Socialist Yugoslavia was a country suspended between civilizations, political systems, and Cold War blocs. It produced a remarkable body of modern architecture. This book explores the historical 'in-betweenness' of Yugoslav modernism and captures its visual richness and complexity through Wolfgang Thaler's new photographs --publisher.

Bogdan Bogdanovi??s library in Belgrade is the stuff of urban legends. Expansive and abundant, it formed the intellectual bedrock of the renowned architect?s erudite oeuvre. Since the mid-1990s, however, the famed library was largely inaccessible even to its owner, who died 2010 exiled in Vienna. ?I wish my library was here with me,? Bogdanovi? would often lament to his wife Ksenija. The legend of the library was kept alive by the generations of Bogdanovi??s students, whom he often greeted there while he still taught at the University of Belgrade. This book now brings it back into view, in the hope that, one day, it would become accessible to all.0/0Bogdan Bogdanovi?s Bibliothek in Belgrad ist der typische Stoff für Großstadtmythen. Mit ihrem riesigen Umfang und reichhaltigen Inhalt bildete sie das Fundament der Lehren des berühmten Architekten. Seit Mitte der Neunzigerjahre indes war die legendäre Bibliothek meist sogar für ihren Besitzer, der 2010 im Wiener Exil starb, nicht zugänglich. ?Ich wünschte, ich hätte meine Bibliothek?, klagte Bogdanovi? seiner Frau Ksenija gegenüber oft. Die Legende der Bibliothek aber wurde von Generationen Studierender Bogdanovi?s, die er regelmäßig dort empfing, als er noch an der Universität von Belgrad unterrichtete, weiter am Leben gehalten. Dieses Buch bringt die Bibliothek zurück ins Blickfeld - in der Hoffnung, sie möge eines Tages endlich allen 0zugänglich sein.

Land of the in-between explores how modern architecture responded to demands for political and ideological representation during the Cold War using socialist Yugoslavia as a case-study. Self-proclaimed as universal and abstract, modernism acquired a variety of specific meanings hidden behind seemingly neutral forms that, however, frequently contained decidedly political dimensions. During the Cold War, Yugoslavia deliberately positioned itself halfway between the Eastern and Western blocs, thus representing an excellent case for a study of shifting political meanings ascribed to architecture at that time. This dissertation follows two lines of investigation: transformations of architectural profession, and changes in the modes of architectural representation of the state. Consequences of two key moments are explored: the rise to power of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in 1945, and its expulsion from the Soviet bloc in 1948. These two moments correspond to two distinct phases that shaped architecture in socialist Yugoslavia: a period of intense Stalinization immediately after WW II, and a period of gradual liberalization after the country's sudden break-up with the Soviet Union. During the short-lived Stalinist period, the regime subjected Yugoslav culture to the doctrine of Socialist Realism. But after 1948, the state relaxed its iron grip, allowing for a degree of intellectual and artistic freedom. At the same time, Yugoslavia reestablished friendly relations with the West, opening itself to influences of Western culture. The revival of modern architecture that followed was in return instrumental in reinforcing Yugoslavia's new image of a reformed Communist country. Land of the in-between argues that Yugoslavia's political shifts gave rise to a uniquely hybrid architectural culture. It combined Communist ideology with Western aesthetic and technological influences to create a mix that complicated the common black and white picture of the Cold War. Architecture in socialist Yugoslavia thus operated within a complex framework of shifting political and cultural paradigms whose contrasts highlight the meanings that post-World War II modernism assumed on a global scale.

Published in conjunction with a major survey exhibition on the architectural production of Yugoslavia between 1948 and 1980, this is the first scholarly publication to showcase an understudied but important and exceptional body of modernist architecture. Squeezed between the two rival Cold War blocs, Yugoslav architecture consistently adhered to a modernist trajectory. As a founding nation of the Non-Aligned Movement, Yugoslavia became a major exporter of modernist architecture to Africa and the Middle East in a postcolonial world. By merging a variety of local traditions and contemporary international influences in the context of a unique Yugoslav brand of socialism, often described as the 'Third Way', local architects produced a veritable 'parallel universe' of modern architecture during the forty-five years of the country's existence. This remarkable body of work has sparked recurrent international interest, yet a rigorous interpretative study never materialized in the United States until now. Published in conjunction with a major exhibition on the architectural production of Yugoslavia between 1948 and 1980, this is the first scholarly publication to showcase an understudied but important body of modernist architecture. Featuring new scholarship and previously unpublished archival materials, this richly illustrated publication sheds light on key ideological concepts of Yugoslav architecture, urbanism, and society by delving into the exceptional projects and key figures of the era.