Images of the wooden houses, farms, chapels, mosques and monastic buildings that dotted the pre-war landscape of the former Yugoslavia will be on view Sept. 30-Oct. 11 in the front gallery of the Art & Architecture Building
Titled "Traditional Architecture of the South Slavs: Wooden Buildings of the Former Yugoslavia," the exhibit features photographs and drawings by a pair of Philadelphia-based scholars: Judith Bing, a 1973 graduate of the Yale School of Architecture who is now associate professor in the department of architecture at Drexel University, and J. Brooke Harrington, associate professor in the architecture program at Temple University.
Professors Bing and Harrington have been studying the traditional architecture of the former Yugoslavia since 1987 and have created an extensive archive documenting wooden buildings from rural and urban sites in every region. The exhibit includes a selection of images from this archive, along with descriptive text.
Their research, say the scholars, shows a diverse architectural culture of wood construction influenced by the combined ingredients of local tradition, geographic variation and the cultures of the Hapsburg and Ottoman empires which for centuries controlled the Balkan Peninsula. When the scholars first began their work, the ethnic conflicts of recent years had not yet erupted. Now, say the professors, the exhibit contributes to making public the record of the little-known, collective cultural heritage of the new countries of former Yugoslavia.
Professors Bing and Harrington will present a public lecture about their exhibit at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 1, in Hastings Hall of the A&A Building. An opening reception will follow. The public is invited to attend.
Also currently on display at the A&A Building is an exhibit titled "Photographs: Head, Foetus, Corpus" by Diana Michener. The show will continue through Oct. 12.
Located on the second floor of the A&A Building, 180 York St., the A&A Gallery is open to the public free of charge 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday.