Curating a “Concretopia” Skopje – by Brian Wong Siew Horng

Introduction
“What if Alexander was my uncle? What if he was my cousin?” Former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski’s love
affair with statues began with Alexander the Great and stoked the public imagination to dream by installing
the world’s largest sculpture of the warrior king in Skopje’s central square.
The Guardian, November 2014

what is that you want to address through your project and how
Identity crisis happens when a country suffers from conflicts, wars, and political especially during the territory
of former Yugoslavia ended. The naming dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia has roots that go back to antiquity. The problem is that the boundaries of the region known as
Macedonia have changed greatly over time.

Edward Relph points out the importance of what he calls “points of departure” from which people can orient
themselves toward the world they live in, and without which they “are lost and without identity” (Relph,
1976).

Skopje 2014 is an urban megaprojects as a tool for identity building where dozens of false facades were added
to Communist-era buildings. 1 Foreign visitors used to come to Skopje primarily to wander around the
beautiful Old Bazaar district, with its alleys, mosques and old hilltop fort. But now they can go in less than five
minutes from drinking a Turkish coffee among people and architecture that wouldn’t be out of place in a
traditional city of the Middle East, to being surrounded by faux-classical European architecture and imagery.

Why is your proposal relevant for Skopje and for your particular site?
In order to achieve this goal, the proposal chooses to focus on a concept “concretopia” by John Grindrod 2 to
bring back identity of Skopje.

What does it achieve and how?

It was able to preserve and examine a more democratic and creates a more creative sustainable future from
the identity given by Architect Kenzo Tange to Skopje.

Who is it for?
The proposal is for local North Macedonians.
Who is it going to fund it?
Government of North Macedonia should fund it after careful architectural research done.
Is your project relevant in a much wider context - can it be implemented elsewhere?
Former Yugoslovia capital city like Serbia also suffer identity crisis like Skopje. A similar tactic conceptual can
be used to bring back the identity of a city.

1
Skopje 2014 (Macedonian: Скопје 2014) was a project financed by the then-Macedonian government, with
the main ideology being based on that of the then-ruling party VMRO-DPMNE,[1] with the purpose of giving
the capital Skopje a more classical appeal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skopje_2014
2
“Concretopia” is defined by John Grindrod who he do justice to the people who changed the British
landscape so radically after 1945.