Les Spomenici, monuments oublies de l ex-Yougoslavie
J aime les Balkans ! La Bulgarie, la Roumanie et les territoires de l Ex-yougoslavie. C est d ailleurs dans cet Etat aujourd hui disparu que l on trouve les Spomenici. Ici, chacun a son Spomenik prefere.
«Spomenik» est le terme qui designe les monuments eriges a la gloire de la revolution yougoslave durant l ere titiste, sur l ensemble de l ex-territoire federal. On y trouve cependant une concentration plus importante en Croatie, Bosnie et Serbie. La plupart de ces monuments, a l architecture brutaliste, celebraient la guerre patriotique des troupes yougoslaves contre l envahisseur nazi.
Ils attisent aujourd hui un interet croissant.
Cet interet est catalyse par plusieurs facteurs.
Tout d abord, du point de vue architectural et esthetique, les Spomenici sont d une incontestable originalite. Ils ne correspondent pas aux criteres occidentaux ou orientaux, et ils se distinguent de l architecture totalitaire et nationaliste de l ex-bloc de l Est, illustrant ainsi ce que fut la Yougoslavie titiste un «objet» a part dans le monde communiste, mais aussi dans son role d Etat leader des non-alignes.
D autre part, certains de ces monuments sont aujourd hui a l abandon, niches au coeur de villages depeuples ou perdus dans les forets, alors que d autres sont encore objets de celebrations patriotiques. Les premiers degagent une poesie singuliere et la personne qui les voit, les touche ou y penetre, accede symboliquement au statut d initiee elle est le temoin de l histoire en train de fondre sous ses yeux.
Les Spomenici entretenus degagent quant a eux une puissance et une energie «paienne» que l on ne trouve nulle part ailleurs.
Dans cette serie, il y a toutefois deux cliches qui ne concernent pas la thematique des Spomenici. Il s agit d une photo prise en Bulgarie, a Buzludzha, dans un brouillard d une rare densite et d un avion Douglas C47 qui se trouve sur la base aerienne de Zeljava sur la frontiere bosno-croate, aujourd hui abandonnee.
L ensemble de ces images a ete capture au cours des annees avec un hybride bon marche, un Nikon D 5000, un telephone Samsung, un drone Parrot ou un D 810.
The Spomenici, forgotten monuments of the former Yugoslavia
The Spomenici, forgotten monuments of the former Yugoslavia
I love the Balkans! Bulgaria, Romania and the territories of the former Yugoslavia. It is in this state, which has now disappeared, that we find the Spomenici. Here, everyone has their favourite Spomenik.
"Spomenik" is the term used to describe the monuments erected to the glory of the Yugoslav revolution during the Titist era throughout the former federal territory. However, there is a greater concentration in Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia. Most of these monuments, with their brutalist architecture, celebrated the patriotic war of the Yugoslav troops against the Nazi invaders.
Today, they are attracting increasing interest.
This interest is catalyzed by several factors.
First of all, from an architectural and aesthetic point of view, the Spomenici are undeniably original. They do not correspond to Western or Eastern criteria, and they stand out from the totalitarian and nationalist architecture of the former Eastern bloc, thus illustrating what Tito s Yugoslavia was an "object" apart in the communist world, but also in its role as a leading non-aligned state.
On the other hand, some of these monuments are now abandoned, nestled in the heart of depopulated villages or lost in the forests, while others are still objects of patriotic celebrations. The former exude a singular poetry and the person who sees them, touches them or enters them, symbolically accedes to the status of an initiate he or she is the witness of the history melting before his or her eyes.
As for the Spomenici maintained, they exude a power and a "pagan" energy that cannot be found anywhere else.
There are, however, two pictures in this series that are not related to the Spomenici theme. These are a photograph taken in Bulgaria, in Buzludzha, in a rare dense fog, and a Douglas C47 aircraft at the now abandoned Zeljava air base on the Bosnian-Croatian border.
All of these images were captured over the years with a cheap hybrid, a Nikon D 5000, a Samsung phone, a Parrot drone or a D 810.