The Keeping It Modern, New Perspectives for Modern Heritage in South-Eastern Europe program is finally announced today. Below is the full program of activities.
Ana, Vladimir & Jovan will be conducting the Tour of Modern Skopje and holding a lecture on their decade long study on the preservation & promotion of Skopje’s Modernism also exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale.
Dr. Ana Ivanovska Deskova is an Associate Professor at the Department for Protection of Cultural Heritage, History of Architecture and Art at the Faculty of Architecture, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. She holds a Master of Science and PhD from the same institution. She teaches the History of Modern Architecture and courses related to the Protection and rehabilitation of Cultural Heritage. Her main research interest is the modern architecture in Skopje, especially the reconstruction of Skopje after the earthquake in 1963. She is the author of numerous research projects and exhibitions on architecture. Among others: „Atlas of the Macedonian Modern Architecture”, held in 2022 at Youth Cultural Center in Skopje; “The Role of the Women Architects in the post-earthquake Renewal of Skopje” held in 2022 in the Museum of North Macedonia in Skopje, “Future as a Project – Doxiadis in Skopje”, held in 2018 in Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece, “Skopje – Architecture in the Macedonian Context”, held in Ringturm gallery, Vienna, Austria (2017), “Constructing a Modernist Utopia: The Architecture of The Post-Earthquake Renewal of Skopje, 1963-1981”, held in Gallery MC, New York City, USA (2017). In 2008 and 2014 she was one of the authors of the Macedonian National Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. From 2016 to 2018, she was a member of the curatorial advisory board for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, for the 2018 exhibition ‘Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980’.
Dr. Jovan Ivanovski is a Professor at the Department of Architectural Design at the Faculty of Architecture, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. He finished his Master’s Studies at Dessau Institute of Architecture in Germany (DAAD Alumni) and holds a PhD from the Faculty of Architecture, UKIM, Skopje. Practiced architecture in offices in Switzerland and Germany. His main research interest is the spatial transformation of Skopje during the period of the post-socialist transition. He is the author of numerous research projects and exhibitions on architecture. Among others: „Atlas of the Macedonian Modern Architecture”, held in 2022 at Youth Cultural Center in Skopje; “The Role of the Women Architects in the post-earthquake Renewal of Skopje” held in 2022 in the Museum of North Macedonia in Skopje, “Future as a Project – Doxiadis in Skopje”, held in 2018 in Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece, “Skopje – Architecture in the Macedonian Context”, held in Ringturm gallery, Vienna, Austria (2017), “Constructing a Modernist Utopia: The Architecture of The Post-Earthquake Renewal of Skopje, 1963-1981”, held in Gallery MC, New York City, USA (2017). He was curator of the Macedonian National Pavilion at the 2014 Venice Biennale of Architecture, and one of the authors in 2006 and 2008. From 2016 to 2018, he was a member of the curatorial advisory board for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, for the 2018 exhibition ‘Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980’.
Vladimir Deskov is a Teaching Assistant and Lecturer at the School of Architecture and Design, University American College Skopje. He holds a Diploma in Architecture from the Faculty of Architecture, University Ss. Cyril and Methodius Skopje. Currently, he is a Dr. Sci. candidate at the Faculty of Architecture in Zagreb, Croatia. His primary research focuses on the modernization of Skopje, examining how economic, political, and social transformations impact the city’s architecture and urban development. He is the author of numerous research projects and exhibitions on architecture. Among others: „Atlas of the Macedonian Modern Architecture”, held in 2022 at Youth Cultural Center in Skopje; “The Role of the Women Architects in the post-earthquake Renewal of Skopje” held in 2022 in the Museum of North Macedonia in Skopje, “Future as a Project – Doxiadis in Skopje”, held in 2018 in Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece, “Skopje – Architecture in the Macedonian Context”, held in Ringturm gallery, Vienna, Austria (2017), “Constructing a Modernist Utopia: The Architecture of The Post-Earthquake Renewal of Skopje, 1963-1981”, held in Gallery MC, New York City, USA (2017). In 2008 and 2014 he was one of the authors of the Macedonian National Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. From 2016 to 2018, he was a member of the curatorial advisory board for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, for the 2018 exhibition ‘Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980’.
Architecture of the Utopian City: The Case of Skopje
Skopje is a city situated on a geopolitical crossroad, amidst cultural influences produced and overlapped by rising and declining civilizations. Over the course of history, the city – like the Balkans in general – has been subjected to irregular intervals of (unfinished) urban transformations. These circumstances created very dynamic socio-spatial landscape, rich of contradictory realities, which played a central role in the historic transformation of the city and its architecture.
The built heritage of Skopje is a vivid example of how diverse political concepts, different stages of economic and social development, international architectural movements and technological progress can influence the development of city’s architecture and urban landscape. At the same time, Skopje is an example how a certain historical event – the catastrophic earthquake of 1963 – can become a possibility for the future; interrupting the rapid pace of post WW2 development, this instant natural act of hasty violence on the one hand destroyed nearly 80% of the city, but on the other, became a trigger for new, even more radical type of modernization.
The UN led post-earthquake reconstruction, propelled unprecedented international solidarity and was high in ambition – to promote Skopje as an exemplary global city. At the peak of the Cold War, at a time when the polarization between the two conflicting political blocks was at its highest, Skopje’s post-earthquake renewal process defined solidarity and cooperation as its leading principal. Previously local and unknown Skopje, suddenly became a field of international collaboration, where world’s prominent architects and planners (Van den Broek and Bakema, Kenzo Tange, Konstantinos Doxiadis, Adolf Ciborowski etc.) worked in parallel with authors from Macedonia and other parts of Yugoslavia. The city became a laboratory experimenting with the latest urban forms and architectural paradigms; consequently, the architectural output was not defined by a single style or aesthetic. It rather presented a vibrant pluralism of influences coming from around the world – Japanese metabolism, Dutch Structuralism, Brutalism, together with the continuation of the well-established modernist principles – all appropriated, digested and creating quite unique architectural identity. Built with high architectural ambition, introducing higher standard of culture, education and living, the buildings of the post-earthquake reconstruction of Skopje still remain to be the undoubtedly most powerful segment within its recent architectural history.
The tour as well as the lecture will be held on the 3rd of July 2024 in Skopje, Macedonia
César Bargues Ballester is an Associate Project Specialist at the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) in Los Angeles, USA. He is involved in several projects, including research, publications, and training activities, working towards the goals of the Conserving Modern Architecture Initiative (CMAI). His work on material conservation involves a study of the infill panels, a significant component of the Eames House building envelope, which is a continuation of the on-site investigations and assessments conducted by a multidisciplinary group of consultants and GCI staff members to inform the development of a conservation management plan for the site. Prior to joining the GCI in 2018, he was a Research Associate at the University of Pennsylvania, conducting research and managing multi-phase projects. Besides formal training in business disciplines, César holds a master’s degree in architecture from the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain, and a Master of Science in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania. He is an active member of various professional associations and serves on the SAH Strategic Planning Committee.
As part of the Keeping It Modern seminar and the Kosovo Architecture Festival Cesar will be holding several lectures on the Getty Initiatives and Conservation & Management Plans. For full details check the KIM & KAFx12 program.
Blerta Kambo is an Albanian artist, activist, photographer and film maker based in Tirana.
Her personal projects follow a conceptual approach, hinged around themes of social and environmental justice, archive, fiction/multiple truths, ecofeminism, and architecture embedded in space, expressing the underlying narrative in their social contexts. Her 16-year commercial experience as a photographer includes documentary, architecture and politics (as photographer for Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama) also advertising, corporate and fashion. In 2019 she studied filmmaking at the London Film School (UK) and is currently working more with the moving image, both in documentary/ narrative -fiction and video art.
In 2023 she was a finalist for the Circa Prize, London, UK with her performance-video “Heavy stone”. Her latest project ‘Man of the castle’, a contemporary allegory of gender justice, of feminism in defence of men, was exhibited twice in Tirana, to positive reviews. She is a Member of AWA (Albanian women in audio-visual) and the Feminist Collective (Albania)
She is a 2024 LINA fellow with the Kosovo Architecture Foundation. Her object of visual research and artistic intervention is the ‘Palace of Youth’ in Prishtina.
Her lecture will be held Friday July 5th from 18.45 at Kino Armata.
Ana Dana Beros is an architect with a ‘critical spatial practice’ that encompasses artistic research, documentary filmmaking, curating, publishing/broadcasting, and exhibition design. She is based between Zagreb, Graz and Trieste.
Co-founder of ARCHIsquad – Division for Architecture with Conscience and its educational program UrgentArchitecture in Croatia (2006-2015). Her interest in architectural theory, experimental design, and publishing as a spatializing practice led her to co-found the international platforms Think Space (2010-2015) and Future Architecture (2016-2021), and she is currently involved with LINA (2022-2025). As a LINA member, she curates DAI-SAI projects From Care to Cure and Back and Architecture of Cure, which investigate the critical architectural heritage of The Children’s Maritime Health Resort of Military Insured Persons in Krvavica. These projects aim to transform both material and immaterial environments from “spaces of common disease” into places of “common healing.”
Her lecture will be held at Kino Armata on Wendnesday 3rd of July 2024 from 18.45.
Amin Taha was born in Berlin and is settled in London, after graduating from the University of Edinburgh he worked in the offices of Zaha Hadid before setting up in private practice. He is chairperson at GROUPWORK, teaches architecture at the Royal College of Art, GSD_Harvard and its cross over into engineering at University College London. He is also a trustee at the Sir John Soane Museum and chair of the annual Soane Medal jury.
GROUPWORK
GROUPWORK is an employee ownership trust of architects in which all are partners sharing responsibilities and income. This ethical foundation is followed through the work by understanding and apply structural, embodied carbon as well as lyrical properties of materials and broader social possibilities in architectural programs. Completed buildings going onto be three times selected and short-listed for the RIBA Stirling Prize and characterized by Rowan Moore, The Guardian and Observer architecture correspondent as “poetry through material assembly”.
Amin’s lecture will be held at Kino Armata on Wednesday 3rd of July 2024 from 20.00.
Cristina Steingräber, a historian of art and architecture based in Berlin, is the cofounder and CEO of ArchiTangle, an independent publisher and digital tech start-up dedicated to socially engaged architectural practice and urbanism. Her academic and professional efforts focus on interdisciplinary knowledge transfer on how architecture can engage with other disciplines in shaping the built environment.
Initially a curator at the National Gallery in Berlin (Nationalgalerie), Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (SMB), Steingräber was appointed head of the SMB’s publications department in 2004. Thereafter, Steingräber spent more than a decade as program director and CEO of Hatje Cantz, a leading global publisher in the visual arts, photography, and architecture (2006–17). She possesses deep industry expertise, and as an expert in architecture history, bookmaking, and a technology enthusiast, Steingräber, with her firm, is introducing the integration of traditional print and cutting-edge technology through blockchain-based digital book extensions, adding a new dimension to knowledge transfer in the field. She holds a PhD in art and architectural history from Kiel University (CAU) alongside an MBA in Economics, focusing on innovation and digital transformation, from the prestigious TUM School of Management at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). In 2023, Steingräber established a foundation. The aim of the ArchiTangle Foundation is to improve living conditions globally through digital knowledge transfer in the built environment. The Foundation supports projects in the fields of architecture, urbanism, housing, and human rights. It carries out its own projects and supports charitable initiatives by other organizations. Steingräber is frequently engaged as an invited lecturer, critic, and jury member in the fields of art, architecture and business development.
ArchiTangle is an independent book publisher and tech start-up. By combining traditional print books with innovative digital formats, ArchiTangle aims to disseminate and preserve architectural knowledge, ensuring its accessibility for future generations.
The core of ArchiTangle’s program focuses on publishing books that highlight architectural projects with substantial social impact, thus upholding cultural and ethical values in architecture. These publications explore how architecture can address pressing issues—such as urban and rural development, social justice, community engagement, and responsible building practices—and shape the built environment. By partnering with renowned institutions, architects, and artists, ArchiTangle produces publications that showcase innovative design while provoking thoughtful discourse on the role of architecture in society.
A key feature of ArchiTangle’s offerings is the deep-tech innovation Book+, which provides additional digital content to complement traditional print publications. The content is stored using cutting-edge blockchain technology. This exceptional approach ensures that information remains tamper-proof and accessible for generations to come, adding a new dimension to architectural publishing. Book+ enriches the readers’ understanding of the context, scope, and significance of the featured projects, providing ongoing insights and preserving the integrity of the data like never before.
ArchiTangle’s commitment extends beyond the physical book, offering comprehensive publishing services that manage the entire process—from consulting, research, and content creation to graphic design, editing, and production. The goal is to make architectural publications cultural assets by maintaining the highest standards of quality in content and by focusing on sustainable material selection.
from the 1st till the 4th of July 2024, one of the most esteemed personalities in the world of Modern Architecture preservation, Mrs. Sheridan Burke will be holding several keynotes as part of the Keeping It Modern – New Perspectives for Modern Heritage in the SEE region, culminating with a keynote at the Kosovo Architecture Festival on the 4th of July at Kino Armata starting from 18:30.
Sheridan is a heritage consultant, based in Sydney, Australia, trained in planning and architecture. She has worked for government, corporates and NGOs in cultural heritage management for more than 35 years, building extensive experience in developing practical, strategic outcomes for the future of heritage places- from the Eames House in Los Angeles to the Abraj Al Kuwait water towers in Kuwait.
Twentieth Century heritage advocacy is her specialist field of interest, publishing widely and contributing to the development and delivery of the ICOMOS international Heritage Alerts program and the Keeping It Modern program for the Getty Conservation Institute since 2014. She is currently an adviser and instructor for the GCI’s Modern Architecture Conservation course, first offered in 2023.
Sheridan is a founding president of the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Twentieth Century Heritage; and has served in many executive roles on the ICOMOS international Board, currently as its Advisory Committee Vice President. As a cultural heritage advisor for ICOMOS she has undertaken UNESCO World Heritage missions in Africa, Asia and the Americas.
Sheridan is an appointed expert member of several NSW Planning Panels and a former chair of the State Heritage Register Committee and deputy chair of the NSW Heritage Council. She is currently chair of the Eryldene Trust in Sydney, managing an historic house and garden through climate change challenges.
Sheridan has been a member of the Sydney Opera House Conservation Council for 16 years and also sits on its Design Advisory Panel, engaging with major projects from redrafting the site Conservation Plan to the recent capital works projects of the SOH’s Decade of Renewal -improving access to all public areas of the House , refurbishing the opera and concert halls, establishing the Centre for Creativity and integrating new venue, food and beverage opportunities as well as the recent update of the site’s Strategic Building Plan and development of its Heritage Action Plan.
Starting from the 1st till the 4th of July, in conjunction with the 12th edition of the Kosovo Architecture Festival, KAF is organizing the “Keeping It Modern” seminar.
With the participation of more than 40 experts and advocates in the field of Modern Architecture from around the globe this seminar is one of the biggest seminars on modern architecture ever organized in the SEE region and beyond.
The Seminar will feature 10 keynotes by project managers of Conservation Management Plans that have received the Getty Foundation’s “Keeping It Modern” prestigious grant. The seminar will feature keynotes by world renowned experts such as Sheridan Burke, chairman of ICOMOS 20th century heritage preservation committee, Cesar Bargues Ballester of the Getty Conservation Institute, Aziza Chaouni, professor at Daniels UofT and a TED Fellow, Javier Ors Ausin, head of Modern Preservation at the World Monuments Fund, and many other.
The presented CMP will feature some of the most iconic and recognizable architecture works in the world such as the Sidney Opera House, The Eames House, The Buzludzha Monument, as well as the Kosovo National Museum.
The 4 day long seminar will also feature a tour of modern Skopje under the guidence of Ana Ivanovska Deskova, Vladimir Deskov and Jovan Ivanovski.
The overall aim of the Seminar is to shad light on the work done in the SEE region in the field of modern architecture preservation as well as learn from successful CMP’s implemented from around the world.
The public lectures and discussions will be open to the general public and will be held in the premises of the Kosovo National Library and Kino Armata in Prishtina.
This event is supported by the Getty Foundation through its “Keeping It Modern” initiative.