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modern ruins

Fri, 2005-07-01 04:58 — tfinn

somebody on #trax posted a photo album of an abandoned russian airport, which reminded me of some even spookier photos I had run across a few years ago.

I rummaged through my bookmarks and found it.

Modern Ruins shows "[...] a layered meaning in these places, random pieces of a historic and social puzzle are clumped together, confused by years of decay, these ruins are an archaeology of our culture, they reveal unexpected artifacts of a past that seems distant and foreign."

they're like frozen echoes of nostalgia for a past which no longer exists, but still haunts the future. it reminds me of delivering papers at 4AM in the morning wondering how little difference at those hours things would be if a hydrogen bomb were dropped...

Comments

Sat, 2005-07-02 10:43 — IC

I Saw

Excellent. When I visit a location like this I can't help imagining the sound of all of this machinery and be awed by an ovewhelming sense of silence in its absence.
Bethlehem steel is undergoing an urban renewal program at the moment, and many of the buildings have been raised. So far, the only new construction is a "Flyers Skate Zone" who's white walls and long low rooves mock the decaying buildings which surround it. It seems part of the project was to repave and restore the vintage street lights and bus-stops of the main thorofare through the plant grounds, but soon after chainlink fence was run straight across this road on its way bisecting the entire site. I imagine this simplifies the task of securing the site against the hoards of drag racers and law abiding photographers, as retirees in pick-ups investigate anyone choosing to aproach said fence and admonish them not to go beyond.

IC
IChaos
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Fri, 2005-07-01 21:16 — k8to

I've been to some of these.

My mom drives past the bethlehem steel mill every day actually.

I find it quite creepy. and impressive. It blights nearly half of a small city.