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Kalliopi Dimou, Sorin Istudor,
Alina Şerban

SALT Beyoğlu, Walk-in Cinema

Architecture as a Frame of Negotiation

The large body of promotional films of the 60s and 70s commissioned by the Romanian State to advertise the newly built modernist resorts on the Black Sea shores projects, in the seductive settings of architecture, a tourist paradise open equally for local and foreign visitors. The sunny beaches, the modern balneal facilities and the exciting entertainment attractions become in the epoch the eponym for freedom, for an alternative experience of the socialist reality.

The adoption of modernist principles and technologies in architecture, as well as of mass tourism practices on Romanian seaside coast can be viewed both as an expression of the post-war urbanization and industrialization processes and as a frame of negotiation of geopolitical factors, domestic economy and political interests.

Suggesting that leisure architecture belongs to a whole publicity apparatus of representation of the socialist state, the lecture outlines the function of architecture as frame of enclosure and display of practices (either architectural, social and political).

The talk will be held in English.


Kalliopi Dimou is an architect. Her researches are in the fields of architecture and culture of the modern Balkan Peninsula.

Sorin Istudor is an architect. He established together with Kalliopi Dimou skaarchitects, an architectural laboratory that conducts projects and public interventions that concentrate on the exploration of various types of spatial identities.

Alina Șerban is an art historian. She is involved in research and editorial projects, and lectures at various international conferences. She curated the Romanian Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009 and at The Renaissance Society in Chicago in 2010.