![]() ![]() Despite some initial skepticism about the legitimacy of the topic by his university advisers, Urbex proved to be a rich avenue of inquiry for Garrett-far better than his initial plan to study modern-day Druids. The Urbex ethos was, in theory, low-impact: no vandalism, no theft, take only photographs as one practitioner put it, "a victimless crime." Urbex is staunchly anticommercial (Converse was widely mocked in the scene when it released an urban-exploration-themed sneaker), and yet has an undercurrent of self-promotion, with many explorers selling their photographs to the media or publicizing them on blogs and web forums. ![]() The catch-all term for these space-invading activities is "Urbex," and in recent years it has grown as a global movement, from Melbourne to Minneapolis to Minsk. The London crew’s objective, as much as any of them could agree on one, was to rediscover, re-appropriate, and reimagine the urban landscape in what is perhaps the most highly surveilled and tightly controlled city on earth. They had pried open the blast doors of the Burlington bunker, a disused 35-acre subterranean Cold War-era complex that was to house the British government in the event of nuclear Armageddon. They had commandeered (and accidentally derailed) an underground train of the now defunct Mail Rail, which once delivered the Royal Mail along a 23-mile circuit beneath London. He conducted a deep ethnographic study of a small crew of self-described "urban explorers" who over several years had infiltrated an astonishing array of off-limits sites above and below London and across Europe: abandoned Tube stations, uncompleted skyscrapers, World War II bomb shelters, derelict submarines, and half-built Olympic stadiums. His dissertation in human geography, which he had defended the previous year, was entitled "Place Hacking." The title came from his argument that physical space is coded just like the operating system of a computer network, and it could be hacked-explored, infiltrated, re-coded-in precisely the same ways. Game on."īut it was his doctoral research itself that was perhaps most punk rock. And if we can’t take the ladder, we’ll shoot an arrow tied with fishing line up to the torch from the crown and rig ropes like we did at the Angel of the North in England. "Accessible via a fifty-four-rung ladder in the arm. "This Moscow metro system was rumored to have been built by Stalin to transport the Soviet elite to the Kremlin, a secret airport, and a town beneath Ramenki. "Henry Ford built this Michigan-style company town to harvest rubber from the Brazilian jungle in 1928. "Apparently North Korea has a metro system in Pyongyang and, even better, an abandoned station hidden in its depths."Ģ. *How’s This for a To-Do List? * Bradley Garrett tells us his team’s dream targets.ġ. ![]() Matthew Power embeds with the space invaders and sees a world-above and below ground-that the rest of us never knew existed Each sewer, each scaffold, each off-limits site is a puzzle to solve. The Brooklyn Bridge, London's Shard, Notre Dame-each structure is an expedition waiting to happen. But at night they are known as urban explorers. You can view these select images on the Crowdrise page photo carousel.īy day they work as computer programmers and stock boys and academics. DONATE NOW._ĭonors who give $125+ will be sent their choice of one of five prints (82) donated by urban explorers featured in this story. A generous anonymous donor has offered to match all gifts contributed to the endowment, up to a total of $50,000, between now and October 22-what would have been Matt’s 40th birthday. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University has been established. To honor Matt-and to encourage young writers to pursue new stories-the Matthew Power Literary Reporting Award at the Arthur L. He left behind a body of work as diverse and compelling as the adventures, tragedies, and passions of his subjects. Editor’s Note: On March 10, 2014, journalist Matthew Power lost his life pursuing a story along the Nile River in Uganda. ![]()
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