liberalisation during the late 1990s. Thus the segregation
of neighbourhood is caused by powerful capital owners (cf. Eri 2009), as it would be in any other city,
with or without a zonal layout. As for the predicted alienation, nor is this process site specific. Rather it
occurs through constant human activities and routinized everydayness and is dependent on numerous
other issues beside spatiality
> Images of alienation could be seen in various aspects of popular culture. The master of cinemato-
graphic alienation Michelangelo Antonioni was devoted to depicting personal alienation in his movies.
Later example comes from Oliver Stones Wall Street movie, which represents different type of alienation
then that in Antonionis films. Capitalistic alienation in Wall Street resembles Marxist and Lefebvrian con-
cepts of urban and working alienation. Screenplay description of the opening movie scene properly sets
out the agenda:

FADE IN. THE STREET. The most famous third of a mile in the world. Towering landmark structures nearly
blot out the dreary grey flannel sky. The morning rush hour crowds swarm through the dark, narrow
streets like mice in a maze, all in pursuit of one thing: MONEY... CREDITS RUN.

> Still images from Michelangelo

Antonionis LAvventura (copyright Cino del Duca,
Produzioni Cinematografiche Europee, Societ
Cinmatographique Lyre), Leclisse (copyright Cineriz,
Interopa Film, Paris Film) and Oliver Stones Wall Street
(copyright Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation)
 < 531 / 53

> 5. Martin Heideggers essays Building, Dwelling, Thinking, and Poetically Man Dwells (Heidegger
1971: 143161; idem 1971: 211229) are among the most cited texts dealing with the issues of dwelling and
housing. There are no shortcuts which could lead to comprehension of the questions that Heidegger
raised in his essays, and this short piece certainly does not aim to give even the most abbreviated ac-
count. However, central to Heideggers thought of dwelling was the human not the house, not the ar-
chitecture. Dwelling takes place in a certain environment, at a certain point in time. It is the relationship
of a human with the place where dwelling occurs which makes a building a home. The complex bond
that develops between man and dwelling place generates numerous associations and emotions that are
reflected in all spheres of human activities.* Heideggers appropriation of the relationship between work-
ers and factory or between truck driver and highway should be seen in this context. The factory and the
highway could be conceived as a dwelling place, but they are not a home.

Thus, poetically man dwells by allowing the dwelling to happen.

* The prehistoric landscape and household archaeology benefit greatly from such an approach. The appropriation of both human and
non-human Umwelten (sensu Sebok 1988) launches a major interpretative potential in other studies dealing with dwelling and habitation.

> Heideggers hut at Todtnauberg in Black Forest, Germany

 > 54+1

54

Bailey, D., 2005a. Prehistoric Figurines: representation and corporeality in the Neolithic. London.
Bailey, D., 2005b. Beyond the meaning of Neolithic houses: specific objects and serial repetition.
In D. Bailey, A. Whittle and V. Cummings (eds.) (Un)settling the Neolithic. Oxford, 9097.
Bailey, D., Cochrane, A and Zambelli, J., 2010. Unearthed: a comparative study of Jmon Dog
and Neolithic figurines. Norwich.
Blagojevi, Lj., 2007. Novi Beograd: osporeni modernizam. Beograd.
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Fig. 1, page 41: Goran Ivanevi; fig 2: Belgrade Institute of Urbanism; fig. 3, 8, 11: Belgrade City Museum; fig. 4,
catalogue 1: Bodin Jovanovi; fig. 5, 6, 7: Adam Crnobrnja; fig 9, 10, 12: Mihailo anaks personal archive; fig 13: Raa
Stanisavljevi; fig 14: Wolfgang Tschapeller; pagee 46-47: Miodrag Badnjar; catalogue 2/1-2: Metropolis, film by Fritz
Lang (Universum Film-UFA); catalogue 2/3-4: Absoloute hundred, feature film directed by Srdan Golubovi, Ba elik
production; catalogue 3/1: Charles Le Corbusiers Modulor (redrawn from Le Korbizije 2002); catalogue 3/2: redrawn
from Mihailo anak, Serbian Center for Housing; catalogue 4/1: LAvventura, film by Michelangelo Antonioni (copyright
Cino del Duca, Produzioni Cinematografiche Europee, Societ Cinmatographique Lyre); catalogue 4/2: Leclisse,
film by Michelangelo Antonioni (copyright Cineriz, Interopa Film, Paris Film); catalogue 4/3: Wall Street, film by Oliver
Stone (copyright Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation); catalogue 5: Tomas Nygren; inner cover: Jelena Brajkovi.