Motel Trogir is a fine example of the Yugoslav mid-20th century architectural modernism. Built in 1965 on the eastern Adriatic coast by a renowned architect Ivan Vitić, the building is a surviving artefact of theplanning culture with a social ideal as its generative core.

Today in a derelict state due to unresolved property issues, as a result of the non-transparent privatization of what once was societal ownership, the motel stands as a reminder of the former political economy with its different foundations and aspirations. Conceived during a period of markedly increased transit tourism in the small Dalmatian town of Trogir, the construction of the Motel had been planned in parallel with that of the Adriatic Highway. It was envisaged as one of the performative elements which would fit within the utopian vision of the Highway imagined as a feature film unfolding on the travelers’ windscreens. Although visionary, the building and the belonging “emptiness” around it, seem like an abnormal error in the urban imagination of present-day administrators, real estate developers and entrepreneurs.

This book tells the story of the 1960s in the Socialist Yugoslavia, the country in between the East and the West, between the socialist agenda and the market economy. Focusing on tourist architecture and planning, it pursues the turbulent decades that followed, reflected in Ivan Vitić’s Adriatic motels.

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Editors: Nataša Bodrožić & Saša Šimpraga
Motel Trogir team: Nataša Bodrožić, Lidija Butković Mićin, Diana Magdić and Saša Šimpraga

Contributors: Tvrtko Jakovina, Dafne Berc (Afne Dy ), Melita Cavlovic, Lidija Butković Mićin, Tamara Bjazic Klarin, Sandra Uskokovic, Zrinka Paladino, Saša Šimpraga, Nataša Bodrožić, Maroje Mrduljaš, Ruben Arevshatyan, Levan Asabashvili, Silva Kalcic, Idis Turato, Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermair

Graphic design: Rafaela Drazic

Photo contributions: Duška Boban, Bojan Mrđenović, Andrea Palašti (Mor Dezir ), Marko Salapura, Ludwig Kittinger, Marina Slunjski, Lidija Butković Mićin, Iris Meder, Igor Duda, Petra Vidovic, Goran Kerić, Lovro Krnić, archive photos
Cover photo: Duška Boban Rafaela Drazic
Languages: Croatian & English
Translation: Ena Prokić
Proofreading: Lidija Butković Mićin, Sarah Thomas

Published by Slobodne veze/ Loose Associations, Zagreb & Onomatopee, Eindhoven

The project is funded by the European Union through the Eastern Partnership Culture Programme, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, the Kultura Nova Foundation, City of Zagreb- City Office for Culture, Education and Sport.