Rethinking Structure—New Forms: Movement Spaces at the Workers and People’s University Moša Pijade in Zagreb

• In Event: Rethinking Yugoslav Art III: Charting Emancipatory Spaces: Insights on Art from Yugoslav Socialism and Post-Socialism II

Abstract

This paper explores spaces at the former Workers and People's University Moša Pijade in Zagreb that served as dance studios or movement sites during the building's socialist and post-socialist periods. Tracing the institution's ideals, frameworks, and progressive structures alongside its modernist architectural ethos, the paper argues that there is a continuum of Yugoslav concepts in the discursive and experimental contributions of contemporary dance artists who precariously occupied some of its spaces in the early 2000s. Drawing on Derrida's notion of buildings as fluid conduits rather than static structures, the argument emphasizes the multiplicity of narratives in architectural layers, inviting dynamic engagement with space. Mobilizing the building's spatial, historical, and political sequence, the paper brings forward the possibilities of Yugoslav spatial and architectural politics, the educational horizons of the Workers and People's University, and its movement-concept and space-concept interventions as powerful tools for the emancipation of art, practice, process, and space.

Author

• Marjana Krajač, Ohio State U