balcony spout
symphony playing over the nuclear bomb test sirens, neighbors with buckets of water, and a synchronized arcs of water from the balconies above.
views from new buildings
...and impressively, deteriorating faster than the much older panel blocks. Being inside of one of these offers an interesting framed view back onto our panelkas....
make new, but keep the old
"Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold."
frames, apertures, and filters
The blocks of Trakiya were designed for maximum sunlight.
True to modernist form, the windows are large, the balconies beyond them reaching out to pull in more sun.
The inhabitants . . . . . . . .
the cost of electricity
"Most everyone speaks fondly of the memories of how they used to go around in tank tops in the house in the winter..."
kolio’s balcony
Every morning Kolio comes to his balcony, parts the fresh white lace curtains, and swings just one of the panels of his glass enclosure inwards. From there, he leans out and lights a cigarette....
seeing myself
But it's a detached sense of individuality, like a baby discovering their arm or their leg for the first time...
glowing balconies
Stepping onto the balcony is a particularly conscious action...
cleaning the archives
"People do it anyways, take down the walls, but they don't get our permission, then we have to come in and bust down their doors with the cops..."
quest for the green flowers
A very specific pattern of green flowers, specific to the era, specific to a certain taste, specific to a specific person, I assumed.
meet oscar
"The pipes run through, she'll be fine!"
chushki smoke
Smells.
We respond strongly to them.
In the panelka, they are readily available.
expiration dates
"no one wants to talk about it, but allllll those buildings, where alllll those people live, they're going to expire."
seasons
'A box in the world theater' - Walter Benjamin
If you need me, I'll be here, watching the world theater unfold.
mailboxes
"they probably don't give them to renters...."
context
panelkite in their natural habitat.
with stratification as clear as this, it really seems as though the panelkite are exactly where they are are supposed to be....
ikoni and a switch
I hear about how, the night before Easter, they would show american movies in the theaters, in attempts to deter people from the midnight candle tradition at the churches. One evil for another they figured.
bisetka reflections
the boundaries of privacy in the space of facebook became a whole lot more confusing.
ventilation and tichenie
Parts were stolen or things weren't installed right...
Tichenie in all of it's glory.
late night scupper
I snapped one as he sat looking up from the bench.
clear
so I cleaned my windows.....
and then I cleaned the second layer of windows that glasses in the entire height of the balcony.
water heaters
It squeals as it pulls water into the tubes, heating the liquid, filling its big belly.
vhod
bloc 71 vhod A
and the shoe cobbler.
spilling balconies
"Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,"
for the mice
"She went there to be an architect, and we live here....
where the mice run up and down our pipes."
catching busses
"We didn't have sidewalks or grass, but we had big streets and lots of busses....."