On first view, these forms appear alien — built only decades earlier—
monuments imagined by artists and designers. As unifying symbols of the
Yugoslav nation-building project, they commemorate both the defeat of and
losses to fascism. Since their creation, these monuments have withstood the
breakup of their commissioning country and ensuing wars. Many have been
de-badged — stripped of their commemorative meaning through removal
of identifying elements. Layer by layer these monuments are re-inscribed
with contemporary meaning as graffiti, attempts at removal, and wartime
scars shape new narratives. Transformed through time and circumstance,
they wield more power in their ruined state. As they continue to change
in their post-socialist context these sites accumulate new meaning —
their transformation into multivalent signifiers of memory accommodates
open dialogue around the past. What follows is an excerpt from 2016
and 2017 fieldwork performed across the former Yugoslav republics and a
contextualization of th
