Alina Schmuch

Often there are only seconds between the ignition of a blasting charge and the collapse of a building, but the planning for such a demolition can take weeks. Blasting is a profession that relies on experience, and that is conveyed through the medium of the image. The blaster, before he destroys the building, makes a complex technical drawing of the progression. The detonation itself is then recorded by several cameras from different view points. Afterwards the drawings are superposed over the photographs in order to control the blast. A permanent calibration, an optimization between the idea and the reality by the means of drawing and photography. In her artistic work, Alina Schmuch also mostly uses the medium of photography. For the project Script of Demolition she worked with the extensive image archive of the blaster family Fink. The publication includes different imaging media—from 8mm film to digital photography. The book presents movement sequences of collapsing chimneys, TV towers and buildings that have been recorded following explicitly nonaesthetic criteria.

In the coming years Sochi will be the site of several largescale sports events: the city will host the 2014 Olympic Winter Games and some matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Furthermore, Sochi is destined to be the site of the Russian Grand Prix Formula 1 races, starting in 2014. The artists Alina Schmuch and Franca Scholz have visited the city on the Black Sea coast by invitation of the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design in Moscow. Losk is the result of their journey. The book presents everyday life and strange objects in the urban space. Losk—meaning glow or sheen in Russian—focuses on the surfaces of Russian society: floors, interiors, pavings, façades. The surfaces are inscribed with the fantasy of wealth and importance, but also with the persistent signs of poverty and the resonance of the Socialist past. Published on occasion of an exhibition by Alina Schmuch and Franca Scholz at Kunsthalle Baden-Baden.