I think that, above all, we need to set higher goals first for ourselves and then for society. A group of individuals with high and commendable goals results in a society that is good, healthy and progressive

I n any country, people like Jelena Brajković should be held in high regard, they are the nation’s hope for the future. Jelena was a mathematical genius in the small town of Kraljevo, central Serbia, 180 km south of Belgrade, with a population of just under 60,000. She has won many awards in a country that used to be called Yugoslavia, and then Serbia and Montenegro. At 14, Jelena moved to Belgrade and lived in a dormitory whilst attending the Mathematical Gymnasium. From the first grade of elementary school until the end of her gymnasium education, she was an exceptional and talented pupil.
Thanks to her achievements and awards, Jelena received a scholarship from the Scholarship Foundation for the Scientific and Artistic Youth of Serbia while still in high school. It would have been a logical choice for her to attend the Faculty of Natural and Mathematical Science or the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, like most of her peers, but she chose architecture. Jelena graduated from the Faculty of Architecture with an average grade of slightly under 10 and continued further education.
Currently, she is in her third year of PhD studies at the Faculty with an average grade of 10. The cost for one year of PhD study at the Faculty of Architecture is 300,000 dinars.
Jelena’s  older  sister,  by  2  years,  Mirjana,  is  also a prize-winning mathematician and Jelena is very appreciative of the important role that her sister played in her life. Her parents – Zorica, who, until recently, worked
at a local court and is now retired, and Adam, a computer programmer in the state administration – have done everything  possible  for  their  two  daughters  to  choose  their  own paths in life. Whenever they have a bit of free time, they return to Kraljevo to visit their parents.

■ In Serbia, it is rather unusual for two daughters to leave their family home at the age of 14. Does that mean that your parents were mindful of both your interests?
- Our parents gave us a lot of love and that is the most important thing.  They  taught  us  to  aspire  to  be  caring,  understanding  and independent  i.e.  to  make  our  own  decisions  and  to  be  responsible. We had unlimited freedom, but also the precious comfort in knowing that they will always be there for us. They nurtured our research spirit, and taught us how to conquer our own freedom. Dad always told us to follow what we love and that only if we loved the job we did could we enjoy it and be successful. Life is too short to  waste  on  bad  moments  and  doing  things  that  we  don’t  enjoy
– that is, in a nutshell, his motto. Even today, I consider time the most valuable resource and I feel that I owe it to myself to spend my time in a good way.

 

■ You were only 15 years old when, on the 5th October 2000, the democratic opposition came to power in Serbia.  Prior  to that, did you have any knowledge of what had been happening in Serbia in the 1990s?
- At that time I was still a child and  protected  by  my  parents, I wasn’t aware of how bad the situation  in  the  country  was. Today,  I  do  understand  that I was lucky to have been just  a girl  during  that  time  and  had
no  knowledge  of  the  horrific events that took place. My parents did everything they could for the two of us to live as normal a life as possible and far from the problems associated with that period. Unfortunately, I remember the 1999 bombings all too well, my parents’ conversations and the electricity shortages that lasted up to 9 hours all petrified me. We sat in the dark, killing time and waiting for everything to pass by.  It was only later, when  I  watched  several  documentaries,  that  I  came  to  fully  understand how awful that time was. I am truly sorry for all the people who had to live through it and of the humiliation in the 1990s. I can only
image the horror that came with deteriorating relations in the region that suddenly changed everybody’s lives, disrupted a healthy line of thought, made people live anything but their usual life, not have normal understanding of things or values, as well as living lives filled with devastation and humiliation.

■ Ten years later, what do you think of the expectations that we had back then?

-  I  cannot  give  you  a  precise  definition  of  the  expectations.  I  was just a child. Today, I am much more realistic, although, I fear that in the not too distant future, my present expectations might seem unrealistic. In the meantime, I only have the biggest expectations for myself. Above all, we need to set high goals first for ourselves and then for society. A group of individuals with high and commendable goals results in a society that is good, healthy and progressive. There will be no problems in the relations between society and the individual,  especially  if  that individual  always  strives to  do  their  best  and  later expects  society  to  follow suit.  Of  course,  a  person needs  to  harmonize  their interests  with  that  of  society’s and must feel com-pelled  to  improve  society as  much  as  they  want  to improve themselves.

■ What are you particularly interested in about architecture?
-  Today,  I  am  intrigued by   the   questions:   What makes the true modernity of  the  moment  in  which architecture  is  currently  in?  Does  the  biggest  problem  with  contemporary  times  lie  in  the  growing  dependency  of  architectural concepts  on  technological  concepts?  More  than  ever,  technology in architecture dictates and constantly changes the approach and possibilities of creation in form and function, as well as aesthetic impressions in architecture. I am interested in many diff erent aspects of this issue – philosophical, historical, artistic, sociological....
I am especially intrigued by certain novelties that digital technology has brought to the human understanding of architectural space. How  to  think  creatively  in  contemporary  architecture  is  another question that I am interested in and which I hope to find an answer to in one of the segments of my PhD thesis.

■  Where  is  Serbia’s  place  in  the  technological  race  and  moment that you’ve mentioned?
- Unfortunately, we are significantly lagging behind. Althought, in terms  of  ideas,  young  people  in  Serbia  are  not  lagging  at  all  despite having a difficult time in trying to keep up with their foreign counterparts.  Technology  equals  money,  and  there  isn’t  much  of
it in Serbia. Thank God that an idea is an individual treasure that any  person  can  have,  regardless  of  their location.  Unfortunately,  since  developing ideas  and  technology  are  co-dependent, it  is  quite  possible  that  a  long  period  of technological backwardness also reduces the  idea  pool. I believe in the potential that young people in Serbia have and I do hope that we, as a society, are going to support, develop and use this potential to the fullest.

■  Which  architectural  structures  are you especially fond of?
-  First  and  foremost,  I  like  to  talk  about structures  that  I  had  the  chance  to  see and experience. I would like to single out the architecture of Antoni Gaudi as leaving  the  strongest  impression  on  me and in  being  the  perfect  match  to  my  sensibility. He is an architect that managed to elevate    design  to  a  whole  new  level  by creating timeless and unique pieces that add  a  new  layer  to  reality  which  appear to  be  almost  surreal.  His  expression  is very strong and the scenes that he creates are mystical and very suggestive. Gaudi’s dedication  to  detail  is  moving.  I  also  remember  the  feeling  of space  that  I  had  when  I  walked down  the  ramps  inside  the  reconstructed  dome  of  the  German  Parliament  in  Berlin,  done by  architect  Norman  Foster.  That  space,  unlike  Gaudi’s  timeless
architecture, belongs to a contemporary moment and, for me, it is an expression of technologized poetry.

■ What do you like in Serbia? Who do you value the most and why?
- Talking about architecture in Serbia, we should start with the topic and problem of anonymity in our architecture. Back in the 1970s, Mihajlo Mitrović talked about this problem saying that buildings in Serbia were often mentioned, but their authors were not. Nothing much has changed since the 1970s. In developed countries, such treatment of architectural authors is inconceivable.I would like to single out the architect Ivan Antić, who is one of the greatest Serbian architects from the second half of the 20th century. I would especially like to mention two of his buildings – the Museum of Modern Art in Ušće and the Memorial Museum in Kragujevac, which was erected in remembrance of WWII victims. Several years after it was built (in the 1960s), an architectural critic from The Washington Post called the Museum of Modern Art in Ušće “The most beautiful building in the entire Communist world,” while the Memorial Museum in Kragujevac was branded as “A suggestive  structure  of  sympathy  with  the  war  victims.”  With  those buildings Antić had done what Daniel Libeskind did, many years later, in a part of the building that houses the Holocaust Museum in Berlin.

■  When  somebody  i.e.  you,  completes master   studies   in   architecture   with an average grade of 9.94 and doctoral studies  with  an  average  grade  of  10, what is behind it?
- Primarily the love for what I do, but also a  great  energy  and  persistence  in  studying. I believe that it is terribly hard to do what you don’t like. For me, what I do is a challenge and pleasure all in one. In my case, the key to success was regularly attending classes while paying full attention both in lectures and practice. I took notes during classes and went for consultations until certain areas became perfectly clear. If  you  work  regularly,  you  actually use a lot less time, but achieve greater success and obtain permanent knowledge. On top
of that, it is very important to have teamwork  in  architecture and I have always tried to find my place within any  team I am  involved with. Good communication skills and developed social skills are of the utmost importance in any profession.

■  Are  you  going  to  do  something   else,   besides   doctoral studies?
-  I  like  being  engaged  in  various  aspects  of  architecture,  so  I  do various things and try to keep busy with diverse activities. I am a demonstrator of the subject called Digital Animation at the Faculty  of  Architecture,  with Professor Nataša Teofilović, who is a very  talented  and  inspirational  educator.  I  have  also  been  given a  scholarship  from  the  Ministry  of  Science  and  Education  and I was hired as a PhD candidate and as a researcher on a research project implemented by the Institute of Architecture and Urban & Spatial Planning of Serbia. I do occasional work for the Belgrade City Museum, where I design exhibits, and, together with my colleague  Divna  Vojinović,  work  on  creating  visual  formats  of  the Museum’s print editions. This year, I spent my practice at the University of Belgrade’s Rectorate, Department for International and Inter-University  Cooperation,  this  experience  was  very  valuable to  me.  Cooperating  with  foreign  scientific  and  academic  institutions is the key thing in the development of science in Serbia and the country’s positioning in the latest scientific trends. Speaking about the potential that young people in Serbia have, I would like to mention my colleagues from the Rectorate, Pavle Ivetić and Miloš Spasić, from the Museum of Archeologists, as especially inspirational  co-workers.  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  have  them  as my superiors. I am also a member of various teams that participate in architectural competitions. I have already staged several of my own exhibitions and I am currently preparing several papers to be released.

■ How does the state treat the most talented and upstanding young people?
- Ever since I was in a high school, I have had a scholarship from the  Scholarship  Foundation  for  Scientific  and  Artistic  Youth  of Serbia, and now I also have one from the Ministry of Science and Technological  Development.  The  state  does  recognize  talent,  i.e. it acknowledges it through financial assistance given to the most successful individuals. It also recognizes the importance and potential of young scientists and, in principle, agrees that they are needed. Still, it is not determined and defined enough in implementing its strategy for young people and stopping the “brain drain”. I don’t see a clear strategy for young people and I  think  the  support  given  to  youth  who are focused on knowledge and progress should  be  stronger.  The  state  needs  to stimulate  young  people  to  get  involved in  science  by  securing  high  quality  scientific and research programmes and, of course, decent salaries for scientists.

 

■ What are your future plans?
-  In  the  following  few  years,  I  am  going to  work  on  my  doctoral  dissertation.  In accordance  with  that  dissertation,  I  am also going to write scientific papers and try  to  figure  out  how  to  cooperate  with globally  relevant  academic  and  scientific  institutions.  I  want  to  become  an internationally recognized scientist, and I am well aware that it won’t be easy at all, especially not with the starting position that I have in Serbia. Also, and this is something that has nothing to do with academia, I am going to try to build my own brand together with my colleagues and, of course, enjoy my free time.

 

■ Are you thinking of leaving the country in the not too distant future?
- When I think of leaving Belgrade, the main reason would be the fact that the city  doesn’t  function  properly  in  various  aspects.  As  an  architect,  I  have  to mention  inadequate  infrastructure  and technological  underdevelopment.  The  attitude  that  people  in Belgrade  have  towards  high  quality  structures  and  in  performing  high  quality  work  is  really  upsetting.  Often  good  ideas  are ruined by bad execution. If you look at the buildings and public spaces of the city in detail, you will see just how far are they from being perfectly built and the quality of these buildings, in certain cases, is intolerable. It seems to me that architecture in Serbia is born and dies at the same time, with low quality materials often to blame. I am also sad to see how our people treat their living spaces, which certainly does not reflect joie de vivre. I came back from The Netherlands recently where people have a fascinating attitude  toward  space,  their  buildings  are  perfectly  maintained with many creative details, which present a rather endearing approach to space. Nevertheless, I am still confident that quality can and must surface in any environment, including ours. We just need patience.

 

■ What is your political orientation? Are you even interested in politics at all?
-  My  interest  in  politics  to  extends  to how much it determines my life. I want, and  try  to  always  be  politically  aware and  well  informed  of  what  is  happen-ing in the country and further afield so I can react properly if needed. I am not interested  in  getting  deeply   involved  in politics. I agree with the  writer Dušan Kovačević who said that people with excess emotions should not go into politics. I  think  that  being  a  politician  is  a  very stressful, responsible and hard job. In architecture,  it  is  very  difficult  to  execute an idea, so I can imagine just how difficult  is  to  realize  political  ideas  that  are supposed to represent the interests of a whole nation.

■ What does Kraljevo look like today?
-  Unfortunately,  I  share  the  opinion  of many who often say that Serbia, south of Belgrade, looks very sad, and that it seems Serbia is drawing its last breath. Well,  I  don’t  know  whether  I  agree with  the  latter  statement,  but  when  I walk  down  the  streets  I  see  that  life,
compared to that in Belgrade, is much more austere. And I don’t even want to go into what the culture is like. You feel the shortage of money everywhere you go.  When  I  see  the  areas  I  grew  up  in and how they are becoming more stark, I  think  about  their  past  and  future.  I would  like  to  see  Serbia’s  revival  and for the places that I loved when I was a child to flourish. ■