i’ve always had a thing for derelict buildings and spaces. i love the look of rusty corrugated iron, aged, worn-out buildings with character, and spaces that have had a previous life but are longer appreciated, so are often abandoned.
URBAN EXPLORATION – ANOTHER ARTFORM 16:01:2013
Words: Elisa Limburg
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Photos: Bianca Jane
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- ROLLER DOME
I’ve always had a thing for derelict buildings and spaces. I love the look of rusty corrugated iron, aged, worn-out buildings with character and spaces that have had a previous life but are longer appreciated, so are often abandoned. Over the years I’ve taken photos of these spaces, old bridges, underground tunnels and buildings etc. both locally and overseas. I never put much thought to it and just enjoyed taking photos of these interesting and unique subjects. It turns out I’m not the only one. ‘Urban exploration’ or ‘Urbex’ as it’s also known, is something that apparently appeals to quite a lot of people. It has been loosely defined as the exploration of often man-made structures and locations which are often abandoned and off-limits. Popular locations include old warehouses, factories, schools, ports, underground tunnels, asylums and amusement parks. People often visit these spots to take photos, video and record for hobbies and historical purposes.
YOU KNOW I THINK IT'S JUST SOME KIND OF CUBBY HOUSE FASCINATION, LIKE KIDS HAVE WITH FINDING THEIR OWN LITTLE DISUSED SPACES THEY CAN ‘CASTLE’. I REALLY LIKE JUST BEING ABLE TO MAKE GOOD USE OF SPACES WHICH ARE OTHERWISE DISUSED.
Bianca from Brisbane is someone who discovered urban exploration a few years ago. She’s created a Facebook following by discovering and revealing some very unique and interesting urban locations and posting them on her Facebook page. Bianca says her main motivation was to find “nice spots to be able to go back with friends and have a beer and really relax and take it all in.”
“You know I think it's just some kind of cubby house fascination, like kids have with finding their own little disused spaces they can ‘castle.’ I really like just being able to make good use of spaces which are otherwise disused,” said Bianca.
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URBAN EXPLORATION – ANOTHER ARTFORM - ART HOUSE PROJECT
I’D LIKE TO KEEP MY (FACEBOOK) PAGE UP BECAUSE PEOPLE KEEP FILLING IN LITTLE PARTS OF THE HISTORY OF THESE PLACES AND ONE DAY HOPEFULLY PUBLISH SOMETHING, SINCE THERE SEEMS TO BE NOTHING LIKE THIS AROUND. - Bianca Jane
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Bianca’s fascination with abandoned locations started when she was around 15 years old. She claims to have had a ‘patchy’ background and used to hang out with street kids, so saw a lot of ‘squats’. She later moved to the inner Brisbane area, bought a BMX bike and started exploring her local neighbourhood, ‘gridding’ areas by riding up and down every street and looking for interesting spots. From rooftops, alley lanes and
carkparks, she started to notice empty places and went in and explored them. On a trip to Tokyo, Japan, Bianca came across a book on abandoned buildings which further cemented her fascination and she realised that ‘urban exploration’ actually existed. (Haikyo meaning ‘abandoned place’ is particularly common in Japan because of its rapid industrialisation especially after World War II, the burst of the 1980s real estate boom, earthquakes and tsunamis). Bianca then started searching online looking for more hidden spots. However, she discovered other ‘urban explorers’ didn’t really like giving away their spots. “I thought it would be nice to have one place where everything was all documented together. I give some vague directions so anyone really keen like myself can at least know where to start looking”, said Bianca. So she started putting everything on her Facebook page titled ‘Urban Exploration’ and documenting every abandoned spot she’d been to with photographs.
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- PINK PALACE Despite wanting to share some of the urban gems she’s found, Bianca has had some reservations with what she puts online. There are some locations she’s not willing to disclose and at times she has been reluctant to revisit, scared that they might have been ruined. Although some urban explorers just explore and appreciate abandoned locations, others stake a claim on them and unfortunately many are vandalised. “I guess now that the page is so popular I’m having a lot of second thoughts about how much of this information is put out there, specifically with places which haven’t been trashed or grafitti’d, or where people may have left stuff like antiques and personal items,” Bianca said. Surprisingly, after having had some other local exposure about what she’s doing, Bianca has found the elderly have taken a real interest. They have been able to contribute a lot of historical information about places and have taken an interest to see how places have changed. Other people that have taken an interest in her Facebook page include film-makers, street artists and graffiti artists. Bianca gets a lot of requests for locations and also tips. The tip-swapping she claims is one of the best parts of exposing places. She has also started meeting up with people to explore new locations, which apparently other groups are doing as well. “I’d like to keep my (Facebook) page up because people keep filling in little parts of the history of these places and one day hopefully publish something, since there seems to be nothing like this around. But for now I’m happy to just let people keep adding to the comments as the picture slowly comes together,” said Bianca. www.facebook.com/AbandonedBrisbane Might see you on the urbex trail…
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