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The circles of Hell

Men leave no stone unturned when in pursuit of "progress". The consequences rarely matter, even if well documented. In Behemoth (2015), Zhao Liang masterly depicts the working conditions in a coal mine in Inner Mongolia and the destruction of a land that used to be inhabited mainly by nomadic herders. Explosives uncover precious rocks while hundreds of trucks build up new Death Valleys. The hellish noise of the factories plays against the rattle of the many workers dying of occupational lung disease. 

Q: Where will we go when no trace of grace is left in the world? 

A: What about ghost towns?

Love your neighbour

In 1952, Canadian film-maker Norman McLauren wrote and directed Neighbours. The documentary was produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and it lasts just eight minutes and six seconds. It won an Oscar and in 2009 was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme, an international initiative launched in 1992 to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity against collective amnesia, neglect and deliberate destruction.

Norman McLauren, Neighbours, NFB, 1952.

Into the real world

Dear friends and colleagues,

Spazio is getting ready to venture into the real world and start addressing spatially some of the topics discussed here. It is still very much a work in progress but I will soon disclose all the details.

Spazio, new gallery, photographs Mariana Siracusa

Wonderland Vrin

Vrin, Val Lumnezia, Switzerland (46°39'18.7"N 9°05'55.4"E). Photographs, Mariana Siracusa

Vrin is the farthermost municipality in the Val Lumnezia (Valley of Light), Switzerland, at an altitude of 1448 meters. Getting there is not as difficult as you may think. Once in Chur, take the RegioExpress train to Ilanz (35 min) and there the Bus 441 to Vrin (45 min). We got to Vrin quite late in the afternoon. It was already dark but the people at the Pez Terri Pensiun were very welcoming: we tasted the traditional Maluns, a specialty of the Graubünden's cuisine prepared from boiled potatoes which are grated, mixed with flour and roaster in butter, and served with Alpine cheese and applesauce.

In 1998, the Swiss Heritage Society awarded the village the Wakke Prize for the masterful integration of modern agricultural buildings into its historic fabric. The terrific work by Gion Caminada is well known to architects. 

"Vrin. A Village in the Alps." Filmmaker, Marc Schwarz

What impressed me the most when walking around on a cold Sunday morning was the spatial quality that results from carefully siting one building close to the other. The space between has a perfect human scale. Maybe because it was cold and snowing it reminded me of the way animals stand close to each other to stay warm during the winter.

Gion Caminada, House Caminada, 2000

In the 1980s, the municipality purchased all the available building land in other to prevent speculation. It was partly used to build communal offices, a multipurpose hall, a butcher's shop, a telephone booth, agricultural buildings, and a mortuary. 

Gion Caminada, Stiva da morts, Community Mortuary Building, 2002

Gion Caminada, Stiva da morts, Community Mortuary Building, 2002

Gion Caminada, Bus Stop, 2015

It is surprising how even the smallest buildings (bus stop and telephone booth) have been perfectly detailed to shelter from and react to snow and wind. During the summer these same buildings will probably reveal a different face. 

Photographs, Mariana Siracusa

Further reading

Bettina Schlorhaufer, ed. Cul zuffel e l'aura dado. Gion A. Caminada. Luzern: Quart Verlag, 2008.