Urbex
Parking Deck Shadows
The first visit to this parking deck a decade ago ended with a security guard’s escort.
Wielding a longboard, the plan was to carve all the way down to street level from the rooftop, but the guard caught me on one or more cameras climbing the stairs. After taking in the sunset, I turned around to find a beige, four-door Buick circa 1980 rounding the corner to the roof. He rolled down the window.
“You can’t be here. Sometimes people jump.”
“Can I ride down? You can follow.”
“Alright.”
The man pulled a u-turn, then inched up behind. Rather than stand and carve leisurely, I opted to sit and shoot the curves as fast as possible. I pushed twice, sat down, then pulled my feet up. Gripping the sides of the board, I raced counter clockwise down around six floors. The creaky escort rumbled along, tracing my route. We made eye contact at the bottom as I crossed the sidewalk onto College Ave. He gave me a smile and a nod.
City Hall
Rooftop Oddments
Nat Arnold Building
Black Rock Mountain Pkwy Shack
Ducktown School
Built in 1932, Ducktown School’s original name was Kimsey Junior College, after Dr. L.E. Kimsey (who allegedly visited patients on horseback). The gothic style structure sat vacant for a few years, then became a local high school for Polk County. Enraged citizens believed construction funds should have been spent on upkeep and expansion of existing schools. Many graduates took vocational classes, then worked in nearby copper mines. Around 1970, until 2007, the historic building served as an elementary school.
The site is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, and more information is here.
White Dam and Eastern Bloc Blues
Remnants of incapacitated industry bring to mind contemporary interpretations of Eastern Bloc sounds. This first sample, produced by the Polish nu jazz duo Skalpel, offers hip hop beats occupied by Polish jazz samples scrubbed from the archives.
“Sculpture”
Igor Boxx, 1/2 of Skalpel, recently went solo with the debut album Breslau. Compared to the lush, polished sound of Skalpel, his tracks have a colder resonance.
“Russian Percussian”
“Fear of a Red Planet”
Aaron Funk is a Canadian electronic artist known as Venetian Snares. During a 2005 trip to Hungary, he produced the album Rossz Csillag Alatt Született.
The concept of the album came when Aaron Funk imagined himself as a pigeon on Budapest’s Királyi Palota (Royal Palace). Its third track, “Öngyilkos vasárnap” is a cover of the song “Szomorú vasárnap” (“Gloomy Sunday”) by Hungarian composer Rezső Seress, which has been referred to as the Hungarian suicide song. According to urban legend, Seress’s song has inspired the suicide of multiple persons, including his fiancée. The song was reportedly banned in Hungary. It has also been covered by many artists. Billie Holiday’s vocals are sampled in this track.
-Wikepedia
“Öngyilkos Vasárnap”
Virginia Creeper, Parthenocissus quinquefolia
White Calla Lily, Zantedeschia aethiopica
Mr. calla lily lives in the shadow of a cemetery in Valparaiso, Chile. His name comes from an Italian botanist, Giovanni Zantedeschia.
A group of artists tend this garden on the southwestern side of the cemetery. Beyond the lily grows an avocado, or “palta” plant. A sculpture dries in the sun.
Valparaiso, Chile
Mentor and Apprentice
Much of the work here involves restoration of marble headstones and statues.
After exploring the graves, we discovered a stairway leading under the cemetery.
A Friendly Host
The cavernous, open-air studio consists of subsections for a variety of creative trades, from sculpture restoration, to mosaics.
Random curiosities like this mummified cat greet visitors.
Mummified Cat Biting a Dwarf
Valparaiso’s labyrinthian escaleras are an endless canvas for local artists.
Dogs and Cat
Graffiti Porteño, Valparaiso
Rickety funiculars cut the time it takes to scale Valparaiso’s steep hills.
The old funiculars are loud and rickety, yet strangely comfortable and familiar. Listen to audio within a Valparaiso funicular on its way down:
Pedagogy of the Plants 