Architecture in the Period of Transition: Through the Work of MBMHP+
KATALOGOS – Fragments of Transitions / MBMHP+. An exhibition at Gallery MC, New York, exploring the relationship between architecture and social transformation from the 1990s to the present.
About the project
Architecture in the Period of Transition: Through the Work of MBMHP+ explores the relationship between architecture and social transformation from the 1990s to the present through the work and legacy of Prof. Dr. Minas Bakalchev and Prof. Dr. Mitko Hadži-Pulja, together with generations of architects, students and collaborators who have contributed to and extended this architectural dialogue.
Rather than treating architecture simply as a physical product, the project approaches it as a cultural, intellectual and interdisciplinary practice: a way of reading society, questioning the present and imagining possible futures.
The “+” in MBMHP+ represents collaboration, the transmission of knowledge and the continuation of architectural thought across generations. It points to architecture not as an isolated authorship, but as a collective and evolving process.
The project traces a series of significant works, exhibitions and pedagogical experiments that marked this trajectory:
- Metamorphoses – 2004
- City of Possible Worlds – 2006
- METAMAK CUT-OUT – 2008
- Learning Architecture – 2010
- Architecture in the Mirror – 2012
- Looking into the Mirror – 2013
Together, these works provide a lens through which to examine how architecture responds to a period defined by social transformation, uncertainty, fragmentation and changing cultural conditions.
The exhibition
The exhibition presents architecture as a testimony to a period of profound social, cultural and economic transition.
Through selected projects, drawings, documents, photographs and archival material, it brings together different moments of architectural production and thought, revealing both continuities and transformations within contemporary Macedonian architecture.
At its core, the exhibition asks:
How does architecture respond to a changing society?
What remains when the context changes?
How is architectural knowledge transmitted, transformed and continued?
The exhibition is dedicated to the architectural work and legacy of Prof. Dr. Minas Bakalchev and Prof. Dr. Mitko Hadži-Pulja, while also acknowledging the wider network of architects and collaborators through which this body of work has evolved.
Architecture as a collective process
The project understands architectural history not only through completed buildings, but through ideas, conversations, teaching, exhibitions, collaborations and shared intellectual practices.
In this sense, MBMHP+ is less a fixed authorship than a constellation: a continuously expanding field of people, projects and ideas.
The exhibition therefore creates a space for looking back, but also for asking what these experiences can tell us about the architecture of the present and the futures of the city.
Public programme and outputs
Exhibition
A curated presentation of selected architectural works, drawings, documents and archival material.
Archive
A contribution to the documentation and preservation of recent architectural history in North Macedonia.
Public programme
A platform for discussion and exchange between architects, researchers, students and the wider public.
International presentation
An opportunity to introduce a particular trajectory of contemporary Macedonian architectural thought to an international audience in New York.
Project team
Project lead
Iva Petrunova | ГРАДОТ УБАВ – Association for Urban Research, Skopje
Project authors and curators
Minas Bakalchev, Mitko Hadži-Pulja
Collaborators
Saša Tasić, Violeta Bakalchev, Marija Petrova, Aleksandar Petanovski, Gordan Petanov, Darko Draganovski, Dimitar Papasterevski, Iva Božinovska, Andon Stojkov, Emilia Stojanoska, David Mitrevski, Kiril Nikolov, Antoniela Nikolov, Bojan Trajkovski, Kostantin Trpenoski, Teodora Ilievska, Marija Karapancheva, Biljana Dukovska, Antonio Simeonovski, Amir Ahmeti, Andrej M. Petrovski
Support
Supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of North Macedonia. Selected through the Annual Programme for the Financing of Projects of National Interest in Culture for 2026, in the field of international activities.
A project by Iva Petrunova | ГРАДОТ УБАВ – Association for Urban Research, Skopje.