Empty Rooms

MÅRTEN LANGE

Empty Rooms describes the real estate situation experienced by many Italian historic centers subject, very often, to economic and commercial logic. The shops photographed in Castelfranco Veneto express the silence of an empty waiting space but also the border between private and public space, putting the city in crisis as a democratic space.

“In Castelfranco, as everywhere in the world, there are empty offices and shops. These spaces are empty because the businesses that used to occupy them were not sustainable for some reason or another. They are now awaiting new tenants who will conduct business there until they close down as well. This back and forth of crisis and opportunity is a basic characteristic of our economic system. Nothing is forever. Everything is transient. And one day, these spaces will no longer exist at all. They will be replaced by something else, something hidden in the future, and we might not even be able to imagine it yet. But the fact that everything comes and goes is a fact of capitalism, and so it is a fact of life. Work is seen as the natural state of existence for humans in this age. The same goes for buildings, which must always fill a purpose. Empty spaces fill us with an uneasy feeling, a sadness perhaps. What are they doing now, the barber or travel agent that once occupied these premises? We know nothing about that, but it’s easy to assume that they’ve come upon tough times. And so, the empty spaces remind us of our own vulnerability in the economic system.
On the other hand, an empty space holds the promise of being filled again by something new. That which comes and goes, also comes again. Standing in a quiet street somewhere at the eastern edge of town, trying to peek through a window into the empty space, I see myself reflected in a window on the other side.” (M.L.)

Project realized as part of the artist residency “OMNE/WORK”, Castelfranco Veneto 31st May – 11th June 2016, exhibited during OMNEFEST (Museo Casa Giorgione, 13th October – 9th December 2018) and published in the book “OMNE/WORK 2016- 2018”, Lettera Ventidue, Siracusa 2018