Architectural representation of the socialist consumerist society: "Department Store Belgrade" in the self-governing socialism

• Autor(a) principal: Pesic, Mladen
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Outros Autores: Markovic, Iva
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10437/6515
• topic: ARQUITETURA; SOCIALISMO; ESTABELECIMENTOS COMERCIAIS; CENTROS COMERCIAIS; CONSUMISMO; JUGOSLÁVIA; HISTÓRIA DA ARQUITETURA; ARCHITECTURE; SOCIALISM; COMMERCIAL ESTABLISHMENTS; SHOPPING CENTRES; CONSUMERISM; YUGOSLAVIA; HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

The research is based on an examination of the emergence and development of the socialist consumerism in Yugoslavia which coincided with the political - economic strategy of the state by opening to the cultural codes of the West. Historic milestone in socialist Yugoslavia, in the process of shaping mass consumption in socialist society, coincided with the introduction of self-management in the 1950s. Idea was to use the mechanisms of the capitalism, within the socialist political system in order to create a modern consumer who enjoys shopping. Yugoslav modernist ("alternative") architecture super markets and shopping departments, during the late fifties and sixties, is conceived as a place of ambient visual experience. As a consequence, came a necessity for Yugoslavian trade companies to treat their sales areas (places) always updated with the contemporary tendencies in accordance with the latest architectural trends. One of the main goals of the research is to examine the role that architecture of department stores had after the economic reforms 1965th, and how it represented the market and social spending in socialist Yugoslavia. At the same time, paper would review the concept of organization and functioning of department stores, and to research whether the area of trade development within self-managed socialism, operated under a system agreed economy or market economy. The phenomenon of socialist department stores during sixties and seventies of the twentieth century, will be explained and explored using the example of enterprise ‘’Robna kuca Beograd’’(Department Store of Belgrade). The idea of their existence was focused on the Yugoslav socialist consumerism, because under socialism there was an awareness that the market system should be introduced, but that does not grow in the consumer capitalist ideology. The task of this research is to demonstrate how the architecture of department stores contributed to the formation of consciousness consumer society in socialist Yugoslavia and how this architectural symbol of trade promoted socialism as established social - political order.