Urbex, short for urban exploration, denotes the visual (and maybe artistic) exploration of urban spaces, but mostly of abandoned buildings or towns. In this sense, photographers or filmmakers (such as the producers of the Homo Sapiens movie), explore a lot the aesthetic of ruins.
It can be very well argued that ruins are a fascinating sight for people for more reasons. Firstly, there is definitely the immediate aspect of composition and the merge of elements. Homes or larger buildings that are overtaken by nature are interesting due to their unusual nature. However, it can also be argued that another reason why urbex imagery is so fascinating to the modern people is because they represent a merge between nature and culture, whereas, unlike the usual, nature takes over. It’s definitely food for thought.
Explorers of these spaces mostly photograph or film their subjects in Western countries or in highly modernized countries from around the world. While this may not be a rule, it can be said that most urban exploration is done in countries like Belgium, Italy or France. For example, one may not see a lot of urbex photography in regions such as Eastern Europe, even though, of course, these do exist.
It can be said that the reason for this is because, while the West has renewed and rebuilt itself, in other places, people still use the same old buildings. At a glance, one will notice that while the West has abandoned many narrow and cramped hospitals or other such buildings, in less-industrialized parts of the world, these are very much still in use.
If we were to interpret this (and this can be a small reach for the limits of interpretation), it can be said that some places in the world have built a present in the shadows of their past, while others still hang on the decrepit.
Surely, a part of the reason why many amazing buildings were left to decay was intentional, to clear out the past and make room for the “new and improved”.
Urbex is definitely a captivating phenomenon, as it raises many questions about why those buildings were abandoned for so long, whether they will be reconditioned and used again, how our world will look like in a hundred years and, most of all, how the shapes, colors and textures around us form our minds, the way we think and act and everything that results from that, as it is clear that the way we see ourselves, the architecture of our minds, is strongly correlated with the outside world, with its sounds, smells and sights.
More urbex:
The Fallen Time of Romario Rondelez
Past Structures Revealed by Les Johnstone
La Belle et la Bête by Marco Campelli