Short description of the work

The anthropological standpoint that sees the particular reading of the ‘modern’ embedded in its key conceptual resource, the idea of the dynamic ‘cognitive map’, is crucial for understanding of the processes that influence the paradigm shift from the traditional to the modern reading of the city and by which the particular phases of the modern discourse can be identified. In the theory of perception the ‘movement’ defined by the Athens chapter as a synonym of the ‘functional city’ gains the role of a visual instrument, by which it is possible to create legible visual matrixes and then transmit them into a complex mental picture of the surrounding. The particular cinematic sequences of that picture generated by the transportation systems, create visual narratives whose strength lies in the permanent production of new interpretations of meanings. Two iconic buildings in Skopje from different generations of the Modern are benchmarking the local discourse paradigm shifts from ‘early modern’ through ‘doctrinaire modern’ to ‘late modern’: The Skopje Railway Station (Velimir Gavrilović, 1937) and the Transportation Centre (Kenzo Tange, 1980). Hereby, we present them as narrative tributes to the image of modern Skopje.