Excuse Us While We Kiss The Sky. [Single page view] "By day they work as computer programmers and stock boys and academics. But at night they are known as urban explorers. The Brooklyn Bridge,
London's Shard, Notre Dame—each structure is an expedition waiting to happen. Each sewer, each scaffold, each off-limits site is a puzzle to solve. No wonder the cops are after them. Matthew Power embeds with the space invaders and sees a world—above- and belowground—that the rest of us never knew existed."
[Via]
posted by homunculus
on Mar 11, 2013 -
17 comments
5 Pillars of the Abandoned World is a tour through lost landscapes and shrugged off citadels. From the Gothic, Disney villainness ominousness of
Miranda Castle to the
distant splendor (photo by
Cédric Mayence) of the abandoned Luxembourg Stock Exchange. Don't feel left out, North Americans: the US has plenty of holy, holey structures to sweep you off your feet. Fan favorite for urbane decrepitude, Detroit has lots to see. The
St. Agnes Catholic Church is the
place to be for the religiously inclined ramshackle rambler. Need a place to put up your feet? The
Book-
Cadillac offers a cozy spot to spread out your
tour guide and relax. When you're ready to move on, just head over to
Michigan Central Station and hop on the last train to forever.
The world's an awfully big stage. There's
a lot to take in, but don't worry about a thing. Just
enjoy the show. There's no hurry; what's already gone isn't going anywhere.
[more inside]
posted by byanyothername
on Jun 13, 2012 -
6 comments
Ghost town in Belgium will lose its street art when it ceases to exist. "
For 700 years, Doel stood near Antwerp along the Scheldt River in Belgium. As Antwerp expanded in the 20th century, its port needed more space, and Doel quickly became a target for demolition. Trying to force residents out, the government scheduled demolitions multiple times, but were beaten by popular protests from the 1970s through the 1990s. But despite the will of the people, Doel could not be saved and in 1999, the town was officially scheduled for complete demolition. Since that time, residents have trickled out, but artists have made their way in. As more of the town became abandoned, street artists from across Europe came and began to debut their works around Doel."
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Apr 19, 2012 -
9 comments
Kamikuishiki was a village in the
Yamanashi Prefecture in Japan that gained unwanted international attention in 1995 as a key location for
Aum Shinrikyo, the religious cult behind a number of acts of violence, including the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway. To change the nature of attention given to the picturesque village, a new attraction was built on the former site of the cult complex:
Gulliver's Kingdom,
a mixed up theme park with a Scandinavian town, a petting zoo, a French puppet theater to tell the story of Gulliver, and a
45 meter version of Gulliver himself, pinned to the ground. The park was opened in 1997, but Niigata Chuo Bank was facing
serious problems two years later, collapsing "under the weight of nonperforming loans." The theme park's owners were the largest borrowers from the bank, and
the park closed in 2001. The park was
finally purchased in 2002 in the 3rd auction attempt. In 2006,
Kamikuishiki disappeared, divided and the parts merged into neighboring municipalities. The next year,
Gulliver's Kingdom was demolished, leaving behind
photos (
new and old), and
memories.
posted by filthy light thief
on Jun 6, 2011 -
4 comments
Abandoned Detroit Public Schools "People tend to have a visceral reaction to the sight of books piled ten feet high and left to rot in a windowless warehouse or strewn about a classroom floor. They seem to have more sympathy for books than for the children who’ll never have the chance to use them. Half of Detroiters cannot even read. Unemployment is above 20 percent and our streets are filled with hopeless people. When I see schools left like this, I know exactly what waits for many of these kids. I see it every day on the streets."
[more inside]
posted by mippy
on Jun 6, 2010 -
75 comments
Virtual hacking is cool but place hacking makes it core again, brachiating across scaffolding to get the shot on your Digital SLR that maximizes your flickr stats, raking in the google adsense cash and conforming to a zerowork ethos if we get pro at it. Sleep in ruins, sell your photos of disgusting shit to tourists. Rinse off in a petrol station sink and repeat. We are the nerds that finally walked away from their computers and we are behind that scaffolding covering the building you ignore everyday when you walk by it going to work, we just loved on that place like no one has in 20 years. We are psychotopological terrorists and we will shove that masterlock up your ass.
A "reformed archaeologist" talks about
exploration of urban ruins. Modern urban ruins.
posted by Rumple
on Jan 21, 2010 -
72 comments
Illicit Ohio has a wide range of photos and essays of
abandoned places in Ohio, from the
Cincinnati subway system (yes, there really
is was one, and it's been
discussed here before), to
various and
sundry prisons,
government installations,
hotels,
hosiptals,
houses and more. And don't miss the
old vs. new galleries, either.
posted by dersins
on Aug 29, 2007 -
20 comments
Amazing collection of several galleries full of Japanese "urban ruins" photos, including
abandoned amusement parks,
refineries,
apartment blocks,
hospitals,
schools,
bowling alleys, & much more, including
Battleship Island, the (previously
posted) abandoned coal mining island off the coast of Nagasaki.
Via.
posted by jonson
on Dec 5, 2006 -
34 comments
There have been a number of urban exploration or modern ruins photography posts here over the years, but I couldn't find any that linked to my new favorite modern ruin site,
opacity.us. With 85 galleries of subjects as gorgeous as
Bannerman's Arsenal and as haunting as the
Verden Psychiatric Hospital, it's a treasure trove of entropy on film.
posted by jonson
on Dec 26, 2005 -
18 comments
The Williamson Tunnels "The explanation most commonly offered [for the construction of the tunnels] is that having risen from humble beginnings, the rich retired merchant was touched by the poverty which pervaded the Edge Hill district and offered construction labour to the unemployed as a gesture of generosity"
posted by dhruva
on Aug 2, 2005 -
10 comments
Modern Ruins are a window into human histories, they tell the stories of the past through the
stark presence of objects and
architectures. Perhaps the most powerful aspect of
ruins is the subject that is
missing in the photographs; the people who once worked, lived, walked, talked, slept and dreamed in these
spaces.
posted by papercake
on May 12, 2004 -
5 comments
Are You Up For The Challenge? It's about adventure! Urban Challenge is not how fast or how far you run or how well you know the city. Did Columbus know the seas well enough to look for a new route to the West Indies? Did Lewis & Clark adequately train for their expedition to find the Northwest Passage?
posted by Gargantuan
on Aug 15, 2002 -
15 comments
