“Abandoned? Does anywhere exist that is truly abandoned?” Geppe Monrós + Julia Clay

Abandoned? Does anywhere exist that is truly abandoned? by Geppe Monrós and Julia Clay

Friday 22 November saw the screening in the EINA Conference Hall of the creative documentary “Abandoned? Does anywhere exist that is truly abandoned?”, written and directed by Geppe Monrós and with pictures by the director and the English photographer Julia Clay. We would like to thank Geppe Monrós for his kindness in inviting us to view his film and for coming to EINA to present it to us and answer our questions at the end of the screening.

As the film poster announces, the documentary is conceived as a voyage of discovery of the beauty, history and transformation of the abandoned places of Europe. From industrial complexes to city suburbs, from isolated buildings to entire towns, the documentary explains the reasons for their being abandoned and the new ways of living in them that arises, leading the viewer time and time again to question whether a truly abandoned place really exists.

Abandoned? combines the artistic fascination for the aesthetic of abandoned places with the documentary story through interviews that offer different perspectives on the subject. Clearly the overriding idea –  which at times draws together institutional and alternative points of view – is the need to recover abandoned spaces instead of rebuilding them to achieve sustainable behaviour regarding the urbanisation of European regions.

The aim of the documentary is to start the project entitled, “Intervention in an abandoned place: remote places, here,” led by teacher Tània Costa, to be carried out in December by 1st-year students on the Colour and Volume subject. In conjunction with this project, students will be conducting a parallel task in the Drawing subject, with teacher Enric Font, where they will use drawing as a tool to analyse and imagine the abandoned space they are to work on.