Belgrade - Kongres Magazine

ArenaBALKAN BEATClockwise fromabove: JovanJelovac, thefounder ofBelgrade DesignWeek, at thecity’s Museumof ContemporaryArt; Comunale,a loftlike Italianrestaurant in aconvertedwarehouse onthe Sava River;Moritz Eis, apopular artisanalice cream shop.On the VergeBelgrade’s AwakeningAfter years of struggle and strife, the citizens of Serbia’swar-torn capital are recasting their home intoa burgeoning hub for design, culture and creativity.BY VIIA BEAUMANIS PHOTOGRAPHS BY DANILO SCARPATIHIDDEN IN A SWATH OF DENSELY forested parklandwhere the Sava River meets the Danube, one of Europeísfirst national modern art museums sits in disrepair.The glass-roofed structure, built in 1965, once displayedworks by MirÛ, Ernst, Rauschenberg, Hockney andothers, but for the last six years it has been empty, as thegovernmentís financing to renovate the space has dried up.Today Jovan Jelovac, the impresario behindBelgradeís weeklong design summit, held each June,has commandeered the abandoned, multilevel spaceas the headquarters for his roster of presentations,exhibitions and parties. This summer afternoon,sauntering past an assembly of fashionable attendees,Jelovac rattles off a list of his ëëformative gods,íí citingeveryone from EugËne Ionesco to Federico Fellini,Buckminster Fuller to Joseph Beuys. But his real muse,110T: The New York Times Style Magazine

ArenaOn the Verge‘Living in a war zone gives you a niceappreciation for the ephemeralnature of things. People here live in themoment. They enjoy themselves.’it seems, is Belgrade itself.An indefatigable booster of his home city, Jelovac isequal parts global publicist, cultural advocate and triagenurse. Assisted by an all-female team he describesas ëësupermodels and capoeira fightersturned international design aficionados,ííhe travels the world hunting down peoplelike Ross Lovegrove, Simon de Pury,Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron andRem Koolhaas to speak at his annualsymposium. After Karim Rashid attendedin 2006, he designed a cafe, gave thecityís Mozzart Casino a psychedelic redo,opened a signature boutique and evenmarried a local woman.WHILE POST-COLLECTIVIST capitalsoften redefine themselves in a blast ofshowy glitz (see: í90s Moscow), herethe end of Socialism ó starting with thedeath of Tito in 1980, followed by thechaotic breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992and the ensuing Balkan conflicts, whichdisplaced hundreds of thousands ofpeople in the region ó brought cultureand design to a standstill.However, when residents finallybegan to recover from that grim nightmare around 2000,they found themselves smack in the middle of theInformation Age, where global ideas ó aesthetic andotherwise ó were accessible for anyone with an Internetconnection. In fact, reinvention is seen as a birthright inthis culture, which has seen so much struggle and strife.Today there is a palpable energy in the air asBelgraders go about purposefully transforming theirhome into a stylish and design-savvy city.In the last few years, outside investment has pouredin, which has led to an impressive array of internationalprojects that will soon recast the Belgrade skyline. Noone is more excited than Jelovac. ëëWeíre redefining forthe 21st century,íí he says, citing as evidence the new AdaBridge, a dazzling feat of architecture opened in 2012, aswell as the pending addition of Zaha Hadidís extravagantlywarped commercial-residential complex in the historicDorcol area, Sou Fujimotoís spiral building in Savamalaand Wolfgang Tschapellerís breathtaking science centerin New Belgrade.Meanwhile, the government of the United ArabEmirates, which has already agreed to invest hundredsof millions of dollars in agriculture and banks in theregion, is rumored to be ogling the ruined Ministry ofDefense as a potential hotel project.On the local level, there is the emerging BelgradeDesign District, an initiative of young designers who havereimagined an abandoned shopping mall as a platformfor hip local brands, and Boris Ivanovic, an entrepreneurturned-designenthusiast,who has funneled thefortune he has made inbroadband into his passionproject, the Art of Kinetik,a line of luxury speedboats.ëëThere is talent here,like everywhere else.Itís just roughed up andunderdeveloped,íí heexplains. ëëWeíre providingan environment to cultivateit into something polishedand sophisticated.ííThe cityís taste forelegance can certainly beCREATIVE CLASSClockwise fromtop left: Boris Ivanovic,whose speedboatsretail for up to $5million; Hotel Moskva,the city’s first grandhotel, built in 1906;Square Nine hotel,which opened in2011 and features animpressive collectionof midcenturymodern furniture;‘‘The Greek Monsters,’’an installationby the design groupBeetroot, duringBelgrade DesignWeek at the Museumof Contemporary Art.112T: The New York Times Style Magazine

ArenaOn the VergeIn a capital razed somany times over the years,design tends tolook forward, not back.Reinvention is seen asa birthright in this culture.GREEN ACRESRight: an OldTown parkoverlooking theneighborhoodof Savamala.seen in a slew of sleeknew boutique hotels thathave cropped up. Themost impressive additionis Square Nine, a $40million project opened in2011 by the brothers Nenadand Nebojsa Kostic anddesigned by the S„o Paulo-based architect IsayWeinfeld, who conceived a handsome modern facadeand decked out the interiors in rich Brazilian woods.The brothers filled the rooms with midcentury Danish,Scandinavian and American pieces and stocked thedining room with chefs and bartenders from five-starhotels like Claridgeís in London.In a capital razed so many times over the years,design tends to look forward, not back,which makes the refined vintage swaggerthe Kostics brought to the project all themore striking. ëëPeople here abolish history.They want the new,íí Nebojsa says.Which has led to the traditional familystylerestaurants giving way to trendierplaces serving more international fare.At Belgradeís most fashionable restaurant,Dijagonala 2.0, the chef, who recently dida stint at Rene Redzepiís acclaimedNoma in Copenhagen, serves up platesof smoked calfís heart carpaccio andprawn-and-lobster sausage. The rock starturned-designer-restaurateurAleksandarRodic has opened a pair of terrace-frontrestaurants inside the BetonHala, a vast riverside warehouse:Comunale, which serves upmodern Italian fare, and Iguana,a jazz bar and restaurant witha Thai-accented menu.After hours, the stylish set headto Savamala, the venerableneighborhood where a group ofBosnian Serbs initially plottedthe 1914 assassination of ArchdukeFranz Ferdinand, which has beenrefashioned as the cityís latestnight-life district. ëëWeíve beenthrough so much,íí Nenad Kosticsays. ëëLiving in a war zonegives you a nice appreciation forthe ephemeral nature of things.People here live in the moment.They enjoy themselves.ííBut theyíre also serious aboutturning Belgrade into a stylish,thriving city. ëëThis new generationis super-open-minded aboutinnovation and change,íí Jelovac evangelizes, sitting inthe garden at the Macura Museum, an austere blackcubelike building on the outskirts of town. The first artmuseum built in Serbia in decades, it houses one of theBalkansí largest private collections of Eastern Europeanavant-garde art .ëëWeíre experiencing a rush of design spirit, the talentreawakening from a long slumber.ííURBAN RENEWALClockwise from farleft: Supermarket,a former grocerystore that’s beentransformed into aconcept shop,featuring fashion,art, a spa and arestaurant; theAda Bridge, whichspans the SavaRiver and linksthe city with NewBelgrade; a chapellikeinstallationin the garden of theMacura Museum,the first newart museum builtin Serbia in years.114T: The New York Times Style Magazine