"The truth, the absolute truth, is that the chief beauty for the theatre consists in fine bodily proportions."~ Sarah Bernhardt

April 20, 2012 7:45 AM

Derelict Cinemas and Theatres by Adam Slater: Since 2008, Adam Slater has been on a quest to photograph Britain’s abandoned and derelict cinemas and theatres before they are gone for good. Below are some examples from his astonishing set of beautiful yet grotesque ruins, which you can see in full on his flickr page. His blog, Reality Trip, features more fantastic photographs of old power stations, quarries and more. Be sure to check it out. [kubrickontheguillotine.com]
posted by Fizz (4 comments total)

Related. I think there was another along the way, too.

These are great, and heartbreaking in a way. It's a fascinating to thing of how grand these movie palaces must have seems, existing in a time when personal lives were so spartan, and life was harder. Now we're all soft, and our homes are palaces, and the movie theaters are just gross bleacher-seating galleries without any character. And sticky.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 7:52 AM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

and the movie theaters are just gross bleacher-seating galleries without any character. And sticky.

After a marathon of the extended editions of LOTR, my house is like this too.
posted by Fizz at 7:57 AM on April 20, 2012

I think it was Bruce Sterling who observed that the problem with the "Ruin Porn" coinage is that it implies we have a choice about whether or not to look.
posted by mhoye at 9:31 AM on April 20, 2012

Fans of these photos might also want to check out John Heyn's films "Theatre Dark" and "Scenes from the Last Drive-In". Heyn worked closely with Jeff Krulik on the classic documentary "Heavy Metal Parking Lot".
posted by pxe2000 at 3:55 PM on April 20, 2012