DIETERLE Marie-Pierre.
Gagarin City 1961-2020
Loco
Regular price
€30,00
| N° d'inventaire | 25244 |
| Format | 27 x 21 |
| Détails | 88 p., 80 four-color ill., 2 photographic booklets, a period newspaper in facsimile, a leporello of postcards, in slipcase. |
| Publication | Paris, 2022 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782843140587 |
Marie-Pierre Dieterlé began exploring the Gagarine housing project in 2009. Built in 1961 in Ivry-sur-Seine, it became an emblem of the red suburbs and a showcase for the French Communist Party, of which Ivry was the historic stronghold. It was the beginning of social housing, full of hope and utopia.
Entire families were able to leave the slums to benefit from a minimum rental: an apartment with hot water, toilets, and integrated heating. In June 1963, the visit of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin helped to forge the myth of a city unlike any other. Amidst general jubilation and bouquets of flowers, the Soviet cosmonaut planted a tree in memory of his visit...
Then, like many cities in the Parisian suburbs, the dream began to crumble. In the 1990s, the Gagarine estate was classified as a sensitive urban zone (ZUS). This urban policy label, supposed to prioritize these areas, has become the stigma of social, economic, and geographic segregation.
Demolition gradually became necessary. All the families had to be rehoused.
In 2017, only about a hundred of the city's 380 occupied homes remained. Faced with this inexorable end, Marie-Pierre Dieterlé offered the Gagarine Community Center and the city of Ivry-sur-Seine artistic support based on photography workshops with residents with a view to creating a giant exhibition on the building's facade.
It was at this moment that she realized how painful the residents were experiencing the loss of their city.
Everything was about to disappear. As a photographer, the need to create a memorial imposed itself on her. For two years, she wandered the long, half-empty corridors, looking for faces to immortalize. Then she followed the stages of ecological deconstruction by nibbling away at the building until the last red brick disappeared.
Entire families were able to leave the slums to benefit from a minimum rental: an apartment with hot water, toilets, and integrated heating. In June 1963, the visit of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin helped to forge the myth of a city unlike any other. Amidst general jubilation and bouquets of flowers, the Soviet cosmonaut planted a tree in memory of his visit...
Then, like many cities in the Parisian suburbs, the dream began to crumble. In the 1990s, the Gagarine estate was classified as a sensitive urban zone (ZUS). This urban policy label, supposed to prioritize these areas, has become the stigma of social, economic, and geographic segregation.
Demolition gradually became necessary. All the families had to be rehoused.
In 2017, only about a hundred of the city's 380 occupied homes remained. Faced with this inexorable end, Marie-Pierre Dieterlé offered the Gagarine Community Center and the city of Ivry-sur-Seine artistic support based on photography workshops with residents with a view to creating a giant exhibition on the building's facade.
It was at this moment that she realized how painful the residents were experiencing the loss of their city.
Everything was about to disappear. As a photographer, the need to create a memorial imposed itself on her. For two years, she wandered the long, half-empty corridors, looking for faces to immortalize. Then she followed the stages of ecological deconstruction by nibbling away at the building until the last red brick disappeared.
Entire families were able to leave the slums to benefit from a minimum rental: an apartment with hot water, toilets, and integrated heating. In June 1963, the visit of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin helped to forge the myth of a city unlike any other. Amidst general jubilation and bouquets of flowers, the Soviet cosmonaut planted a tree in memory of his visit...
Then, like many cities in the Parisian suburbs, the dream began to crumble. In the 1990s, the Gagarine estate was classified as a sensitive urban zone (ZUS). This urban policy label, supposed to prioritize these areas, has become the stigma of social, economic, and geographic segregation.
Demolition gradually became necessary. All the families had to be rehoused.
In 2017, only about a hundred of the city's 380 occupied homes remained. Faced with this inexorable end, Marie-Pierre Dieterlé offered the Gagarine Community Center and the city of Ivry-sur-Seine artistic support based on photography workshops with residents with a view to creating a giant exhibition on the building's facade.
It was at this moment that she realized how painful the residents were experiencing the loss of their city.
Everything was about to disappear. As a photographer, the need to create a memorial imposed itself on her. For two years, she wandered the long, half-empty corridors, looking for faces to immortalize. Then she followed the stages of ecological deconstruction by nibbling away at the building until the last red brick disappeared.