On Wednesday 1 April, the Croatian architect, critic, and curator Maroje Mrduljaš gave a videoconference entitled "Unfinished Modernisations: Skopje and Split 3”, as part of the Foros lecture series organised by UIC Barcelona School of Architecture. 

Maroje drew on two research projects, the exhibition “Toward a Concrete Utopia” (MoMA, New York, 2018) and the documentary film series Slumbers of Concrete, to discuss two vast urban transformations that took place during the modernisation of socialist Yugoslavia in the 1960s and 70s: the reconstruction of Skopje city centre and the large-scale development of homes, Split 3. “In Skopje, Kenzo Tange and Split 3, Braco Mušić and his team of Yugoslavian architects set a benchmark for urban innovation and demonstrated their belief in urban development as a mechanism for social well-being. But both projects were left incomplete,” explained the architect who, in his lecture, described the original ideas and the shape of the two projects today. 

Maroje Mrduljaš has written and edited books on architecture and design. Since 2017, he has also been editor-in-chief of the magazine Oris. Maroje acts as an independent expert for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award and is a member of the Expert Committee for the European Prize for Urban Public Space. He is also a lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Zagreb.

This year, Foros, an annual series of lectures about architecture, revolves around the title “Co-benefits.” Foros 2020 seeks to reflect on the links and the cultural interaction between contemporary architecture and other art forms such as dance, sculpture, film, and comics.