BUILDING AMIDST SOLITUDE (2017)
expanded documentary | 56.00 min. | black/white | 1:1.66 | 5.1 | Dialogue live performed during screenings

Guided by political conviction and social consciousness architect Han van Loghem travelled to Siberia in the mid 1920s. The Soviet Union was in need of specialists to help design and construct entirely new cities in the Siberia, which were to become important mining and metallurgical centers. Filled with ideals and desire for adventures modern architects from West Europa left for the future workers’ paradise.

‘Building amidst solitude’ reveals how for van Loghem the journey to Siberia was also a quest for personal and professional fulfillment, which in the Netherlands he felt he lacked. Van Loghem’s personal quest had its repercussions on his marriage and his wife Berthe Neumeijer, who initially planned to stay in the Netherlands, followed him to Siberia in an attempt to save their marriage. The text is entirely based on letters, lectures and a manuscript by Han van Loghem and Berthe Neumeijer. The image consists of archival footage and photos, mainly from Russian
archives.

Sound design: Klink Audio/Paul Gies

Partners: Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision Hilversum and the Red Hill Museum Kemerovo

Screenings (selection): Eye Film Museum Amsterdam, New Institute Rotterdam, Multimedia Centre of the Russian Museum Saint Petersburg, Shchusev Museum of Architecture Moscow, Constructivism Museum in Unit F, Yekaterinburg, Multimedia Museum Moscow, Red Hill
Museum Kemerovo, Message to Man Film Festival Saint Petersburg, Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam.

Supported by: Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK),Dutch Culture Matching Fund Shared Cultural Heritage, Van Eesteren Fluck & Van Lohuizen Stichting, Wilhelmina E. Jansen Fonds, Netherlands embassy in Moscow, Harten Fonds, Gravin van Bylandt Stichting