Secondary Architecture is a project of artist Branislav Nikolić produced in the framework of Urban Incubator - a large scale art/architectural event of Goethe Institute that took place from March till November 2013 in Belgrade.Instead of making a sculpture of secondary raw material in the shape of a house, Nikolić joined forces with self-taught Gipsy ‘architect’ Boban Mladenović in order to build an ordinary slam house and place it at the gallery Magacin in Belgrade. A real slam house dislocated from its natural environment and placed in the gallery invited gallery visitors to think not only about the work of art, but about the social context as well.
Boban is living, with his family, in one such house in one of the many non-hygienic, slam settlements on the outskirts of Belgrade. He is well known in his community as the best builder, building houses and shacks for all his relatives and neighbors with secondary raw materials which he collects on the streets.
Two videos made by Nebojša Vasić and Vesna Grba were part of the work exhibited at the gallery from 16 November until 4 December. Time-lapse movie about the process of building a house was played to the audience inside the newly-built house, on an old (second-hand) TV. The other, short documentary video was played outside the house, explaining the context of the project. At the moment, a long documentary movie about the ‘secondary architecture’ (architecture from found/used materials) is in postproduction.
During the exhibition at the gallery Magacin, a panel discussion about slam architecture was organized. The panelists included the most important Serbian architects, urbanists and artists dealing with the subject, as well as members of gipsy community in Belgrade.
