Occupied plots, Abandoned Futures, by Joachim Koester
The voids are a fundamental part of any city. Though rarely recognized as such empty spaces make up a psychic space within the urban reality. They form a network of holes and latent possibilities, which for a period challenge stasis and control.
In 1970 Ed Ruscha documented a number of such spaces under the title: Real Estate Opportunities. Ruscha photographed empty lots for sale in Los Angeles. A topographic mapping of the vacated plots overgrown by weeds that make up a city’s unconscious.
With the project Occupied Plots, Abandoned Futures I have revisited some of these exact places. Spaces that by now have been sold, brought and dramatically changed. My project is probably less optimistic than Rucha’s. In fact, to re-photograph these ‘opportunities’ is to engage in an archeology of abandoned futures.
Joachim Koester, 2007
