Maja Vidaković Lalić facts for kids

Maja Vidaković Lalić (Serbian Cyrillic: Маја Bидaкoвић Лалић; born April 30, 1972) is a Serbian architect and the founder and creative director of Belgrade's Mikser Festival, which was launched in 2006. She has been described by The New York Times as Belgrade's "...most cutting-edge homegrown architect".

Background

Born Maja Vidaković in Smederevo, Lalić studied architecture at the University of Belgrade. She obtained her master's degree in architecture and urban design from Columbia University.

She is married to playwright Ivan Lalić and they have two children together, a daughter and a son. Lalić's mother is from Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Career

From 1999 to 2002, Lalić lived and worked in New York City. She was employed by the Kramer Design Group, where she managed clients such as Donna Karan, Escada, and Earl Jeans. Through Columbia University, she also contributed to revitalizing urban neighborhoods in New York City, Brussels, and Prague.

Upon her return to Serbia in 2002, she co-founded the Mikser network, which later evolved into an umbrella organization through which she launched many projects. Her first major initiative involved a 2003 conference in Belgrade with Rem Koolhaas as the keynote speaker. During her time in New York City, Lalić had met the Dutch architect at an event promoting the Prada flagship store, which he had designed.

In 2006, Lalić founded the Mikser Festival, an annual exhibition that promotes design, architecture, urban planning, new technologies, art, music, and communications in Serbia. The festival invites international and local experts from various fields within the creative industries. Alongside lectures, competitions, and workshops, there are exhibits, concerts, films, and theater plays. In 2017, the event attracted 75,000 visitors.

The Mikser Festival is part of the Mikser umbrella organization, which includes the Mikser House, a gallery, and cultural space located in the Savamala neighborhood. The umbrella group also comprises the reMiks Studio, Mikser TV, the Mikser Organization, the Miksalište Refugee Center, the Mikser Café, and the Balkan Design store. In 2008, through reMiks Studio, Lalić coordinated Karim Rashid's visit to Belgrade, where he designed the Majik Café for Serbian entrepreneur Veselin Jevrosimovic. Again through reMiks Studio, Lalić headed the renovations behind the Telekom and Telenor flagship stores in Serbia, as well as the Beolab Laboratory. She also undertook the design of Belgrade’s first concept store called Supermarket, where clothes, books, and graphic prints are sold all under the same roof. Inspired by Brutalist architecture, the store was opened in 2009 and also boasts a spa, restaurant, and hair salon.

In August 2015, she helped found the Miksalište Refugee Center, which addresses the European migrant crisis. The center has assisted over one hundred thousand people passing through Serbia to reach Western Europe. Since 2015, Lalić has individually promoted several young Serbian designers at the Milan Furniture Fair, garnering them coverage in Italian and international media. In 2017, she co-founded a branch of the Mikser House in Sarajevo with her Serbian husband, Ivan Lalic, who had previously lived in the city. Lalić is signatory of the Declaration on the Common Language of the Croats, Serbs, Bosniaks and Montenegrins.

In 2019, Lalić was named a "Big SEE Visionary" by the Big SEE organization for her work with the Mikser platform and festival. She is currently working on organizing another Mikser festival focused on sustainability, as well as developing an experimental-educational program on the circular economy for schools in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme.

Awards and Distinctions

Lalić was the recipient of the European Citizenship Award in 2016 and has also been honored with several prizes from Belgrade's Architectural Salon. Furthermore, she received the Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial Prize and the Kinne Fellows Memorial Prize, both from Columbia University. In addition, she has been recognized with a European Movement Award in Serbia, and she was awarded the Fulbright Prize for her work with refugees at the Miksalište center, which she founded in 2015.