VERTICAL LIFE, exibition by Maja Marković and Lidija Butković Mićin
VERTICAL LIFE
Maja Marković and Lidija Butković Mićin
November 20 – December 13, 2025
NOVA BAZA, Nova cesta 66
Opening: Thursday, November 20, at 7 p.m.
Opening hours: Tuesday-Friday: 4 p.m. – 8 p.m.; Saturday: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Free entrance!
Trešnjevka’s residential area Srednjaci, and in particular the three towers in the Domany Brothers’ Street, designed by Stanka Kovačić in der Muehlen, were the subject of research carried out by visual artist Maje Marković and art historian Lidija Butković Mićin. Together and separately, each using her own tools, with interest in both archival material and lived experience, the authors articulated their vision of ‘vertical life’. While the archival contextualization of Lidia Butković Mićin revolves around building of Srednjaci after the Great Flood of Zagreb and various aspects of the construction of the towers, Maja Marković treats them in the gallery space as emblematic forms, which are given their volume, time, and sound.
Excerpt from the text by Lidija Butković Mićin:
“In the second half of the twentieth century, Zagreb went through a period of intense modernization, where housing construction became one of the key means of shaping the city’s new urban identity. The planned neighborhoods, characterized by plantations of skyscrapers (Tomislav Odak), did not represent just a functional response to demographic and economic challenges, but also a concrete expression of the idea of a modern way of life. The housing architecture, supported by modern construction technology and oriented towards rational, planned forms, reflected ambitions of the society, which was looking for a confirmation of its own progress in the surrounding space.
The towers in Srednjaci were created in this climate of social optimism in the post-war period. As spatial landmarks and an architectural experiment, they testify to the moment when verticality became a synonym for urban life, when it appeared that a better life could be designed – in floor plans, facades, and collective spaces of residential buildings and neighborhoods. They reflect the encounter of two urban worlds – the traditional Trešnjevka and the modernist vision of the city of the future. This exhibition goes back to these towers to look at their multi-layered history, as architectural, social, and cultural documents of their time, but also to establish a dialogue between archival research and the daily life of hundreds of people still living there today, adapting modernist heritage spaces to their habits and expectations. (...)
The 21st century housing crisis prompted the rediscovery of European (and Yugoslav) social housing, viewed through the lens of public policies, spatial design and a real-life experience of tenants. Looking into the social history of high-rise neighborhoods could feed into discussions on future national housing programs. Drawing on past experiences in designing, constructing, managing and maintaining high-rise housing complexes, we can learn lessons that remain relevant for both present and future forms of high-rise construction, allowing existing myths and preconceived ideas of living in high-rise buildings to be confirmed or questioned, as well as a deeper understanding of circumstances in which this form of housing worked successfully or was challenging. Discovering the towers in Srednjaci is, therefore, not just a return to an episode of modernist architecture, but an opportunity to rethink, through their material and symbolic presence, what the idea of shared housing and urban progress means for contemporary Zagreb.”
Authors: Maja Marković and Lidija Butković Mićin
Curated and produced by: Ana Kutleša and Maja Blažević
Aerial photography and model construction: Tomislav Paviša
Sound by: Mihael Giba
Technical realization: Ivan Kuharić, Miodrag Gladović, and Ivan Jakić
Layout design by: Ema Vuković
Visual design by: Nikola Križanac
Lighting by: Luka Matić
Support in research and realization of the archive segment: Ana Dana Beroš, Nada Beroš, Ivica Kiš, Tamara Bjažić Klarin, Croatian Architects’ Association (UHA), Zagreb City Libraries (KGZ), Zagreb City Archives, Zagreb City Museum, National and University Library (NSK).
Thank you to: The residents of the Srednjaci towers
The exhibition is part of the Trešnjevka Neighborhood Museum Living Heritage program, and is co-financed by the City of Zagreb and the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia. BLOK’ annual program for 2025 is supported by the Kultura Nova Foundation.
