CONCRESCO

David Galjaard
CONCRESCO
Photographs: David Galjaard
Publisher: Self-published
168 pages
Year: 2012
ISBN: 978-946190781-3
Price: 200 €
Comments: Embossed softcover with French flaps, 34 by 21,5cm, first edition. Features in the vol 3 of the Photobook History by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger. Design by Katie McGonigal. A pristine copy!
"Fearing an attack from abroad, Albanian Stalinist leader Enver Hoxha had around 750,000 above-ground bunkers built during his time in power, from 1945 until his death in 1985. After the collapse of communism in 1991, the virtually indestructible bunkers were deprived of their unfulfilled purpose, serving purely as an obtrusive reminder of a dictatorship that had had lasted for almost fifty years.
Today their massed presence seems mainly to impress foreigners, while Albanians themselves prefer to look to the future. Although accession to the EU is expected to take at least another ten years, the population has a sense of being ready for it.
In this documentary, the bunkers are used as a visual metaphor in the telling of a larger social story. They help to paint a picture of developments in a country that was the last in Europe to renounce communism and has set out on a demanding quest to become part of the capitalist West."
David Galjaard went across all Albania and captured remains of an ancient era, forgotten or integrated in today's life : the 750,000 bunkers built under the communist regime of Enver Hoxha, that lasted over 40 years.
The photographs come with short texts of context and reflection, presented in quarter-pages inserted in the main binding.
Concresco received the "First Photobook Award" in 2012 (The Paris Photo - Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards). David Galjaard also won "PhotoIreland Festival 2012 Portfolio" with the Concresco series, and an exhibition was deidicated to this project in the summer 2013 in Dublin at The Copper House Gallery.
Katie McGonigal's design creates an immersive feeling with the large format, full bleed photographs, while the small booklets of texts placed throughout allow the viewer to go deeper into the universe of the book without breaking up the flow of the images.




















more books tagged »design« | >> see all
-
THE WORLD'S FIRST PHOTOBOOK WAS BLUE
by Albarran Cabrera
sold -
Uncharted+
by Wang Juyan
sold -
Performances
by Bartek Warzecha
Euro 45 -
7 Rooms
by Rafal Milach
Euro 280 -
OVER.STATE
by Ilias Georgiadis
Euro 150 -
Portici di Luce - Piazza San Marco (Signed and numbered)
by Ikko Narahara
Euro 800
more books tagged »color« | >> see all
-
Ray's a laugh
by Richard Billingham
sold -
Home
by Lars Tunbjörk
sold -
Ou Menya
by Bieke Depoorter
Euro 150 -
Ama (SIGNED)
by Nina Poppe
sold -
The Europeans
by Tina Barney
sold -
Excerpts from Silver Meadows
by Todd Hido
sold
more books tagged »parr & badger« | >> see all
-
FAIT
by Sophie Ristelhueber
sold -
Reservate des Augenblicks / Momentary Resorts (Signed)
by Walter Niedermayr
sold -
She (Signed)
by Lise Sarfati
Euro 70 -
Kobe 1995 After the Earthquake (SIGNED)
by Ryuji Miyamoto
sold -
Life Is Good and Good For You In New York : Trance Witness Rev...
by William Klein
sold -
Evidence
by Larry Sultan & Mike Mandel
sold
more books tagged »self published« | >> see all
-
The Afronauts
by Cristina de Middel
sold -
The Levee (signed)
by Sohrab Hura
sold -
foto.zine nr.1
by Erik van der Weijde
Euro 35 -
Sweat (Signed and numbered)
by Reiner Riedler
sold -
A Sentimental Journey (Original edition)
by Nobuyoshi Araki
Euro 3800 -
02) Thinspiration (must not eat)
by Laia Abril
sold
Books from the Virtual Bookshelf josefchladek.com