Имагинарни и реални живот једног простора: купола Музеја афричке уметности у Београду
Imaginary and real life of one space: the dome of the Museum of African Art in Belgrade

Summary/Abstract: This paper presents the dome of the Museum of African Art – the Veda and Dr. Zdravko Pečar Collection as a specific machine for remembering using drama with thesis concept. It analyzes how we remember this space within official, but also unofficial history, through the presentation of newspaper articles, photographic, media and documentary sources, and oral histories. This paper observes the Museum dome as a microimage within wider frame of cultural and political events from 1989, till today, paying attention to the historical context and the place of Yugoslavia. Understanding the construction of this space as a complex product of museum struggle and tough existence, as well as its relation to the organization of the Ninth Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (1989) in Belgrade, the paper makes an introduction into the origin of this space. Using a drama with thesis concept and the idea of the architecture as a machine for remembering, the paper presents 32 years-long history of this unfinished dome: the space crisis during the breakup of Yugoslavia, its survival period, educational and media usages, as well as the artistic interventions and interpretations of this unusual space. Following the history of the construction of the dome, and uncertain events during the first half of the twentieth century, and then its later usage and contemporary position, this paper opens questions about museums, museum buildings, and the methods of building a memory about them, as well as how museums trigger different cultures of remembrance in the society.

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