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Sep 26, 2011

Life and Death of Buildings | Jeta dhe Vdekja e Ndertesave

The Life and Death of Buildings, an exhibition at Princeton University Art Museum, explores the intersection of architecture and photography and time, by shedding light on architectural construction, transformation and afterlife, since the invention of photography in 1839. To highlight photography's unique historical voice, the exhibition also includes major works in other media. It will be on view until November 6, 2011.
A building concentrates history in one spot; a photograph carries history around the world. When these two forms of knowledge intersect, our historical imagination is ignited." says Joel Smith, curator of photography at the Princeton University Art Museum.
The exhibition considers two types of artifacts, the building and the photograph, and the distinct ways in which they embody time and perpetuate memory.

A building, as it ages, becomes a public emblem of its own past. In the arc of its evolution from the newest thing in town to an ancient relic, a structure comes to represent not only the labor of those who built it but also the seasons and centuries that have revised it. History becomes the building’s coauthor.

The photograph is an image carved out of space and time; it is the fingerprint of one location at a unique moment in history. The camera translates fleeting circumstances into a persistent form. The photograph is as multiple and itinerant as the building is singular and fixed.
The Life of Buildings
A building attracts the attention of photographers at the start of its life, and again at the end, if it ends dramatically. Only rarely do the days in between leave a visual record. When it surrenders to mold or becomes rubble, a building seems to leave culture behind and join the realm of natural history.
The Death of Buildings
Photographs speak exclusively in the past tense. They color a building’s story with clarity and finality. With the increase of digital media we need to revisit and revalue the language of the photograph as a source of historic truth. What is its role today?
What Does History Look Like?
How can human societies reckon their place in history? Where can we look to orient ourselves in time? Geological and cosmic time are too vast, and the seasonal cycles of nature too short, to lend sense to the lessons of a lifetime or to the culture of an era. Works of craft such as buildings, and photographs—measure time on a scale more closely related to our own, and yet still distinct.
Photographs link the deep past to the present by way of moments of vision, imparting a human texture to time. Is it a form of factual nostalgia? Is nostalgia another form of utopia?

The Life and Death of Buildings exhibition and the above summary, along with the tenth year anniversary of 9/11 and Albania’s 100 years Independence, tell us should slow down decisions taken regarding monuments. We should look deeper into our history and reevaluate our present. What are we celebrating from the past century? What is worth celebrating? What is the beginning of the next century going to look like?

In case of Tirana’s Pyramid; What is the message sent by tearing down a monument in the eve of our 100 year independence? So we will need to celebrate it through the photographs of all that have existed. In order to see (not only tell) our history, what do we have that is real and still standing? Our history happens only on paper, stories or photographs. The erasure of the Pyramid will be a step closer to prove the historical amnesia that takes us further apart from the past. How does this affect us? What are the consequences that life or death of monuments leaves in the daily life?
Two questions that we need to unpack are:

What is the architecture of consequence in Albania?
What is the architecture of social investment?

via Princeton University Art Museum
Jeta dhe Vdekja e Ndertesave, nje ekspozite e hapur ne Princeton University Art Museum, eksploron lidhjen e arkitektures, fotografise dhe kohes, duke hedhur drite mbi ngritjen, transformimin dhe braktisjen apo shkaterrimin e ndertesave qe nga shpikja e fotografise ne 1839 deri me sot. Per te nxjerre ne pah zerin e vecante historik te fotografise, ekspozita permban edhe vepra te medha ne media te tjera. Ajo qendron hapur deri ne 6 Nentor, 2011.
Nje ndertese e perqendron historine ne nje vend; nje fotografi e mbart historine ne te gjithe boten. Kur keto dy forma njohurish bashkohen, ndezin imagjinaten tone historike.” thote Joel Smith, kuratori i fotografise ne kete muzeum. 
Ekspozita konsideron dy lloje artifakti, ndertesen dhe fotografine, si dhe menyrat e vecanta ne te cilat ato materializojne kohen dhe perjetesojne kujtesen.

Me kalimin e viteve, ndertesa behet nje simbol publik i te kaluares se vet. Gjate harkut te evolucionit te saj nga objekti me i ri ne qytet tek nje relike e lashte, ajo perfaqeson jo vetem punen e atyre qe e kane ndertuar, por stinet dhe shekujt qe e kane transformuar. Historia behet bashkautore e saj.
Fotografia eshte nje imazh i gdhendur jashte hapesires dhe kohes; eshte gjurma e nje vendi ne nje moment te caktuar ne histori. Aparati fotografik perkthen rrethanat kalimtare ne forma te qendrueshme. Aq sa ndertesa eshte nje dhe fikse, fotografia mund te shumefishohet dhe qarkulloje.

Jeta e Ndertesave
Ndertesa terheq vemendjen e fotografeve ne fillim te jetes dhe perseri ne fund nqs ajo perfundon ne menyre dramatike. Vetem rralle lene ditet ne mes nje rekord viziv. Kur i dorezohet mykut ose kthehet ne rrenoje, ajo duket sikur le prapa kulturen dhe behet pjese e historise natyrore.
Vdekja e Ndertesave
Fotografite flasin vetem ne kohen e shkuar, duke e treguar historine e nje objekti me qartesi dhe finalitet. Por, me rritjen e mediave dixhitale duhet te rishikojme dhe rivleresojme gjuhen e fotografise si nje burim i te vertetes historike. Cili eshte roli i saj sot?
Si duket historia sot?
Si mund ta gjejne shoqerite njerezore vendin e tyre ne history? Ku mund te shohim per te orientuar veten ne kohe? Koha gjeologjike dhe ajo kozmike jane shume te gjera, si dhe ciklet sezonale te natyres shume te shkurter per ti dhene kuptim mesimeve te jetes apo kultures se nje epoke. Vepra te tilla si ndertesat dhe fotografite e masin kohen ne nje shkalle me te ngjashme me tonen, por prape te dallueshme. 
Fotografite lidhin te kaluaren me te sotshmen ne ane te nje momenti viziv, duke i dhene kohes nje cilesi njerezore. Eshte kjo nje form nostalgjie faktike? Eshte nostagjia nje forme tjeter utopie?


Ekspozita Jeta dhe Vdekja e Ndertesave dhe permbledhja e mesiperme, bashke me dhjete vjetorin e 9/11 dhe 100 vjetorin e Pavaresise se Shqiperise na tregon te ngadalesojme marrjen e vendimeve ne lidhje me monumentet. Duhet te shohim me ne thellesi historine tone dhe te rivleresojme te tashmen. Cfare duhet te festojme nga ky shekull? Cfare ia vlen te festohet? Si do te duket fillimi i shekullit te ardhshem?

Per sa i perket Piramides ne Tirane: Cili eshte mesazhi qe dergojme duke shkaterruar nje monument ne prag te 100 vjetorit te Pavaresise? Pra, ne duhet ta festojme ate nepermjet fotografive te cdo objekti qe ka ekzistuar. Per te pare (jo vetem treguar) historine tone, cfare kemi qe eshte konkrete dhe qendron akoma? Historia jone ndodhe vetem ne leter, ne tregime apo fotografi. Shkaterrimi i Piramides do te jete nje hap me afer per te vertetuar amnezine historike qe po na largon me shume nga e kaluara. Cfare ndikimi ka kjo tek ne? Cilat jane pasojat e jetes dhe vdekjes se monumenteve ne jeten e perditshme?

Dy pyetjet qe duhet te zberthejme jane:

Cila eshte arkitektura e pasojave ne Shqiperi? 
Cila eshte arkitektura e investimit social?

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