The starting point of this project has been the city of Astana, previously known as Akmola, which was declared the new capital of Kazakhstan by the President Nursultan Nazarbayev in 1997. The most famous architects to create a feeling of grandeur have completely redesigned the entire city.
As Walter Benjamin says “the place itself becomes subject, as it provides the past” (Selected Writings), it seems that the place as placeholder of memories, the old town Akmola represents a sort of imaginary bridge towards the new super modern capital. Astana could be depicted as a place beyond the present and the past, a futuristic dream in the middle of Asia.
