Zwijanie przestrzeni – rzecz o krajobrazach pustki
Folding space – an introduction to landscapes of emptiness

Summary/Abstract: Landscapes of emptiness are not just empty representations in which there is nothing but they are rather a representation suggesting the earlier presence that contain material traces of human existence. Abandoned places with equal force have been disturbing and fascinating but the reasons and causes of their ravages are often different. Can be found here Chernobyl Zone, the American ghost towns, Polish cities deserted by the Soviet army after the change of the political system, a small town with complicated history like Miedzianka, or uninhabited cities like Ordos. Photographs of the landscapes of emptiness come back and haunt us. Their meaning is not always clear, often disappear for seemingly quiet, full of silence picture. Such photographs could be considered as a translation of the experience of space, made according to the rules appropriate for the cultural representation: creating photographic images of abandoned places always starts process of symbolization. We could say that the photographs of emptiness are palimpsest’s sum of past meanings, elements of deep layers of culture and individual experience.

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