Non-places: Marcin Zonenberg

My cycle of prints evokes the ‘non-places’ as referred to by Marc Augé, who uses this name for public spaces and areas of people’s migration, such as shopping malls, airports, coach or train stations. They are always filled with people moving in different directions. However, they are not seen as places to which any particular value could be attached, on the contrary: they bring to mind superficiality and perfunctoriness.

In order to visualize the ‘non-place’ I have used the image of the Gdańsk ‘falowiec’ building. It is a block of flats with a huge number of occupants. Although the flats are situated close to each other, neighbours do not develop a lasting community. They remain strangers without a sense of neighbourhood, often feel lonely, and the experiences they have in common are constant migrations, moves, deaths and births.

I see the ‘falowiec’ as a place of constant change and movement, a rush without a visible involvement of the individuals. I see everything that can be seen at airports, train stations and subway platforms. The structure conveys a cool and unfriendly impression of a place that – paradoxically – does not provide the space and conditions to form communities, build comfort zones or create one’s safe space.