Project Amagerbrogade 132, 9-2013

Posted on June 12, 2013 by karinelsu

I browsed the internet today looking for information about the history of Amagerbrogade 132. That was surprisingly easy to find though it’s all in Danish 🙂

My first source was the register of buildings (something to that extend anyway). There it is listed that the building is from 1908 and that the second of the two floors was an apartment. BUT – note this! It is listed that there was no toilet in the building, only in the backyard was there a water closet. There was also no bathroom nor access to any. Surprised no one lived there anymore? Even if the roof hadn’t been leaking?

It was quite common though. This was more than 100 years ago you have to remember. My dear friend Anne, who’s closing in on 60 years, grew up in an apartment without a bathroom on Vesterbro. She went to the bath house when the family needed a good wash.

I also recall a friend who lived in an old apartment on Østerbro, also part of central Copenhagen. He had a toilet halfway down the back stairs that he shared with the neighbour and a shower booth in his bedroom. This city is more than 1,000 years old! Certainly not all was built with all modern amenities…

Project Amagerbrogade 132, 8-2013

Posted on June 11, 2013 by karinelsu

The few items left behind in a building empty even of walls become all the more visible and powerful if they have colour.

Project Amagerbrogade 132, 7-2013

Posted on June 10, 2013 by karinelsu

The guy I talked to about the building yesterday said his children had called it the haunted house. Believe me, it was not haunted. There was presense but not of people without bodies. There was peace and serenity if you knew to look beyond the apparent. I hope I captured this mood in my photos.

Project Amagerbrogade 132, 6-2013

Posted on June 9, 2013 by karinelsu

I was doing my weekly photo shoot at the building site today. A guy was curious about what I was doing and told me how he used to work in the store across the street and knew the man who had the watch shop.

Amager, the island I live on, is a funny place. We’re 1-3 miles form the very center of Copenhagen, 180,000 people live here and still it often feels like village. The saying is that if you grow up, you never leave. And should you happen to move away, you’ll return. Iøve only lived here 15 years but my kids can be local 🙂

Project Amagerbrogade 132, 5-2013

Posted on June 8, 2013 by karinelsu

See how the plaster pieces are sort floating in mid-air, held by the wire? I think it’s so cool 🙂

It has become quite clear to me that I like to photograph details. This shows me two things. 1) Because I like details best I need to make sure I photograph in other ways frequently to not get stuck and to improve my skills. 2) Being highly sensitive (HSP), looking at details helps me keep my perspective on things and not get overwelmed.

Project Amagerbrogade 132, 4-2013

Posted on June 7, 2013 by karinelsu

It’s hard for me to describe just what I felt spending time in the derelict building, days before the walls came down. It was almost like entering another world – not quite permissable but also not trespassing.

Project Amagerbrogade 132, 3-2013

Posted on June 6, 2013 by karinelsu

When I first visited the building it looked at first sight as if there was already nothing left. But as I walked around and l focused on just being present, the place began to speak to me. In the end I spent over two hours photographing the ‘nothing left’.

Project Amagerbrogade 132, 2-2013

Posted on June 5, 2013 by karinelsu

The two story building on Amagerbrogade 132 has intrigued me for years. More than eight years ago I tried to contact the owner at the time to see if I could buy it for the café I wanted to establish. No luck – though probably ‘luck’ is not the right word considering the state it was in already then.

I resently read in the local newspaper that an entrepeneur had managed to both buy the building and convince a chain of steak houses to establish themselves in Copenhagen at this particular spot. Driving by the small-town-USA-looking building one day, as I often do, I suddenly thought, “! wish I could photograph the renovation!” I got in touch with Jan Elving of Øens Murerfirma and got the go ahead. As far as I know, no one else is recording the transformation of this local ‘landmark’.

The images I’m about to share are all from my first visits inside. Already now there is only a shell left and what you see over the next couple of weeks is gone.

Project Amagerbrogade 132 Introduction, 1-2013

Posted on June 4, 2013 by karinelsu

I’m sorry I’ve been falling just a little behind here. The reason is I wanted to sort through a major bunch of pictures to introduce a project while you still have a chance to follow it as I go.

Here’s the story: Amagerbrogade is The main street where I live. It runs for miles, from the bridge to central Copenhagen all the way to the airport. It changes character several times but the address where this story takes place is in the first part, before it becomes lined with trees.

Amagerbrogade 132 has become more and more derelict during the years I have lived here. It was once, I’m sure, a charming red brick building two stores high. I remember the shoe store before it closed. I never saw the watch shop nex to it while it was still open. I only ever saw the abandoned windows. And whatever was around the corner next to the watch store was lost before I moved here.

The local plan allowed for the condemned building to be torn down and replaced by up to five stories of apartments. This is what has happened everywhere else here on Amager. But something’s different this time. Instead of being torn down, the building is being renovated – and I’ve been allowed to follow the process with my camera.

I will mostly be posting images that I personally find artistic, beautiful and/or compelling, but today I want to post a few pictures to give you an idea of the place.

This is the facade down the side street – the part I didn’t know what was. I can see from the old signs now that it used to be a dry cleaner that would also press and dye your clothes.

The back yard…

And a view from inside the top floor. Homeless people had made it a bit too much their own so the partitions were torn down a couple of years ago.

Karins Fotos

Presenting my favorite images

Category Archives: Amagerbrogade 132