A journey through Modernist Bucharest

In his visual research, Bogdan Anghel reveals the beauty of Modernism in Bucharest, Romania. The photographer and art director outlines the restoring effect of the “perfect” geometry of modernist buildings, with their exact lines and purity of forms, feeling the urge of preserving them, as a result of their state of degradation.

“Unfortunately, Bucharest is not a city free of earthquakes and another big one, like the one we had in 1977, will probably destroy most of them,” he explained to Domus. “Moreover, in a city that today features a very odd mix of different styles – neoclassical, Neo-Romanian, Neo-Gothic, Modernism, Socialist Modernism, etc. – I think these modernist buildings offer an utter degree of coherence and simplicity to our cityscape, so it’s worth preserving them.”

Anghel shoots exclusively on 35mm film with a Nikon F3 as a way to reveal the age of the buildings and the passage of time. “I don’t like how digital photography sometimes adds that level of slickness to photos,” he adds, “sometimes it transforms the buildings into 3D renderings.”