it is not what i want it to be it is not what i need it to be it is not what i make it to be
it is no category it is no analysis it is no comparison it is
This book reflects on the effort of gradually immersing into a foreign environment. The collected images show the place and its inhabitants through the lens of the subjective experience. Through the duration, the persistency and the extend of the observation, this book aspires to convey a differentiated interpretation of the environment, the people and the changes both of them experienced over the course of my presence.
To observe with an open mind was the only resolution there was in the beginning of this project.
southern district of Amagerbro. The building is set to be demolished in the foreseeable future, because of supposedly unsolvable constrictive issues. The 230 inhabitants forcefully lost their home by the beginning of December -
ty, everybody was relocated to new accommodations within Copenhagen. The selected pictures capture the final three closure.
The 1969 built, 15 stories high social housing project overshadows all of its surrounding buildings. It sits stoically within an environment of housing units and healthcare facilities, unable or unwilling to hide its increasingly deteriorating condition. The bleak facade silently foreshadows the buildings imminent death. Its outside appears lifeless at first sight even before the eviction. Signs of the buildings actual liveliness are spare and partly hidden behind the stigmata surrounding it.
The towers weathered, crackling skin might feel repellent The sparsley lit corridors might smell of desolation. The emptied balconies might remind of loneliness. Behind those initial judgements though lays a home to over 200 people, whose identity is often deeply connected with and at times reflected through the building they live in.
<-- still - commo areas blue 01.10.22 <-- still - common areas green 01.10.22
-Michael
The demographics of the tower changed drastically over the course of the last decades. From being a home mainly
photo documentation started, almost half of the apartments were occupied by students, of which most of them lived in the tower for under 3 years. This book focusses on a group of long term inhabitants. For them the lygge tower did not only accommodate them for more than a decade but also took a central role in their social life. They share a long
common areas. The relocation means loosing a vital social circle and causes the thread of increasing loneliness.
The group has always been inviting over the course of the many visits, despite their at times precarious situation and past media coverages, that left many of the them feel exploited. Through the months leading up to the eviction, the emotions got increasingly intense. The sorrow and worries were equally as tangible as the frustration and anger. Despite the individual hardships though, the trade characterizing the group the most was the common sense of helpfullness.
A blink to wipe away the sorrow in the eyes followed by timid smile suggesting everything is fine. Shortly after the tired gaze wanders again into the silent storm of distant worries. Only the bottle stilling the longer for shelter.
A small piece of paper was dropped on the table. The address to an apartment is written on it. The whole room starts
There are only seven days left to the eviction deadline.
Torben 03.11.22
Steve 03.11.22
The initial deadline scheduled for the completed eviction of the tower was the 31st of December 2022. As there was an
the building a month earlier, almost half of the inhabitants already moved out by the end of November. By the beginning of December all of the remaining inhabitants were -
most 3 weeks. They were given not much more than a week to leave. Many of them had to stay in hotels and hostels for the last weeks of the year, as their new apartments were not yet ready to move into.
In total, the process of evicting the building took almost a month. The landlord had to organize the moving, and cover the full costs of the relocation.
The two elevators are groaning under the weight they have to carry relentlessly, before they are finally left to rest in silence. A never ending number of boxes is being dragged through the building by an army movers. The steps of their steel set boots echo in the hallways. The tower ,once appealing lethargic, is now woken up by the mechanic mo-
veliness it never cared to show off. For weeks every floor seems in constant movement.
With time the noise in the hallways turns quieter. The stream of boxes leaving the tower turns thinner. The many open doors allow for views into now emptied apartments and on bleak walls. The piles of abandoned belongings outise remind of the amount of live once contained within the tower. Finally the army of movers withdraws.
It is a cold but sunny morning. The early sun gently falls on the half emptied trash containers close to the tower.
The last remaining leftovers are vague shadows of their prevous owners identitites. They are now coated in a layer freshly fallen snow.
The tower stands in peaceful silence, scarred but unsettled by what happened. It almost appears unchanged.
bryde express 01.10.22
provisory storage 25.11.22
a memorial? 07.12.22
days after
The following images explore the tower during the weeks after the relocation.
Now sealed with wooden planks, preventing any unwanted visitors to enter the sight, the finished eviction is clearly noticeable.
The rooms in the ground floor are now barricaded and the windows are fully covered. The interiors appear strangely untouched. The billiard table is set. Ashtrays are placed on the tables and unopened cans of beers stand in the corner of the room where they have always been standing. The scenery stayed fully preserved. The life though is gone.
All of the apartment doors stay open. Some of the rooms are tidily cleaned. They seem to be left with little hesitation. In others though trash and pieces of furniture are pilling in corners. Plates of rotten food are stacked on kitchen coun -
is a sign of human decay.
