BREAKING INTO THE CITY Urban explorers' architectural posture
By Michael Cook
The activities and cultural contributions of self-described 'urban explorers' have become influential in how public and professionals view, imagine and act upon cities. Through risk-taking photography, urban explorers have popularized views of industrial and institutional ruins, of underground infrastructure ranging from Victorian sewers to hypermodern transport tunnels, and of city skylines seen from new condominium and office towers or from the rickety tower cranes erecting them. The influential aesthetics of urban exploration have shown up everywhere from major films and video games, to sanctioned tourist activities as in the Toronto CN Tower's Edgewalk attraction, to the public communications of utilities like London's Thames Water.
As hobbyists, and occasionally as artists and researchers (like this author) operating at the margins of professional practice, urban explorers rely on circumstance, trespass and active intrusion to experience and craft images of places that would otherwise be off-limits. Fences, locked doors, manhole covers and the physical walls and ground of the city are routinely described as barriers not only to personal experience, but to popular imagination and understanding of urban ecologies, histories and futures. Some academics have attempted to ascribe a more revolutionary content to these trespasses: as challenges to surveillance states, as admonishments of the consumer economy and social regulation, or as reappropriations of the ruins of deindustrialization; urban exploration has also been critiqued as immature, male-dominated, and as a selfish practice that has little ambition to expand public knowledge, access and authority over the places being 'explored'.
Arguably, the images themselves have been the most transformative aspect of the practice. In many of the most widely-circulated images, we find an enveloping portraiture of the explorer's body, imposed on structures and spaces and views in and on which it very clearly does not belong. Architecture and engineering have always had a complicated relationship with human bodies and with the 'human measure' (whether that of Heidegger or of Henry Dreyfuss); this is perhaps nowhere more evident than in the dense urban cores that offer the most engaging stage for explorers' photography. The subversion of dwelling and polis to the commodity efficiency of real estate and to the rational management of institutional security and public service provision has meant a proliferation of un-peopled architectures within cities, where the provision of social functions now produces anti-social space and structure.
Images of the human figure embedded in-tunnel and poised impossibly atop roof and scaffold re-measure those spaces, and bid questions about their reintegration into the city's human landscape. A delirious imposition of the figure onto skyline and sewer alike, urban exploration is an architectural posture, one that celebrates the beauty (and the scale) of architecture and engineering's technical achievements, while simultaneously rejecting the anti-ergonomic superstructure of the cities that they have built. Through images, the explorer's act of being present in unpresentable places suggests their potential to accept a public and to support the same politics of social care, responsibility and investment that accrue to other spaces (parks, neighbourhoods, schools, arts and culture facilities).
The article will be organized in two parts. Part A will expand the theoretical discussion presented above. Part B will present capsule discussions of five infrastructural places (Sewer, Crane, Canal, Power Station, Transit Tunnel): documenting the transgressive entry of urban explorers into these structures and the transformative influence of their presence and photographic accounts. Photographs by a number of well-known practitioners (including the author), along with screen captures and reproductions of public communications, videos and other media, will accompany the text.
As hobbyists, and occasionally as artists and researchers (like this author) operating at the margins of professional practice, urban explorers rely on circumstance, trespass and active intrusion to experience and craft images of places that would otherwise be off-limits. Fences, locked doors, manhole covers and the physical walls and ground of the city are routinely described as barriers not only to personal experience, but to popular imagination and understanding of urban ecologies, histories and futures. Some academics have attempted to ascribe a more revolutionary content to these trespasses: as challenges to surveillance states, as admonishments of the consumer economy and social regulation, or as reappropriations of the ruins of deindustrialization; urban exploration has also been critiqued as immature, male-dominated, and as a selfish practice that has little ambition to expand public knowledge, access and authority over the places being 'explored'.
Arguably, the images themselves have been the most transformative aspect of the practice. In many of the most widely-circulated images, we find an enveloping portraiture of the explorer's body, imposed on structures and spaces and views in and on which it very clearly does not belong. Architecture and engineering have always had a complicated relationship with human bodies and with the 'human measure' (whether that of Heidegger or of Henry Dreyfuss); this is perhaps nowhere more evident than in the dense urban cores that offer the most engaging stage for explorers' photography. The subversion of dwelling and polis to the commodity efficiency of real estate and to the rational management of institutional security and public service provision has meant a proliferation of un-peopled architectures within cities, where the provision of social functions now produces anti-social space and structure.
Images of the human figure embedded in-tunnel and poised impossibly atop roof and scaffold re-measure those spaces, and bid questions about their reintegration into the city's human landscape. A delirious imposition of the figure onto skyline and sewer alike, urban exploration is an architectural posture, one that celebrates the beauty (and the scale) of architecture and engineering's technical achievements, while simultaneously rejecting the anti-ergonomic superstructure of the cities that they have built. Through images, the explorer's act of being present in unpresentable places suggests their potential to accept a public and to support the same politics of social care, responsibility and investment that accrue to other spaces (parks, neighbourhoods, schools, arts and culture facilities).
The article will be organized in two parts. Part A will expand the theoretical discussion presented above. Part B will present capsule discussions of five infrastructural places (Sewer, Crane, Canal, Power Station, Transit Tunnel): documenting the transgressive entry of urban explorers into these structures and the transformative influence of their presence and photographic accounts. Photographs by a number of well-known practitioners (including the author), along with screen captures and reproductions of public communications, videos and other media, will accompany the text.
311 Comments – Login to comment
kissasian · Oct 3, 20 11:32 am
kissasian · Oct 3, 20 11:32 am
kissasian · Oct 16, 20 10:57 am
kissasian · Oct 16, 20 10:58 am
fiazahmad · Oct 27, 20 9:14 am
shebishebi · Oct 28, 20 5:42 am
kissasian · Oct 30, 20 10:36 am
kissasian · Oct 30, 20 10:36 am
muhammadqaisarmehmood · Nov 5, 20 2:41 pm
https://www.masterpakistan
.commuhammadqaisarmehmood · Nov 5, 20 2:41 pm
https://www.masterpakistan
.commuhammadqaisarmehmood · Nov 5, 20 2:41 pm
https://www.masterpakistan
.commuhammadqaisarmehmood · Nov 5, 20 2:41 pm
https://www.masterpakistan
.commuhammadqaisarmehmood · Nov 5, 20 2:41 pm
https://www.masterpakistan
.commuhammadqaisarmehmood · Nov 5, 20 2:41 pm
https://www.masterpakistan
.commuhammadqaisarmehmood · Nov 5, 20 2:44 pm
https://www.masterpakistan.commuhammadqaisarmehmood · Nov 5, 20 2:44 pm
https://www.masterpakistan.commuhammadqaisarmehmood · Nov 5, 20 2:44 pm
lionsforcesacademy.blogspot.commuhammadqaisarmehmood · Nov 5, 20 2:45 pm
https://lionsonlineforcesacademy.blogspot.com/2019/11/pma-long-course-preparation-notes-lions.htmlkissasian · Nov 6, 20 11:28 am
ladorani · Nov 9, 20 3:09 am
I hope it will be helpful for almost all peoples that are searching for this type of topic. I Think this website is best for such topic. good work and quality of articles ThanksQurbaan">https://pinjarakhoobsurtika.com/qurbaan-hua/">Qurbaan Hua Episode Onlinesulemankhan · Nov 13, 20 10:59 am
kissasian · Nov 15, 20 4:15 am
aqibmalghani · Nov 20, 20 6:02 am
aqibmalghani · Nov 20, 20 6:02 am
kissasian · Nov 24, 20 4:01 am
kissasian · Nov 24, 20 4:02 am
ladorani · Nov 24, 20 9:35 am
I’ve been browsing online greater than three hours lately, but I by no means found any attention-grabbing article like yours. It's beautiful price enough for me. In my opinion, if all webmasters and bloggers made good content as you probably did, the internet can be a lot more useful than ever before.Anupama">https://pinjarakhoobsurtika.net/anupama/">Anupama Video Episodeladorani · Nov 25, 20 10:40 am
I’ve been browsing online greater than three hours lately, but I by no means found any attention-grabbing article like yours. It's beautiful price enough for me. In my opinion, if all webmasters and bloggers made good content as you probably did, the internet can be a lot more useful than ever before.Apna">https://pinjarakhoobsurtika.net/apna-time-bhi-aayega/">Apna Time Bhi Aayega Latest Episodemisterbean · Nov 29, 20 5:26 pm
dannylee · Dec 1, 20 3:20 am
<a href="https://blossomnailspa.net/">best campbell nail spa</a>kissasian · Dec 1, 20 9:53 am
mayankgupta11 · Dec 2, 20 2:47 am
kissasian · Dec 7, 20 1:22 am
aqibmalghani · Dec 8, 20 5:37 am
aqibmalghani · Dec 8, 20 5:37 am
shehryarkhan · Dec 17, 20 10:00 am
Pool leak los angeles https://www.poolleakdetectionthousandoaks.net/kissasian · Dec 20, 20 12:11 pm
shehryarkhan · Dec 23, 20 7:48 am
thanks for sharing information https://www.convertfollowers.com/good boy · Dec 29, 20 2:51 am
Thank you so much https://www.sfvpoolcare.com/good boy · Dec 29, 20 2:51 am
https://www.sfvpoolcare.com/
rohankh70646220 · Jan 1, 21 7:38 am
Times Square in New York will be closed to the public Thursday night for New Year’s Eve celebrations, the first time there won’t be a crowd at the iconic locale on December 31 since the first ball drop in 1907 (the first celebration at One Times Square in Manhattan was in 1904). But in a year in which the entertainment industry has had to adjust to a virtual stage, the show will go on and the ball will still drop at midnight. Barrister Babu onlinerohankh70646220 · Jan 1, 21 7:40 am
Official Times Square New Year’s Eve co-organizers Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment will present a six-hour commercial-free webcast (closed to the public and following New York state health protocols), with Jonathan Bennett returning as host. It will include performances from Andra Day, Gloria Gaynor, the USO Show Troupe and The Waffle Crew Pinjara Khubsurti ka onlinerohankh70646220 · Jan 1, 21 7:41 am
Other New York-based performers on the night among the various broadcast and cable networks, which are airing elements of the webcast, include Jennifer Lopez, Billy Porter, Cyndi Lauper, Jimmie Allen and Machine Gun Kelly for ABC’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest, in its 49th year Ishq mein marjawan season 2ofwreplay · Jan 12, 21 9:36 am
watch online https://ofwreplay.su]teleserye replay [/url] online by ABS CBN and GMA Networkofwreplay · Jan 12, 21 9:37 am
a Better way to watch free ABSCBN videos just visit https://ofwreplay.subiggboss14fullepisode · Jan 28, 21 10:22 am
punjabisongs · Feb 2, 21 5:41 pm
Anupama">https://anupamatv.com/">Anupama Online
punjabisongs · Feb 2, 21 5:41 pm
shehryarkhan · Feb 3, 21 5:11 am
<a href="https://www.get1031properties.com/">1031 exchange san jose</a>shehryarkhan · Feb 3, 21 5:14 am
thanks for sharing information https://www.get1031properties.com/