I fell upon this extremely interesting article some months ago and made a little side note that I wanted to explore it further. Since then, I've moved countries, changed jobs, and had a ligament reconstruction, busy activities that can sometimes get in the way of blogging. So as I'm slightly couch-ridden and recovering with an ice-pack on my knee (that would be the ligament scenario), I've revived some dormant blog side-notes, one of them being this bitter-sweet article on the 60's & 70's architecture in
Skopje,
Macedonia.
The original article that I came across is called "Communist Architecture of Skopje, Macedonia – A Brutal, Modern, Cosmic, Era", and is written and photographed by world-travelling photographer and blogger Nate Robert. It's a very interesting article, and certainly worth a read. It talks about the architectural style that defined Skopje
following the tragedy of the 1963 earthquake, an event which saw the city in total ruin, which saw thousands lose their lives, and many more thousands pull together to save their neighbours. It was an event that literally stopped time for that generation. People who lived through the earthquake speak of life 'before the earthquake' and 'after the earthquake'. I know this because I was born in Skopje and have heard many a story from parents and relatives alike.
In my first paragraph above I refer to Robert's article as bitter-sweet because I tend to share Robert's point of view with regard to the sad fact that the architecture that defined Skopje in the 60's and 70's is left to fall to ruins, all while the city is being renewed left, right and centre with a style of architecture which is in desperate search of defining a country which has for years struggled with both its name and, hence, identity.
But I'm not here to delve into what is happening in Skopje now, nor bore myself with the depth of the political mayhem that surrounds the city today. What I want to shamelessly do, through Robert's article and photography, is enjoy the crazy and beautiful architecture that defined this hidden little gem of a city during the years following 1963, and actually, still continues to define the city today.
Born in Skopje, I lived there until I was eight years old, after which I moved to the sun-kissed shores of Sydney, Australia. Contrast, much?... My family and I had left, what was then Yugoslavia, before any unrest came to wake, so I fluttered off to my new home country with nothing but warm fuzzy thoughts about the wonderful city I had just left.
In later years, now well and truly a Sydney-sider, I studied interior architecture at UNSW where I came across Kenzo Tange's work, and immediately knew that his was the distinct signature behind the architecture that adorned the Skopje that I knew. Through my studies I quickly learned that I was quite a fan of minimalist, true function, and so can easily turn to despise useless decoration on architecture that serves no function and often comes across as cheap and kitsch. So as I return to Skopje to visit family and friends year upon year, the architecture that speaks to me, that brings my emotions to life, and that defines the city for me on a personal level, is that which is left from the Tange years.
Thus, I look at the photos in Robert's article and I'm truly taken aback to another era, one that is very familiar to me, and one that I'm deeply and emotionally connected to... or in Robert's words, "A Brutal, Modern, Cosmic, Era". What a great name for an article!! Buildings that floated around me every day during my childhood years now feel as though they're out of a world likened to that of The Clockwork Orange, or better yet, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. But just very simply, how refreshing to read an article on Skopje that looks at the city as a platform for art form rather than a stage for tense, political turmoil.
I can certainly appreciate how the architecture in these photos can appear to some as cold, imposing, and maybe even ugly. What I see and love, though, is the shameless play on heavy shapes, the absolute devotion to geometry and straight lines, a sense of rhythmic repetition that sees identical windows follow each other up to nose-bleeding heights... or better still, vast facades that are purely concrete adorned with no window in sight!!! So simple...
Maybe it's the wonderful, faded, slightly 70's and hipster-y type photography style of the eye behind the camera of these photos that gets a reaction out of me, or the fact that I know the outside of these buildings, and the inside of some, like the back of my hand. But whatever it is, I'm taken aback to a remarkable city where the buildings that seem quite static in these photos, are alive with the buzz of people studying, working and living in their walls. To set the mood further, I remember that in the 80's everyone wore flares, and thick moustaches were top of list in the fashion stakes...
