Hello and welcome to the 54th issue of Place! Today we are following in the footsteps of travel writers, architects, artists, chefs, and filmmakers who have forged paths into places that have made us think differently about how we see the world. From an ‘at-home’ documentary to a brutalist architect’s manifesto, take some time this weekend to see the world through their eyes. It may allow you to see the places that surround you in a new light.
ICYMI! We recently honoured our first birthday by launching a brand new pitch guide because we really want to hear your stories! And the great news is, we can now pay our contributors thanks to our generous subscribers who have supported us through our membership program. We already have a couple pieces coming up that we are super excited to share with you all, and can’t wait for what’s to come.
At Place, we believe that the experiences, sensations and conversations we have as we move about the world stay with us, stacking up as the years go by, forming who we are and the way we view the world. Do you have a letter to share? Send it to us at placeletter@protonmail.com. If you are interested in writing for Place you can find our pitch guide here. If you’re the social type, follow us on Twitter (@place_letter) where you can share your favourite pieces and Instagram (@placenewsletter) for a visual feast. Yours, The Place editorial team.
The Smell of Concrete After Rain
Brutalist architecture - the post-war era geographically made of exposed concrete and steel - inspires a range of reactions, from the admiration of architects knowing the difficulty of working with material that immediately sets, city dwellers impressed and repulsed by the imposing raw materials, to building residents complaining of “soulless” interiors. But cities are called “concrete jungles” for a reason, and this episode dives deep into a style and material that has come to be synonymous with any urban environment. At the very end of the episode, the host reads an excerpt from Brutalist architect Michael McKinnel’s “Two Hundred and Fifty Things an Architect Should Know,” a worthwhile listen for the builders and pedestrians of any city.
A Journey to the Edge of Europe
When looking at a globe, the Faroe Islands are tiny specks of green in the exposed sea between Scotland and Iceland, an incredibly storied nation that has stood strong in one of the most inhospitable climates and locations in the world. Danish chef Magnus Nilsson journeys to one of the remotest islands among the archipelago - Stóra Dímun - where two families live above 200 meter cliffs that drop directly into the churning sea, farming and laying witness to the changing environment around them due to overfishing and climate change. This is a story about food, yes (fermented meat is a key dish) but also about how humans exist, adapt and live in the beautiful nooks and crannies forgotten by most of the world.
Life in a Day 2020
What does a day look like across the world, to thousands of different people, in different places, at different times? This crowdsourced YouTube documentary gives a glimpse. Vignettes of funerals, birthdays, heartbreaks, hobbies, and chores from around the world, playing on like a drawn out TikTok video, highlight both the mundane and the extraordinary of the everyday. And despite some truly remote locations, it's the commonalities of distant lives that are the most striking – making the world seem, perhaps ironically, a bit closer than it feels sometimes.
The Lost Pianos of Siberia
After spending a summer in the countryside of Mongolia and meeting a local pianist who’s only dream was to play Bach on a ‘real’ piano, travel writer Sophy Roberts is catapulted on a journey across Siberia. Driven in her search of the region’s famed classical pianos – which were bought up after the Russian revolution to benefit those who had previously had no access to musical instruction – Roberts' account details the lesser known history and culture of one of the world’s vast expanses. Accompanied by poignant images by photographer Michael Turek, this story will transport you to an obscure and beautiful part of the world.
Veio: Life as a Work of Art
The history of a landscape, the earthen quality of primary colours, an isolated universe traversed by bicycle; this is intertwined life, and art, of a small-town artist called Veio depicted in this short film. In creating sculptures from dead trees, collected from swathes of deforested land in northeastern Brazil, Veio’s art extends the lifetime of the place around him, and pushes the viewer’s imagination to new bounds. “To me, what matters, is to produce a kind of work in which people think, ‘What is that I have never seen before?’”
Join us next week in exploring what makes a house a home.