By Donald Niebyl. Edited by Damon Murray, Stephen Sorrell.
A guidebook to the wild world of communist minimalism in Tito's Yugoslavia
Spomenik—the Serbo-Croat/Slovenian word for monument—refers to the memorials built in Tito's Republic of Yugoslavia from the 1960s to the 1980s, marking the horror of the occupation and the defeat of Axis forces during World War II. Hundreds were built across the country, from coastal resorts to remote mountains. Through these imaginative forms of concrete and steel, a classless, forward-looking socialist society, free of ethnic tensions, was envisaged. Instead of looking to the ideologically aligned Soviet Union for artistic inspiration, Tito turned to the West and works of abstract expressionism and minimalism. This allowed Yugoslavia to develop its own distinct identity through the monuments, turning them into political tools, articulating Tito's personal vision of a new tomorrow.
Today, following the breakup of the country and the subsequent Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, some have been destroyed or abandoned. Many have suffered the consequences of ethnic tensions: once viewed as symbols of hope, they are now the focus of resentment and anger.
This book brings together the largest collection of spomeniks published to date. Each has been extensively photographed and researched by the author, making this book the most comprehensive survey of this obscure and fascinating architectural phenomenon. The inside of the book's dust jacket opens out as a map, giving the exact geographic coordinates for each monument.
Featured image is reproduced from 'Spomenik Monument Database.'
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
AnOther Man
Milly Burroughs
A new publication that brings together more than 80 awe-inspiring Brutalist monuments, exploring each one’s historical value, design, construction and current status.
Metropolis
Niebyl is punctilious in laying out the particulars of the design and construction of these structures, whose uncanny forms create a kind of visual “vocabulary of the revolution.”
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It's hard to pin down just one thing that makes Spomenik Monument Database—FUEL Publishing's super-portable new guidebook to the wild world of communist memorial minimalism in Tito's Yugoslavia—so exciting. Is it the great design? The thorough research? The deluxe, double-printed French-folded cover that opens up to a graphic map featuring every monument listed inside? The strange archival photos, or the beautiful new ones? It's a fact that each turn of the page reveals a monument even more interesting than the one before. Featured here is Mitrovica in Kosovo by Bogdan Bogdanovic. Completed in 1973 and measuring more than 60 feet high, it is both a shrine to the Revolution and a monument to fallen miners. continue to blog
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FORMAT: Hbk, 6.5 x 8 in. / 208 pgs / 200 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $32.50 LIST PRICE: CANADA $42.5 ISBN: 9780995745537 PUBLISHER: FUEL Publishing AVAILABLE: 8/28/2018 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by FUEL Publishing. By Donald Niebyl. Edited by Damon Murray, Stephen Sorrell.
A guidebook to the wild world of communist minimalism in Tito's Yugoslavia
Spomenik—the Serbo-Croat/Slovenian word for monument—refers to the memorials built in Tito's Republic of Yugoslavia from the 1960s to the 1980s, marking the horror of the occupation and the defeat of Axis forces during World War II. Hundreds were built across the country, from coastal resorts to remote mountains. Through these imaginative forms of concrete and steel, a classless, forward-looking socialist society, free of ethnic tensions, was envisaged. Instead of looking to the ideologically aligned Soviet Union for artistic inspiration, Tito turned to the West and works of abstract expressionism and minimalism. This allowed Yugoslavia to develop its own distinct identity through the monuments, turning them into political tools, articulating Tito's personal vision of a new tomorrow.
Today, following the breakup of the country and the subsequent Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, some have been destroyed or abandoned. Many have suffered the consequences of ethnic tensions: once viewed as symbols of hope, they are now the focus of resentment and anger.
This book brings together the largest collection of spomeniks published to date. Each has been extensively photographed and researched by the author, making this book the most comprehensive survey of this obscure and fascinating architectural phenomenon. The inside of the book's dust jacket opens out as a map, giving the exact geographic coordinates for each monument.
