Cultural Development Consulting

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The Sublime and the Belgian  ~

Day three of Kaunas Photo Festival brought the portfolio reviews. Here are examples from two interesting bodies of work presented at today’s session.

Esteban Pastorino Diaz, has explored the architectural legacy of Francisco Salamone who designed public buildings in Argentina during the so-called ‘Infamous Decade’ that followed the military coup of 1930.

Be they municipal headquarters, slaughter houses and cemeteries, Salamone approached each with equal flair and grandeur. While many of the buildings are now derelict, Diaz has shot them at night, isolating them from their surroundings to once more command attention. He has then enlarged them as gum prints, a process contemporary with the building designs, which smooths the flaking surfaces and lends a sombre luminescence. The result is a seductive but eerie tribute that underscores the authoritarian sensibilities of such architecture.

You can see more of Esteban Pastorino Diaz’s work here.

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Meanwhile, Herman van den Boom documents the houses of rural Belgium. It is a place, he notes, defined by tolerance. No more so in their attitude to building control. If you buy a semi-detached property in Belgium and demolish the building, you then seem to be able to erect any style of house that suits your taste. The only rule is it must be attached to your neighbor.

While this may be a traditional town planner’s nightmare scenario, the quirky results certainly raise a smile. And that cannot be a bad thing. We should all be more tolerant…

You can see more of Herman van den Boom’s work here.

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Images:

1. © Esteban Pastorino Diaz “Municipality of Carhue”
2. © Esteban Pastorino Diaz “Slaughterhouse, Carhue”
3. © Herman van den Boom from “Neighbours”
4. © Herman van den Boom from “Neighbours”

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