COMPLETING THE CIRCLE

The navigator tells me that I have reached my destination, 40 Bergstraße, now known as ulica Góralska. I switch the car off and take a moment to look around. The street is quiet and the cars parked on either side provide the only evidence that other people must be nearby. It is a strange road, a combination of short industrial spaces interspersed with three residential buildings. This was once a busy street, lined on either side with apartment buildings and small shops. Today it is desolate and ghostly. The glory of the past has been destroyed and wiped away by combat. It is a curious twist of fate that the two buildings I want to visit are still standing. They are old, grey and ugly. It seems as though they have been refurbished in a hurry, lacking both individuality and aesthetic. The buildings seem to complement the weather. It is a grey day and it has been raining since my plane touched down. I am in Poland. I reach for my rucksack, take out my microphone and attach it to my phone. I open the car door and try to shield my simple filming equipment from the rain as I walk to the entrance of number 40.

I am engaged in research, and I am the subject of my own research. I start recording as I enter the building. This is my first experience of the space. I do not look around, my only interaction with it is through the lens. It is dark and as I enter the building I see a staircase in front of me flanked by several doors leading to apartments and a yard behind. Through the back door, I can see an old tree outside in the distance, the bright green leaves a stark contrast to the grey monotone created by both the weather and the building itself. My camera is recording my experience in real time; it cannot capture the stench of poverty or the texture of the multiple layers of chipped paint on the walls around me, but it is capturing what I see and hear. There is a black and white mosaic floor that reflects another time when it was majestic and pristine … but it is the staircase that calls my attention.