Photo File: Spomeniks of the Former Yugoslavia

Although these monuments are full of symbolism that no longer applies, their beauty remains nonetheless.

Spomenik is the Slovenian and Serbo-Croatian word for monument. In the 1960s and 70s, the former Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito commissioned these structures to commemorate sites where WWII battles took place (like Tjentište, Kozara and Kadinjača), or where concentration camps stood (like Jasenovac and Niš). Designed by different sculptors (Dušan Džamonja, Vojin Bakić, Miodrag Živković, Jordan and Iskra Grabul, to name a few) and architects (Bogdan Bogdanović, Gradimir Medaković…), the strong and powerful blending of art and architecture come together in these monuments to convey the sense of confidence and strength of the Socialist Republic. However, after the Republic gradually died down in 1992, they lost their sense of wonder and no longer attracted the millions of visitors a year.  From 2006 to 2009, Jan Kempenaers toured around the ex-Yugoslavia region to photograph these amazing structures.

source: Crack Two

See more images here

Watch: China’s Ghost Cities

According to SBS Dateline (Australian TV):

Vast new cities of apartments and shops are being built across China at a rate of ten a year, but they remain almost completely uninhabited ghost towns.

 It’s all part of the government’s efforts to keep the economy booming, and there are many people who would love to move in, but it’s simply too expensive for most.

Video journalist Adrian Brown wanders through malls of vacant shops, and roads lined with empty apartment buildings… 64 million apartments are said to be empty across the country and one of the few shop owners says he once didn’t sell anything for four or five days.

 So are the efforts to boost the economy going to end up having the opposite effect and creating a financial crisis for China?

Photo File: “The Ruins of Detroit” by Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre

Michigan Central Station

Statement:

At the beginning of the 20th Century, the city of Detroit developed rapidly thanks to the automobile industry. Until the 50′s, its population rose to almost 2 million people. Detroit was the fourth most important city in the United States. It was the dazzling symbol of the American Dream City with its monumental skyscrapers and fancy neighborhoods. Increasing segregation and de-industrialization caused violent riots in 1967. The white middle-class exodus from the city accelerated and the suburbs grew. Firms and factories began to close or move to lower-wage states. Slowly, but inexorably downtown high-rise buildings emptied.

Since the 50′s, “Motor City” lost more than half of its population.

Untied Artists Theater

William Livingstone House

Fisher Body 21 Plant

See more photos from this project here

Look for The Ruins of Detroit book out sometime this August via Steidl

posted by: Harold Johns III

Photo Flash: Ferris Wheel, Chicago, 1893

World’s Columbian Exposition: Ferris Wheel, Chicago, United States, 1893. (View through support wires from one gondola to the opposite gondola) Starks W. Lewis, Amateur, Brooklyn, N.Y. Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection

William Henry Goodyear (1846–1923), who put together the World’s Columbian Exposition photo archive, was the Brooklyn Museum’s first curator of fine arts (1899–1923) and a renowned art and architectural historian. In addition to being a vital force in the early years of the Museum’s fine arts department, Goodyear did extensive research in art history and architectural theory.

The entire Goodyear Archival Collection can also be found on the Brooklyn Museum Web site and on the Museum’s flickr.

posted by: Harold Johns III

Photo Flash: The Real Life Simpsons House

Built in 1997 and located in Henderson, Nevada, this $126,000 replica of the Simpsons’ house was built for a contest held by Fox, Pepsi and the homebuilder to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the subversive cartoon.

Which as you might have guessed was no easy task given the challenges the architects faced in bringing an animated house to reality. Turns out the cartoon house didn’t have a single load bearing wall, while the dimensions of the garage could not fit a real car. On top of that, the land appropriated by Fox for the construction could only accommodate a 40 foot wide house – the TV version was estimated to be the equivalent of 50 feet. And there was also the issue of how to reconcile the many changes the Simpson house went through over the years.

In the end, the architects estimated they were able to incorporate 90% of the animated house into the real-life version, going so far as to include Bart’s treehouse, a swing set and Homer’s back yard barbecue.

Sadly, the winner of the contest chose the cash prize instead of the house. The people who eventually did move in painted the exterior a less cartoony color. Rumor has it a Bart Simpson drawing by the show’s creator Matt Groening can still be found on the sidewalk in front of the house.

source: Design Fetish
posted by: Brent Carter