piclet.org

Project Description

The photography series, produced in Minsk 2007, shows architecture and park landscapes by night. One particularity of Minsk is the spotlighting of almost every building and green space in the city. “Why is everything illuminated? Why would one of the poorest countries in Europe spend so much energy to brighten their capital?” I would ask myself. The last authoritarian regime in Europe, isolated and referencing the soviet tradition of self-celebration, offers its citizen the impression to have the most beautiful capital of the world. The pathos in the representation of the city through the lighting of its buildings was especially attractive to me. The frontier to kitsch and artificiality was very close: the lighting effects enhances the architecture and brings out the natural elements of the city as almost fake. The city seems to become a stage setting. Through an exaggerating photographic concept, I let the buildings irradiate into the sky. The trees show a more peaceful side of the city, but also become strangely unnatural in the reflection of the city lights. SCHATTENREPUBLIK is the depiction of a state of mind and the portrait of a city standing in the shadow of Europe, waiting to be seen.