MetaFilter posts tagged with urbanexploration

Urbex

homunculus — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 15:55:22 -0800

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]

Don't Forget Your Past

Potomac Avenue — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 08:57:34 -0800

Photos of 30 Beautiful Abandoned Places and Modern Ruins. Each place identified below. 1. The Valley of the Mills, Sorrento Italy 2. Eilean Donan Castle, Scotland 3. Hudson River State Hospital , New York 4. Tunnel of Love, Klevens, Ukraine 5. Cooling Plant, Belgium 6. Point of Ayr Lighthouse, Wales 7. Supermarkert, Goražde, Bosnia 8. The Hotel del Salto, Tequendama 9. House of the Communist Party on Mount Buzludzha, Bulgaria 10. Keelung City, Taiwan 11. Port Richmond Power Station, PA 12. Curon Venosta, Reschensee, Italy 13. Wreck of the Mar Sem Fin, Ardley Bay, Antartica 14. Christ of the Abyss statue, Malta 15. Blue Ceiling (likely Chateau de Noisy, France) 16. Boy's Reform School, Nova Scotia 17, Communication Station, Mt. Kissavos, Greece 18. City Methodist Church, Gary Indiana 19. Herdman's mill, Northern Ireland 20. Norwich State Hospital, CT 21. City Hall Subway Stop NYC 22. Wreck of the Arbutus, Dry Tortuga, FL 23. Nara Dreamland, Japan 24. St Dunstan-in-the-East Church, London 25. Saint Etienne le Vieux, France 26. Villers-la-Ville Abbey, Belgium 27. Buchanan Castle, Scotland 28. Lavoir à Charbon Factory, France 29. Château Clochard, France 30. Chemin de fer de Petite Ceinture Railroad, France 31. Lawndale Theater, Chicago 32. Villa Amélie, France 33. Roller coaster (likely Chippewa Lake Amusement Park, Ohio) More ruins at: Remains of a past grandeur on Flickr Forgotten Places on Pinterest Abandoned Porn on Tumblr

Indeterminate Hikes

knile — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 08:34:40 -0800

"How do we engage technology sustainably and in a way that supports creativity and freedom?... One of the things I try to do... is to somehow interrupt the use of [new and emerging] technologies so that it causes people [an] unexpected and renewed awakening or sensibility of those devices being in our lives." The co-founders of ecoarttech are Cary Peppermint (wiki), an art professor at the University of Rochester, and his partner Leila Nadir. They have created an app, Indeterminate Hikes ("IH+"), which guides the user via Google Maps to a use an indirect route to reach a destination, thus exploring urban surroundings in unexpected ways, "with prompts and activities". This work has been featured in a Whitney exhibition and the Danish re-new digital arts festival.

Pillars of the Abandoned World

byanyothername — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:06:30 -0800

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. 5 Pillars of the Abandoned World 5 (More) Pillars of the Abandoned World Previously Previouslier Previousliest

Doel: Belgian ghost town turned city-wide street art gallery

filthy light thief — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:38:23 -0800

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." Things Magazine had a write-up and photo essay on Doel, a Belgian polder villages that was reclaimed from river Schelde at the beginning of the 17th century. UrbEx.NL has a short write-up and a black-and-white album of the city in decline. The global graffiti and street art site Fat Cap has an article from 2010, covering the decline of the city, and how artists embraced the city. Fat Cap also has a gallery of street art in Doel. On YouTube: art in progress in 2009. A search for Doel on Flickr, with images of the city in abandon and street art, and a few seemingly unrelated pictures.

View From The Shard

Omnomnom — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 14:30:35 -0800

An urban explorer of Silent UK breaks into London's The Shard (pictures inside), the 310 meter high vertical city designed to be the highest building in Western Europe.

The Ghost and the Carcass

Artw — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:01:23 -0800

The Atemporality of "Ruin Porn": Part I, Part II.

So a Girl Sneaks Into a Russian Military Rocket Factory...

quin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:12:28 -0800

Lana Sator sneaked into a Russian military rocket factory, found no guards, and started taking pictures. Some of them are pretty amazing. [source]

The Ghost of Gulliver's Kingdom

filthy light thief — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 13:33:59 -0800

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.

The Ballroom Under the Lake

Paragon — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:25:26 -0800

The Ballroom Under the Lake Photo series and explanation Photo series Misc pics: after the flood; wrap-around photo; on Flikr

Into the Tunnels

Taft — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 17:26:19 -0800

The wilderness below New York City, where mysterious and wonderfully abandoned structures are explored by urban historians and adventurers.
Into the Tunnels with Steve Duncan.

The Dead Keep It

Bora Horza Gobuchul — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 12:12:02 -0800

The division of post-WWII Berlin reached everywhere in the city, even underground, sealing stations throughout the long decades of the Cold War. They were the first “ghost stations”, which can now be found everywhere: the Paris Metro (previously), Los Angeles, the London Underground, New York City, and the aforementioned Berlin, remaining as entombed time capsules that are passed by millions every day.

Ghost stations, raccord tunnels & rollling stock

vivelame — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 03:37:36 -0800

Dsankt (previously, previously-er) explored the Paris Metro for quite some time, and came back with great photos and a series of posts on what's down there. The last post provides an overview of ghost stations, tunnels, trains and security, along with beautiful pictures.

Urban Exploration of urban deprivation

mippy — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 06:59:43 -0800

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." (I've never visited Detroit myself so I wish I had more to add - just found these photos and stories so sad.)

Short urban exploration documentaries

Kattullus — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 11:56:18 -0800

Uneven Terrain is a series of short documentaries about urban exploration, about 10-15 minutes long each. There are six so far, about monumental ruins in New York, Centralia, the Pennsylvania town where an underground coalseam has been on fire since the 1960s, abandoned missile silos in the US and how they're being turned into homes, oil drilling in Los Angeles, the Teufelberg listening station and the abandoned bunkers under Tempelhof Airport in Berlin and pirate radio in London and on the old Redsand sea forts. Each short doc has a different presenter. All have accompanying photo galleries. [These are produced for the bootmaker Palladium, but it's pretty low-key]

Place Hacking

Rumple — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 08:49:29 -0800

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.

Chairman Mao's Underground City

Kattullus — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:33:27 -0800

Chairman Mao's Underground City is a pictorial travelogue of a small part of the tunnels that Chairman Mao had built under Beijing to serve as a nuclear fallout shelter. The intrepid urban explorers come across some surprising things. The complex, which was built by hand, could house three hundred thousand people for up to four months and had amenities such as restaurants, cinemas and roller rinks. Here's a short Travel Channel feature on the Underground City.

Detroit schools urban exploration & reclamation.

item — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 03:49:39 -0800

Urban exploration has been featured here once or twice before, but Jim Griffioen's site photo-documenting his discoveries in and around Detroit deserves a look. Griffioen was recently interviewed [direct mp3 link] on the American Public Media radio program The Story. Jim is most interested in schools. He's taken photos of trees growing through books and other things left behind. Recently Jim has gone beyond documenting what he sees and is reclaiming what he finds. He collects abandoned library books and other school supplies and gives them to community centers. Previously - blog post by Griffioen on Detroit's abandoned Belle Isle Zoo

Canadian Urbex

dunkadunc — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:13:52 -0800

The Vanishing Point: Urban Exploration in Canada Michael Cook's website documents his trips to the dark, musty and exciting places where most people don't go. Ontario Generating Station, Niagra Falls Toronto Power Company Hydroelectric Plant, Niagra Falls Storm Drains of Toronto Storm Drains of Hamilton Monarch Mine, British Columbia

Miru Kim at TED

homunculus — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:00:58 -0800

Miru Kim: Making art of New York's urban ruins. "At the 2008 EG Conference, artist Miru Kim talks about her work. Kim explores industrial ruins underneath New York and then photographs herself in them, nude -- to bring these massive, dangerous, hidden spaces into sharp focus." [Via]

where few men have gone before

sidr — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 08:24:32 -0800

Adventuring by Wes Modes. Be sure to make it to the Infiltration Timeline and North Bank Fred's Trainhopping page. Here you might encounter souls like the Diggers of the Underground Planet, the Secret Urban Exploration Ninja Mafia, the San Francisco Suicide Club and other oddities.

"Wall up a dozen lawyers at one end and put a good fee at the other."

billypilgrim — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 21:21:18 -0800

Into the black. At nearly five miles, it's the longest transportation tunnel east of the Rockies. Built in 1874, its construction took 200 lives, nearly bankrupted the state of Massachusetts, and served as a crucible for modern engineering. Journey into the Hoosac Tunnel, urban exploration destination and the most haunted place in New England.

Slowly Gathering Moss

mippy — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:46:37 -0800

They call this “Sanctuary Wood” – for me it fulfils a dream. I’m sorry I trespass but if I had my dream somewhere like this would be my home and sanctuary. An urban-explorer and his girlfriend come across an abandoned caravan in the woods of Essex, then find they are not the only visitors... (The contrast between the rather purple prose of the commentary and the plainly-written comments from the stranger is particularly nice.)

Urban exploration Japan: abandoned mining town

planetkyoto — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 06:34:53 -0800

Urban exploration Japan: abandoned mining town. Step into the doctor's office for a dose of creepy. Three-part photo essay. "Haikyo" in the blog post title means "ruins".

Get yer urban exploration/dead mall fix right here

limeonaire — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:59:13 -0800

"Q: What the hell is this site about? This is a site about urban exploration in the Ozarks." Abandoned water slides, underground tunnels, abandoned buildings and half-demolished malls throughout Missouri were all once fair game for this blog, and remain fair game for those who post in Underground Ozarks' forums.