Designed in 1966 by Sasa Machtig, K67 kiosks were a central part of Yugoslavian daily life, serving as newspaper stands, coffee shops, flower shops, post offices, and more. Over the years, most of the mass-produced kiosks either vanished or became damaged during The Yugoslav Wars.  

Assistant Professor of Interior Architecture, Dijana Handanović, journeyed to find and restore some of these K67’s and brought one to the University of Houston to bring it back to its former glory and create an exhibit that would not only highlight its historical and cultural significance but also serve as a place of unity and community building. This endeavor was made possible in part by The Mitchell Center through an Innovation Grant. This grant prioritizes initiatives that emphasize partnerships, collaboration, and interdisciplinary activity or inquiry.

“My research has been largely focused on the brutalist architecture of former Yugoslavia and the political ideologies it represents. The K67 kiosk emerged at the same time, but it occupied the streets in a much more adaptable, transformable, and fun way. It was a place and moment in the urban landscape that allowed for stories to be exchanged and communities to be built.” 

Dijana Handanović

During the process of transforming the K67 kiosk, Handanović reached out to Moores School of Music Composition Professor, Rob Smith who brought on board students and alumni, to create an aural exhibit that showcases the K67’s vast uses. “I always envisioned the K67 kiosk acting as a stage for collaborations to take place.” says Dijana Handanović, “Rob and his students fully embraced this collaboration and in a very short time produced a musical interpretation for the K67.” 

Rob Smith knew when he was approached by Handanović to collaborate that whatever was composed had to be organic to the K67 unit. Smith and his students typically compose music for acoustic instruments, but when it came to this project, they entered the realm of electronic sound.

Smith started with a list of the K67’s various uses and then each of his students selected their favorites. From there, each student created a soundscape that reflected their chosen uses. At the end of the assignment, twenty-four segments of sound were created to transform the space. 

“Whether we’re composing music for acoustic instruments or creating soundscapes, we’re organizing sound, and, in that way, the practice is similar,” says Smith. 

Rob Smith

When you approach the modular structure, the soundscapes composed by Moores School of Music students Adam Harrington, Jaime Morales, Huy Nguyen, Eric Estrada Valdez, and alum A.G. Perez will transform the space into a café, coffee shop, convenience store, a border patrol station, just to name a few. Each segment of sound echoes what could have been its past use. “I’ve always been interested in the way music and other art forms inform one another and participating in this collaboration fulfilled that aspiration,” says A.G. Perez.