Twenty years after the end of the Bosnian War (1992-1995), Sarajevo embodies the issues faced by contemporary cities with remarkable intensity: how do we find our place in a society marked by fragmentation (into distinct districts, into ethnic, religious or class entities)? How does one look to the future of a city undergoing tremendous change, with computer-generated images overlapping the reality of the urban landscape?
Described as urbicide, the siege of Sarajevo was based on a desire to destroy the town in terms of cultural significance. By targeting familiar, private places (apartments, offices, places of worship, schools, businesses, etc.), Serbian artillery intentionally attacked the pillars of Sarajevo’s urban identity. This was a war against architecture and height, against communal living and the combination of cultures, against a unique coexistence between Muslim Bosnians, Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croatians.
A generation later, Coming shortly: Sarajevo draws a political portrait of the Bosnian capital. Through the extrapolation of the architect’s visual vocabulary, this project questions the unique position currently held by Sarajevo, somewhere between a vague nostalgia for ex-Yugoslavia and the dreams of a Europe that appears to be retreating, between the ghosts of a war captured by press photographs and the immaculate iconography of the architectural projection. By exploring the distance between the reality of the city and imaginary depictions of it, Coming shortly: Sarajevo shows the role of history in the ideal future displayed on the construction sites.
About the author:
Alban Lécuyer was born in 1977. He lives and works in France as an architectural photographer. He Graduate at Superior School of Journalism of Lille (France). His work has been published by the British Journal of Photography, Arts Magazine, Challenges, etc. It has also been exhibited in Cambodia (PhotoPhnomPenh Festival, 2015), in Brazil (International Festival of Photography of BH, Belo Horizonte, 2015), in Singapore (Singapore International Photography Festival, 2014), in China (French Cultural Center of China, 2014), in Spain (Getxophoto, 2013), in Switzerland (Biel Festival of Photography, 2011) and in France (Le Bal, 2011, Circulation(s) Festival, 2011, etc.)
