DUET

DUET is a photographic exploration of creation and decay, a visual meditation on construction and deconstruction occurring simultaneously between two adjacent buildings. The project started from a singular vantage point: my home on the 19th floor of a high-rise in Zagreb, colloquially known as Trešnjevka Beauty, designed by architect Slavko Jelinek and constructed in 1969. Despite its architectural significance, the building has never been renovated and is crumbling under the forces of time and neglect. Directly beside it, a new residential building is being constructed. Photographing the neighboring construction site over several months, I became captivated by its surreal, stage-like qualities: a carefully orchestrated environment infused with the unpredictability of daily labor, accidents, repairs, and adjustments, transforming the site into a space of human endeavor and revealing the invisible forces that sustain creation. In response to this outward expansion, I turned inward. While photographing the macrocosm of the rising structure, I simultaneously documented the microcosm of my own building from the inside out. Details of decay—cracks, worn surfaces, failing materials—form a counterpoint to the polished promise of the new. Through this visual juxtaposition, the project invites the viewer to witness the parallel lives of the buildings, to consider the hidden rhythms that govern change, and to contemplate how spaces—like performers in a duet—exist in relation to one another, responding to time, labor, and chance. Duet is a visual tale of impermanence, the passage of time, and the quiet poetic paradoxes embedded in everyday life.