Austerity is an ongoing project on abandoned schools in Bulgaria.
In 1989 not only the Berlin Wall fell but also communism as a political system. The impact on Europe and especially the Eastern part of it was huge. Almost overnight a political system dating back to the end of World War II and the Cold War era collapsed and made these countries transform to market driven liberal-capitalism. Bulgaria was one of them.
In 2007 Bulgaria entered the European Union as one of the last former communist states together with its neighbour Romania.
Ever since 1989 and certainly since 2007 money has been tight in Bulgaria. Over the last 26 years the population dropped from 9 million to little over 7 million. Nowadays the population drops with 60.000 every year and as a result of the economic situation, the European Union’s craving for austerity and the decline in population there are less children to fill the schools and classrooms.
Bulgaria must have had a good and vast educational system with schools all over the country. Now dozens of schools are closed and left abandoned. This photo project commemorates their remains.
Koen Colpaert is a Belgian photographer, born in Ghent in 1970, with a passion for urban exploration. His work takes a technical and documentary approach, heavily influenced by renowned artists like Bernd and Hilla Becher, Candida Höfer, and Robert Polidori.
He often explores "non-places"—locations that serve transient purposes, such as empty buildings, abandoned industrial sites, or spaces devoid of human interaction. He uses lighting and composition to bring a sense of finality and stillness to these spaces, often evoking emotions tied to isolation and decay. His work straddles the line between art and historical documentation, revealing the unseen narratives within urban landscapes.
ig: @koencolpaert
