A bridge in Belgrade
On the outskirts of Belgrade, in a neighbourhood called Palilula, there is a bridge that crosses the Danube river, it is one of the main arteries leading in/out of the city northwards into the flatlands of Vojvodina. The bridge was originally built by Germans in 1933 as part of war reparations paid to Yugoslavia after WW1 and named after the Yugoslav King Peter 11 (Most Kralja Petra 11.) It was bombed to slow the Soviet advance to Belgrade in 1945 and rebuilt again with the help of Soviet engineers. Since the 1960’s an informal settlement of cafes, shops, bars and workshops gradually built up under the bridge on the Belgrade side, which is mostly an industrial zone. It is a place of little or no regulation and it’s outward appearance can feel foreboding, guard dogs growl from under heavy metal gates, abandoned cars and makeshift housing and little public lighting at night create the effect of a kind of wasteland. There is even an abandoned train carriage that acts as a temporary accommodation for wanderers or homelsss folk.
Upon deeper inspection however, it’s not hard to see that the place functions as an organic, if anarchic whole. Patrons of the small bars and Kafanas may stare for a little when a stranger walks in but that is mainly ordinary curiosity and upon some kind of introduction the patrons are quick to welcome.
The local word is that the bridge has been slated for large scale repairs and this would entail the removal of the entire settlement. Some of the shops have already shut down and the businesses moved out in anticipation of eviction, however at least 5 years have passed and no notice has been issued. The people and places remain in a kind of limbo, under the bridge.
I spent a few weeks in January trying to get to understand and document the place with my camera a bit more than I usually would have time for.
Most of the surviving shops sell fishing tackle to local fishermen, but there is also a ‘Rostijl’ serving grilled meats and beer, a ‘Pekara’ selling baked goods and pastries by day and also a traditional ‘Kafana’ called Cafe Dens. In the evening some bars open and until very recently an Anarchist social centre and music venue called “Okretnitsa’ beside a bar run by an off duty Police officer. There is also a karaoke bar with no name that serves drinks to locals well into the night.
I photographed the closing night at the Okretnitsa as an American punk band “Nature boys’ played the last ever gig. The organisers are still on the lookout for another venue to base themselves but the death of squatting in the city and rapidly rising rents makes it nearly impossible.
This project was made possible by a very welcome “Culture Moves’ grant awarded to me by the Goethe Institute.
