MORE MODERN THAN CONTEMPORARY
Belgrade Design Week 2008
authors: Olivera Batajić and Ivana Radenković
June 2008

translated into English: Danijela Tomazović
November 2009

This year's conference of the, third in a row, Belgrade Design Week was named Modern² . It was held during past week in the premises of the former Yugoslavia hotel, the icon of our modernistic architecture.

Since we live in the time of hyper-modernism, one has to find the ways to transfer the original Modernism onto contemporary society. The question whether the old rules still apply was answered by many world-renowned artists in the field of design and architecture, for whom the “contemporary” is the synonym for everyday, and the question “what is actually modern” is the key question.

It seems that the most of the attention this year got the authors who started their careers without previous formal education. This is how we were surprised by the French Erwan Bouroullec, who in the beginning shyly, and later on in a very funny way, “defended” himself with a number of fantastic “installations” of industrial design, equally functional and artistic. Together with his brother Ronan, Erwan experiments at the level of sound and lights, creating transparent, simple and in all situations and spaces applicable objects. The works by these two brothers find their place equally in museums and in stores.

“Boomastic” lecture was delivered by Brigit Lohmann, the chief editor of designboom.com website which made a true revolution in the field of professional communication between the clients and designers. The website is at the same time the gallery of international character, in which the creative people of different age and professions can present their work.

Konstantin Grčić is the guest-host at this event and it is almost impossible to imagine a conference without his lectures. How many years of life can be devoted to one chair was something we heard about this year, by going through the whole work process, from the initial research phase all the way to the finished product. Grčić is this year's winner of the “BDW – Design award Banka Intesa master card” award. And rightfully so.

One of the possibly most useful lectures applicable instantly in the practice here was the lecture delivered by Michel de Boer, the principal of Dumbar studio from Holland , famous for creation of the visual identity of the cities and even of the whole state Holland. Based on a number of examples, we could see the approach to the question and the ways of coming to the solution, starting from choosing and adjusting typographic letter all the way to interior designs.

The projects that were not carried out were also presented. Some of them are the ideas for the new Dutch Euro coins in the shape of different smilies, as well as the light animated architectonic installations at different locations in the world.

One of the unannounced and thus the lectures that came as a surprise was the one delivered by Mirko Ilić. Through a quick slides overview, he introduced to us his collector affinities towards legs details on movie posters and on certain books covers.

The fact that design is a communicational discipline has been known to us since long time ago. But that the architecture can be such as well is something we were told by Daniel Libeskind, certainly one of the greatest names of contemporary architecture.

Although architecture became his primary profession quite late, today we know him as someone whose career has a global impact. Through presenting his projects: the Jewish Museum in Berlin, Imperial War Museum in Manchester, the master project World Trade Center – Ground Zero in Manhattan and other, he got all the attention with his imaginative and creative designs, good technical implementation but also with his obvious optimism and enthusiasm. When summarized, it is clear – his architecture is such as well. This is the architecture of a dialog, the architecture that communicates to us, makes us feel and hear the silence.

The Jewish Museum in Berlin is the author's attempt to present a complex historical issue to the visitors in an understandable way. The history for him is not in the past, but is a part of the present and a part of the future. Since he himself comes from a family that survived Holocaust, he has been very well informed about the Jewish history, which resulted in the object causing a strong emotion felt through the proportion, space, echo and light.

At the moment while he was finishing the work on this museum, on September 11th 2001, on the opposite side of the world, a new moment in history was being written down. And again the world will be shuddered with the way and the number of civilians suffering. Libeskind later got an opportunity to create a memorial in this place as well.

It was a good moment to make a parallel with the project starting in Belgrade these days, the project that the participants of this year's design week discussed as well. This regards the plan to build the Memorial center Staro Sajmište . This is the place where 45 000 people, mostly Jews, Roma and Serbs, were murdered during the Second World War. Although the number is impressive, there are few of those aware of this fact. The great responsibility and the need to do everything required are on the city's government in order for the history to remain unforgotten.

The proof that the architecture is a profession with a lot of optimism is Zona Tortona. The guests from Italy , Maurizio Ribotti and Luca Foa, made the image of this place more familiar. This is an incredible place hosting thousands of exhibitors, architects, designers and students each year, on international level, on incredible 28000 square meters. How great interest in this space is, speaks the number of 80 000 visitors yearly.

In the same city, Milan, a joint project of the two great names, that we had a chance to see and to hear within individual presentations, was started. Those are Arne Quinze and Patrizia Moroso (also called “the modern furniture design queen”). Her work is distinguished by the perfect line, proportion with the right amount of contrast and an incredible ability to make all of this accord in one place.

Six days, many locations, many designers, indefinite number of the solutions making the life prettier, more functional and more modern. After all of this, it seems that there are no longer any individual and narrowed down professions, but that everything is “total design” and that the world revolves around branding. This is how specific professionals are a part of one large system, they accomplish or not within.

One thing is clear: whether you are in the field of design, architecture or music, you need to follow the positive direction of the movement. In the end, the purpose of the works by these authors itself is to make the world a better place to live in. The truth is that the world without them would not stop to exist, but for sure would be monotonous!