Yugoslav pavilion at Expo 58, Brussels

The Yugoslav pavilion at Expo 58 was designed by Croatian architect Vjenceslav Richter (1917–2002). He was a founding member of EXAT 51 (from ‘eksperimentalni atelier’ ,or ‘experimental studio’), a group of artists and architects active between 1951 and 1956 that introduced radical changes in Yugoslavian art as it advocated for abstraction and a synthesis of all artistic disciplines. The group’s output marked a break with the practice of socialist realism as well as traditional understandings of fine art. In the same vein, the pavilion’s elegant design presented an image of Yugoslavia as a young and ambitious nation engaged in a socialist modernization process that was separate from the Soviet bloc.

Richter’s original proposal showed the entire building being suspended from a huge mast, but this proved to be technically challenging. The ultimately realized pavilion was simple and modernist, with two cantilevered interlocking volumes supported by fifteen cross-shaped steel columns. The interior was characterized by openness and dynamism, while the almost completely glazed façades imparted transparency and lightness. The building’s floating volumes and the delicacy of its details, as well as the innovative approach to its design and the exhibitions inside — a true modernist ‘Gesamtkunstwerk ‘ — were in line with the country’s ideological search for its own version of socialism and ‘socialist self-management’. The pavilion was awarded a gold medal and praised by the Western press as a great success.