Panelák
Panelák is a term used in Czech and Slovak for housing panel buildings, that constructed during the communist era, in the former Czechoslovakia.
The buildings scale can be enormous, due to the shortage of housing postwar, and the attempts to volumetrically display power, some of these buildings are more than 100 meters long and 20 stories high. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, to make these buildings look less brutalist and more distinct, many have been renovated and painted with colorful paint.
Despite these attempts, walking around such large scale blocks can be a triggering experience, the empty areas within every block, the sound barrier it creates, and its lack of connection to anything specific. It's a completely different environment, which was not familiar to me, so I wanted to be a silent observer, and capture the sense of surrealism and isolation that I feel every time I walk around Paneláks.
Despite these attempts, walking around such large scale blocks can be a triggering experience, the empty areas within every block, the sound barrier it creates, and its lack of connection to anything specific. It's a completely different environment, which was not familiar to me, so I wanted to be a silent observer, and capture the sense of surrealism and isolation that I feel every time I walk around Paneláks.
Ongoing series, which I started in 2018.
