Rob Hornstra, The Sochi project – Poster Pitsunda, Abkhazia, 2009

A former ballroom in the Abkhazian seaside town Pitsunda. In this tourist resort the high-rise hotels stand shoulder to shoulder. More and more buildings and attractions from the Soviet era are falling into disrepair. The mayor, who we happened to meet in a local restaurant, tells us that he would prefer to rebuild everything from scratch. In his view that should have happened long ago. Unfortunately, the plans have once again been postponed for a year. And with the current economic crisis, another couple of years can easily be added to that. In the meantime, the grass in the former ballroom continues to grow undisturbed.