
Allure and exploitation in post-Soviet ruin photography - sr_banksy
http://calvertjournal.com/features/show/2950/russian-ruins-photography
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codeshaman
Interesting that this trend is present in the works of many artists from the
post communist block , not just photographers. You will notice this trend in
music, film, literature, painting, even comedy.

The depiction of decay, of ruin, of wet cold abandon (ex:
[http://micleusanu.blogspot.com/](http://micleusanu.blogspot.com/)).

Foreigners might find these trends in arts a bit strange and dark, but for us
it is the way life has been and probably will be.

This is also felt in the mentality of people - the future is uncertain and all
our efforts to build a better society (life for ourselves) in the future may
end up the same as before - decay and abandon.

Looking at all the new incredible buildings recently built in places like
Dubai, Emirates, China and so on, I can't help but remember these ruins of the
once mighty empire of the people for the people, wondering - how will they
look 100 years from now ?

~~~
galfarragem
What I really like, and possible the West, is that in the East we can see
ruins of a world where 'poetry' and utopy had a possibility of exist outside
books. In the western/democratic world everything must be economically
rational (give profit) to exist.

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adaml_623
Ha ha ha talk about trying too hard for a story.

I love the beauty in the ruins in Detroit and the USSR and the Urban
Exploration photos from all over.

Russia or rather the USSR made lots of fantastic BIG buildings and because
they were part of the planned economy they weren't actually required. So you
have big buildings turning into ruins like nowhere else on earth. You might as
well talk about the exploitation of pictures of penguins. They are unique and
fantastic (the Soviet buildints not the penguins) and so worthy of photography
.

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acqq
Note that one of the photos presented is from _West_ Berlin, Germany, and of
the former NSA Echelon listening station:

"Teufelsberg Spy Station, Germany. ... in Soviet Ghosts" ?!

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teufelsberg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teufelsberg)

"The US National Security Agency (NSA) built one of its largest listening
stations atop the hill, rumored to be part of the global ECHELON intelligence
gathering network. "The Hill", as it was known colloquially by the many
American soldiers who worked there around the clock and who commuted there
from their quarters in the American Sector, was located in the British Sector.
In July 1961, Mobile Allied listening units began operations on
Teufelsberg,[4][7] having surveyed various other locales throughout West
Berlin in a search for the best vantage point for listening to Soviet, East
German, and other Warsaw Pact nations military traffic."

"In the 1990s, as Berlin experienced an economic boom after German
reunification, a group of investors bought the former listening station area
from the City of Berlin with the intention to build hotels and apartments."
(for less than 3 million USD(!) - Ed.) "There was talk of preserving the
listening station as a spy museum. Berlin's building boom produced a glut of
buildings, however, and the Teufelsberg project became unprofitable. As of the
early 2000s, there has been talk of the city buying back the hill. However,
this is unlikely, as the area is encumbered with a mortgage of nearly 50
million dollars."

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galfarragem
"Once again, therefore, Russia and eastern Europe serves as an imaginary space
in which western nations can play out their own crises of identity, without
having to confront them directly."

Great quote. After having lived in East Europe for some years this completely
matches my experience.

~~~
Shivetya
How much of this is driven by the the stories of dystopian futures mostly
coming out of the West during the Cold War? The Soviet architecture for the
most part had been portrayed as brutal and without feeling, similar to the
huge Nazi works of WW2. Yet there is a lot of beautiful construction in these
areas, we just couldn't relate to the lifestyles portrayed of those who lived
there.

