Edifice

Edifice is a visual journey back to a time most people would like to forget. Palka documents buildings that have survived the Communist regime, which years ago rolled over Central and Eastern Europe. The photographs show the interiors of the Polana Hotel, a closed holiday facility once owned by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, and the now disused office building for the management of the Nowa Huta Steelworks in Cracow, a fine example of Socialist Realism, once visited by Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro, as well as a Soviet Army World War II base in Germany and the building of Former Technical library in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Karol Palka builds the Edifice in the title to tell a story about power and its impermanence. The Edifice provides shelter, security, peace, and at the same time, gives a sense of strength. However, the feeling is just an illusion, and the power – contrary to what those who wield it think – is not given once and for all, but only for a moment. The spectre of demise is near, lurking just round the corner, just behind the cold and thick walls of grandiose ideas.

Karol Palka (1991) is a Polish photographer graduated from the Krzysztof Kieslowski Film Department in Katowice University and Wajda School in Warsaw. Currently has been pursuing doctoral studies at the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. His works has been awarded at New East Photo Prize 2018, Lensculture Emerging Talent Awards 2017, PDN Photo Annual 2016 etc.