Artist covers Abandoned Building in Warsaw with Aluminium Foil

An abandoned building in Warsaw has been covered in aluminium foil! Specially designed for the inhabitants of the Praga North district by Polish artist Piotr Janowski it covers the building from head to toe.

Completely covering an old tenement building dating from 1870, the area is full of history and the piece itself is meant to draw attention to that. “I believe that my aluminum installation will, for a moment, turn into a symbolic silver bridge” says Janowski. “Which will combine the dreams of the pre-war past and then the dramatic years of the city’s inhabitants during the occupation with the contemporary positive changes that are taking place so definitely in this fascinating Warsaw district.”

The tenement building in the Praga North district of Warsaw, entirely covered in aluminium. Photo by Piotr Janowski

REFLECTING THE CHANGING CITY

The area itself has of course experienced major change. Warsaw is transformed and it’s journey has been a huge one. Much of the city was destroyed during the Second World War. It didn’t fare much better during the years of communism when attention to detail was not given to architectural design. Now in later years, the city has evolved into a modern metropolis, it’s been quite a transformation.

“I think that this is an ideal and unique time to adapt one of the abandoned buildings for this project and symbolically make its destroyed beauty reborn” says Piotr. The aluminium reveals the architectural beauty of the building. It’s shabby walls, full of wounds and scars are wrapped in foil. Symbolizing change and development it actually ends up revealing through the process of concealing.

INSTALLATIONS WITH ALUMINIUM

Janowski is well known for his installations with aluminium. In 2015 he made headlines after covering every square inch of his bungalow and driveway with foil. Not only that but he covered the palm trees on the surrounding land too. That was in Tarpon Springs, Florida and it had quite an impact.

Changing urban spaces is really at the heart of Janowski’s work. The new aluminium relief of the facade of the building reflects the changing light and the silhouettes of the people passing by. The whole texture of the building changes and surprises with its subtlety. This is about seeing the city in a different light. Linking one era to another and reflecting the change that this historic city has been through.

The installation called ‘Zabkowska 9, Take off’ was designed by artist Piotr Janowski and installed in September 2018. All images in this post are courtesy of the artist and you can learn more about his work on his official facebook page here. For more recent posts featuring the work of international artists check out these posts featuring Leon Keer in France and the work of Hungarian artists IamSuzie and Cokestd in London.