Bureau Savamala Belgrade

21
Introduction to Savamala
Philipp Klaus’ text, “The Role of Art and Culture in Gentrification and Upgrade of
the Savamala Neighborhood” conveys the main outcomes of Bureau Savamala’s explorations.
The many interview series and appeal profiles, as well as data on real estate
purchase prices and rental prices, form a detailed picture of the transformation that
has taken place. These analyses are supplemented by two maps that illustrate changes
in businesses, bars, restaurants, and workshops since fall 2012.
Urban Incubator Projects
The book’s third chapter depicts five selected Urban Incubator projects that are representative
of many Savamala activities from 2013. They approach a shared goal with
heterogeneous methods.
Belgrade architect, Ivan Kucina, introduces his project, C5. With students of Belgrade’s
architectural school, he began a participatory project with the goal of collaborating
with the inhabitants of No. 5 Crnogorska to repurpose the rental property’s inner
courtyard and transform it into a communal space. Kucina describes the project
span, including the inhabitants’ resistance and the project’s ultimate failure, and he
lists possible reasons for this failure.
Selman Trtovac, a co-founder of Belgrade artist group Treći Beograd/Third Belgrade,
details the project We Also Love the Art of Others and its background. According to his
concept of a micro-utopia, Savamala was declared a utopian space; through exhibitions,
workshops, talks, and other events, this action aimed to change its residents’
consciousness and enable them to take their fate into their own hands. In particular,
one of these exhibition projects, Old Kafanas in Savamala, is described in detail at the
conclusion of this chapter.
Old Kafanas in Savamala is a project by Belgrade artists, Nina Todorović and Predrag
Terzić. It is a research and exhibition project on the kafana, a typical Belgrade phenomenon.
The two artists identified these traditional coffeehouses in over 90 locations
in Savamala and documented them using dated photos. They juxtaposed this
image of old Belgrade, which could be easily romanticized, with today’s reality. Their
contribution portrays selected kafanas then and now.
Architects, Maja Popović and Boba Stanić, present their project Model for Savamala.
With careful and painstaking attention to detail, they gathered a large quantity
of data, assisted by students and other helpers, and generated a 3D model that
portrays the historical, sociological, economic, and political reality of Savamala. In
subsequent workshops, different groups—from residents to business owners—were
introduced to the model and became familiar with it so that they could use it for
various tasks and projects; it aims to be a 3D model for Savamala, not just of it.