Concrete youngsters (2004-2009)

New kids on the block.

Every fifth Hungarian family lives in huge blocks of flats, and one third of them in the capital city, Budapest. A forest of buildings made of prefabricated concrete elements where all the institutions of life (schools, shops, sport courses, medical facilities, etc.) are given in one closed space. On the one hand it seems a complete and perfect world, whereas on the other hand it is monotonous, depressing and difficult to endure.

Outbound fluctuation (the rate of people moving away) is low, housing estates are not known for being a temporary home for their inhabitants; rather a stable, lasting place of settlement for hundreds of thousands. However the squares are gradually disappearing due to current rehabilitation programmes that seem to erase the traditional Lego-like atmosphere of the well-known blocks and replace it with illusionary image often associated with modern condominiums, drawing on new plaster and spectacular superficialities.

But peculiarly enough, at the end of the day nothing much changes. This is a rough and exciting suburban micro-environment for those youngsters who live among the concrete “panels”. Close to each other, far from everything.

Prologue by Zsolt Szamody. Epilogue by Gabor Pfisztner.

József Pécsi Photography Grant – 2008 & 2009

(Shot on film.)