The volume is an extension of the main research themes explored by the exhibition Enchanting Views. Romanian Black Sea Tourism Planning and Architecture of the 1960s and 70s, held in the Sala Dalles of the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest between 10 October and 23 November 2014.
Inviting recognized authors from the fields of history and theory of architecture, art history, film and anthropology, the volume re-examines the experience of post-war modernity on the Romanian coast in a more nuanced way, pointing: the sensitive conjunctions between the “social engagement” of the extensive development project on the Romanian seaside and the policies of (re)presenting local tourism; between the exceptional status this architectural laboratory acquired at the time and the architects’ complex motivations for taking part in the debates of post-war architectural culture.
The authors’ interventions argue for a rewriting of the meanings contained by the complex terrain of the seaside project during socialism and for mobilizing new theoretical and cultural references, renegotiating the multiple dimensions of leisure architecture. The publication provides a comparative reading of the Romanian seaside, including a series of three texts dedicated to the Bulgarian, Turkish and Russian Black Sea coasts.
This publication is available at ERSTE Foundation Library.
