The city, stripped down:

[n2doc]

BY RICHEY PIIPARINEN

snip:


The question becomes, then: What can spark a perceptual change not only in the Rust Belt but in the American psyche? A change from the avoidance of failure to the need for it -- from the hate of ruins to the possibility inherent in them?

Enter ruin porn.

Ruin porn, an artistic movement centered on photographing the scenes of post-industrial decay, has been called condescending to Rust Belters. It has been called a necessary evil. It has been called masturbatory art. I call it a tool for changing perception. Let me explain.

Ruin porn has "outed" urban decay. It did this through the simple act of caring to look. Before that, ruins in America really were a pornographic experience: a scene from the underbelly, of and for the poor, the scrags. It was a private affair dirtied through the interaction between the filth of the aesthetic and the guilt of the observer for having to live with it. But by outing and framing it, and by capturing the inherent beauty in broken things, ruin porn exposed the failure and decay, thus clearing the secrecy, the shame, and leaving room to see less emptiness and more space.

The lie behind the motive to say "there is nothing to see here" becomes the truth behind the courage to look. And through that, we feel our past in the ruins, which allows an enlightened view of where it is we want to go.

more

http://www.grist.org/cities/2011-12-30-the-city-stripped-down-how-ruin-porn-can-help-rebuild-rust-belt

[midnight]

1. I think the spark will be an awareness that our work is valuable and should

not be sold off to the lowest bidder... That our families and our basic needs our just as important as any other security claim.... And that earning livable wages isn't just for wall street or washington any more...

[Warpy]

2. He means it's outed CORPORATE FAILURE.

That's what I see when I look at these pictures, the failure of corporations to protect their US infrastructure, the failure of corporations to uphold the social contract which traditionally allowed them to exist, and the failure of corporations to be decent citizens now they're considered equivalent to real people.

Yet we seemingly lack the will to pull the charters of these failed corporations. As horribly as they have treated this country and all the people here, they still generate obscene profits for a few rich men.

Every one of these pictures of rotting and often unsalvageable structures demonstrates that these cartels of businessmen called corporations have failed in every conceivable way to live up to their purposes.

The only answer is the death penalty.

[i_sometimes]

4. I disagree...

I read through many of those links and most of those buildings have been closed for years. The Metro-which is the most photographed 'ruin', is actually owned by a billionaire trucking company owner and has been closed since 1986 irc. The others like the Packard plant, since 1956. Yeah, I know that factory flight has left us fucked, I drove truck for many years, I was part of the supply chain. I saw the plants like Rubbermaid, Firestone, close. I saw Kodak go from 10 loads a week to 3. I have seen the rusting hulks of local lumber mills here in Oregon.
But some of these area's, like Detroit, it was white flight that left behind an infrastructure too large to support with the shrunken tax base. I posted some links below in another post, if you have time, go read them. I sure learned allot.

[JNelson6563]

6. You are correct

I think a lot of people do not realize that a big part of Detroit's current situation was caused by racial tensions that came to a head in the late 60's in the form of riots. The white cops had cracked one too many black heads and the powder keg exploded.

I was a young girl at the time but I remember clearly being robbed at knife-point for my milk money in first grade. Anyone with the means fled the city at that point. Many, like my dad, continued to drive into downtown for their jobs (my dad was white collar GM) and back to the suburbs at night. Making matters worse in the years to follow was corruption as bad or worse than before the riots. Poor Detroit.

Julie

[i_sometimes]

7. Corruption in the School Districts

was really highlighted in what I read yesterday. Millions of dollars allocated but none of it reaching the schools.
Sad.
The Urban Prairie projects are pretty cool though and it is interesting to see how a city rises, falls, and yet may rise again.

We did some of this type of photography back in LA, the Helms Building, downtown. Used to break into these old buildings and use them for fashions shoots knowing that no one else could use the same locations without a true hunt.
We even got onto Lee Majors old place and used it for some bitd Bongo ads.

Take care...

[valerief]

5. People failed, cuz, as Mittens and SCOTUS tells us, corporations are people. nt

[i_sometimes]

3. Thanks for that...

I just the better part of an hour reading about Detroit and those who write about it, photograph it. The urban prairie? wow.
Here is more: http://www.vice.com/read/something-something-something-detroit-994-v16n8
And here are the Posey pictures: http://www.seanposey.com/