The industrial society is now redefining its identity and the previous working spaces and buildings are now losing their meaning. I am especially intrigued by the heat and power generating building in Bytom. The power plant used to be an integral part of this industrial city, however the modernity of today is slowly pushing it into the abyss. In its time, near by existence of power plant was dictated by the needs of the then world and was once a workplace of more then nine hundred people, now is a phantom of itself.Today it is a nostalgic, sentimental place, in one way disappearing in another full of living memories. Though shared only by few people, and in a different way by each one of them.
Looking at the building is like looking at the Silesian history. The building’s structure was defined not only by history factors, but also by every man’s will to domesticate their workplace. The emptiness of the building nowadays can be seen as trace of unidentified absence of people or objects. The visual absence is determining the past but also gives a shape to what is contemporary. Portraits present workers and pensioners of power station building in Bytom. Taking the portraits of workers I asked them to moved their thoughts to the days when they began work at the power station and have some kind of settlement of this very close to them place.
Agnieszka Wrzesniak
Weekend portfolio selected by Jean-Luc Monterosso.
