Comments on: Brunch in the Ruins

By: Helen

Helen — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 04:36:37 +0000

— But I see I’m getting melodramatic, and it’s just too hot and sticky and still to sustain that.

Quite so. you need a Dark and Stormy Night.

By: not Sam Javanrouh

not Sam Javanrouh — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 17:35:15 +0000

At an abandoned psychiatric hospital in Whitby, Ontario

By: Randolph Fritz

Randolph Fritz — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 14:30:49 +0000

Texture, form, and time made visible. Will Bruder (look him up) once commented that the attraction of ruins was that they showed form purely. And texture; so many industrial products are so smooth and formal, and our eyes are made for things that are the products of time, fractals and broken symmetries.

By: etat

etat — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 10:09:03 +0000

This looks like a good oportunity to ask some highly articulate people about something that remains unexplained (and to many, inexplicable):

What is it that fascinates you about these scenes, these places, these objects?

I’ve seen eloquent answers that discuss it in terms of memory, of craft/skill, of texture, of adventure.

What qualities give these places an enduring interest? What makes them so attractive? What do they represent?

Lastly, and from a geographical perspective: what roles do these places play in society? There are enough of these places to constitute a class of space. So what is that space about? What does it do? Some theory to go along with those photos would be nice.

By: post pc

post pc — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 06:24:30 +0000

the dying earth at the last stands the dark tower

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 03:52:23 +0000

I'm quite fond of a particularly American contribution to the genre.

By: Bro. Bartleby

Bro. Bartleby — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 02:15:09 +0000

What does this say about evolution? When the creator is close by, then repair and renovation and upgrade are a constant, but when the creator departs town, taking care and concern and desire with him, all that is left behind goes the way of all that is forgotten, former complexity seeks its origins, and constructs destruct and bricks turn to dust and old men rock in chairs awaiting the youth of their mind to rock once again.

By: rootlesscosmo

rootlesscosmo — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 23:58:53 +0000

This site

http://www.acme.com/jef/photos/archaeology.html

links to a lot of industrial ruins. Good stuff.

By: Steve LaBonne

Steve LaBonne — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 22:24:18 +0000

Pittsburgh’s already starting to get to you, eh? ;)

By: cosma

cosma — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 19:56:44 +0000

Well, but those are shells, you can understand my confusion… actually, I just can’t spell. Correction appreciated.

By: Beryl

Beryl — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 19:47:31 +0000

You are getting melodramatic, Cosmo. I’ve cooked praires [http://www.fruitsdelamer.com/coquillages/praire.php3], but never disarmed them.

By: tom @whimsley

tom @whimsley — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 19:29:05 +0000

Well, I can’t resist posting a bit from Riddley Walker (p. 96 in the edition I have) where Riddley, walking through his warped postapocalyptic landscape, comes across an ancient power station:

Some of them ther shels ben broak open you cud see girt shynin weals like jynt mil stoans only smoov Id all ways usit the word shyning same as any 1 else myt. The sun is shyning or the moon is shyning. Youwl see a shyning on the water or a womans hair. When you talk of the Little Shyning Man its jus the middl word of what hes callt there aint no real meaning to it. Suddn when I see the shyning of the broakin machines I begun to get some idear of the shyning of the Littl Man. Tears begun streaming down my face and my froat akit…. How cud any 1 not want to get that shyning Power back from time back way back? How cud any 1 not want to be like them what had boats in the air and picters on the wind? How cud any 1 not want to see them shyning weals terning?