Concrete's material agency: and the 200.000 Albanian bunkers

Maris, S. van (2023)

Article / Letter to editor

Thousands of concrete bunkers, built during the communist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha, are scattered all over Albania. Previously, they have mostly been examined on the basis of their symbolic meanings, but not on their materiality. This essay investigates this materiality by exploring the concept of material agency and examining concrete, the bunkers’ defining material. During the ‘bunkerisation’ of Albania, concrete’s agency was somewhat limited. The communist dictatorship could use the material at their will. It was after the dictatorship however, that concrete’s agency became apparent. As a result of concrete’s properties the bunkers are now involuntary monuments to the past.

• concrete
• material agency
• bunkers
• communist Albania
• monuments

• All authors: Maris, S. van
• Date: 2023
• Journal: Inter-Section
• Volume: 5
• Issue: Special issue: how materials shaped the human world
• Pages: 24 - 27
• Link: https://inter-section.nl/